By prospecting, we mean the search for potential buyers for your product or service. The aim is to identify suitable prospects, guide them through the sales funnel and turn them into paying customers.
In principle, the same thing should happen with leads and prospects. Both should be nurtured and gradually transformed into buyers. However, a lead is defined by having already interacted with your company, e.g. downloading a template from the website. A prospect may or may not have contacted you, but fits perfectly into your target group.
Suitable prospects perfectly match your buyer persona or target group. You find out how suitable a prospect is by asking the right questions.
Once you’ve made contact with your prospect, you can use BANT to determine how promising the prospects are: how much can or should be spent (budget)? Who makes the decisions (authority)? Does a specific problem need to be solved (need)? What does the timeline look like (timing)?
There are many ways to find potential buyers for your product or service and get in touch with them. Prospecting also distinguishes between the outbound and the inbound strategy.
Outbound: The focus is on quickly establishing contact with an unknown person. You directly enter into the sales conversation and thus learn whether there is a buying interest.
Inbound: The aim is to make contact with “warm” leads, i.e. people who are actually potential buyers and are interested in your product.
For us as a marketing and sales agency, the benefits of the inbound strategy are crystal clear: your preliminary research and the interest of your potential prospects ensure a smooth start to the conversation. Getting to know your prospects and gradually approaching a possible sales opportunity enables them to understand that you want to solve problems and not just sell products.
The reason for your prospect to be shortlisted is that they have previously interacted with your company and have already voluntarily provided their contact information in exchange for gated content. The research process is thus shorter, as you already have information available as a basis for personalised outreach.
The first contact was “warm”. This means that your prospect has already familiarised themselves with your company, product or other information you have provided. Your outreach is therefore more appreciated than a cold call.
Properly used, social media is a wonderful tool to deepen the relationship with your prospect. Use the channel to interact with your prospects and share relevant articles and information.
Prospecting should follow a well-prepared and thought-out process, all within the framework of your sales funnel. A CRM system is ideal for organising all the steps.
With our Prospecting Service, we help you overcome all challenges relating to the planning and implementation of your individual prospecting process.
The first and most important step: With the help of certain criteria, you determine whether a lead is qualified and how likely it is that you will successfully convert them into a customer. It’s best to start looking for opportunities to connect with prospects that meet your criteria at this stage.
You should now actively get into conversation with your prospects. The goal is to reach the person in the buyer center who makes decisions regarding budget and buying. Most of the time you will encounter the gatekeeper before finally getting in touch with the decision-maker.
After thorough preparation, the next phase is a meeting between the sales rep and the prospect. This is where you should find answers to your questions (BANT) in order to further qualify your prospect.
You should now evaluate the findings from your sales pitch to assess whether your prospect is suitable for closing the deal.
The moment of truth. If you have chosen your prospect well and were able to present yourself in a compelling manner during the sales pitch, nothing should stand in the way of you closing the deal.
If so, we recommend you arrange a non-binding consultation with Raul, our expert for efficient prospecting methods.
