Sales prospecting, which is a critical aspect of selling for nearly all b2b businesses, is also a common source of misery for most b2b sales reps. Almost 61% of enterprises say that generating high-quality leads is one of their biggest b2b demand generation challenges. Prospecting strategies unravel potential buyers, fill a company’s sales pipeline, and offer important context to future sales conversations.
However, most marketers and sales reps wait until their lead pipeline is almost empty to begin prospecting. Eventually, they end up desperate to find new leads and waste time and energy on leads that don’t fit their ideal customer persona. Another challenge to lead generation in Singapore is the lack of b2b database service providers that offers NLP capabilities.
Standard practices dictate that marketing and sales teams must go headstrong with their sales prospecting strategies even when their lead pipeline is buzzing strong. They must keep their prospects locked into the pipeline. Once the leads are in, they can nurture those leads through a longer sales cycle and convert them into winning sales. It is an important practice to bolster b2b lead generation in Singapore and other APAC markets.
Sales prospecting 101
The first step towards turning a prospect into sales is research. Marketers must dive deep into b2b company websites, social media profiles, and online activity to gather usable information about the target audience. They need to leverage AI/ML-led database management tools to gather firmographic, technographic, demographic, and buyer intent data. This will give them a clear view of whether a potential prospect fits their ideal customer profile. While the concept seems quite simple, effective sales prospecting is difficult to execute. In fact, recent research indicates that 50% of sales reps’ time is wasted on unproductive prospecting. Let’s look at the best practices to improve B2B sales prospecting:
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1
Create an emotional bond
Many modern-day b2b sales development representatives still don’t understand what sales prospecting truly means. They are often stuck on the never-ending wheel of prospecting, trapped in the preparation phase. They are unable to build enough emotional connection before making a sales pitch to the prospects.
Some of the key challenges include lack of customer research and enough material to make a sound, personalized customer outreach communication. There is also the problem of over-research where sales reps waste time and resources on prospects that have not been qualified as sales ready. An emotional bond is the only way to escape the vicious cycle of preparation and move on to receiving customer engagement through different marketing channels and finalizing appointments.
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2
Obtain both contact details and firmographics at once
Many b2b enterprises use multiple prospecting tools just to extract basic contact details and firmographic information for one lead. This causes duplicate data and inaccuracies to get into the company’s CRM. Companies must leverage a 360-degree B2B database provider that can give them exact details and firmographics they require to qualify prospects, craft hyper-personalized sales pitches and prepare an engaging cold calling script.
Whether the company is prospecting on b2b websites, emails, or LinkedIn, a reliable b2b database provider will provide them with direct email address phone numbers. Additionally, they will provide important firmographic information like revenue, industry, location, and more. This will allow enterprises to cut down manual errors and stay ahead of the prospecting game by gathering and standardizing all contacts and firmographic data directly into the CRM.
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3
Adopt the “30-day rule” to keep the pipeline fresh and full
Enterprises must take stock of their lead pipeline on a monthly basis to determine whether they have failed to bring in qualified leads or prospects regularly. Sales development reps are under more pressure than ever to close deals as soon as possible, making this practice even more meaningful. Given that the b2b sales cycle takes anywhere between 4 to 7 months, missing even a week of prospecting can put a huge dent in a company’s lead generation in Singapore. Hunting for new sales opportunities, even when the pipeline is full, is a good practice in b2b sales prospecting.
Key Takeaways
Enterprises must optimize their sales prospecting strategies using the abovementioned practices to bolster their b2b lead generation in Singapore and maximize ROI. Prospecting is the preparation phase that comes before sales reps make a pitch. B2b sales development reps must start by weaving an emotional trigger in their offer and crafting their outreach messages around it. They must then take stock of their lead pipeline regularly to ensure that they have a healthy pipeline over the coming months. Lastly, the best of all practices is to get the services of a b2b database provider with AI/ML and NLP capabilities to get contact, firmographic, and intent data at once.
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