Steven Loyens
You've probably sat at the table with a prospect where after 10 minutes it became apparent that it was a mutual waste of time. Was this with a more effective lead generation been foreseeable? Structural telephone B2B lead generation is time consuming, so make sure you can work as efficiently as possible for a well-rounded sales pipeline.
The word prospect originally comes from Latin: “looking ahead/seeing.” So this suggests that before you sit down somewhere you have already looked ahead at the possible opportunities. We find that the starting point of this looking ahead is often one's own proposition. This makes sense, but the question “what's at it for them?” is just as important. Because not only is your time valuable, respect the valuable time of your potential prospect!
Once these questions are answered, we can see which companies are the best match.
Take advantage of available sources of business information
The more you know in advance, the better the results. The number of possible sources of business information that can be addressed in B2B sales has grown tremendously over the past 10 years. In addition to hard data such as Chamber of Commerce data, region, number of employees and the like, much “softer” characteristics can now be looked at. What type of professionals work at the potential prospect, is there overlap in network, what do these companies blog about, who are their customers, what technologies do they use, etc.
Only engage with prospects where there are actual sales opportunities
Before a proactive contact attempt is made, an increasingly better assessment can be made as to whether this is really a prospect. Blindly calling lists of “prospects” for B2B cold acquisition is therefore no longer necessary. If a number of simple questions are then asked during the contact attempts (here, too, the number of possible channels has grown enormously), pure coffee-drinking appointments are no longer necessary.
By investing time smartly upfront, you avoid a huge waste of time later in the sales process.
Yes, with more effective lead generation, the waste of time would have been foreseeable!
Are you finding it challenging to devote sufficient time each week to structural phone acquisition? Then consider outsourcing your lead generation. You can ensure that you can keep focus on the sales process yourself by outsourcing the pre-sales process to an expert such as FindBusiness.