Want to know more about prospecting? Want to understand all the ins and outs of this essential part of so many companies’ business? Then read this article and learn more about the many different methods used by the best salespeople! Prospecting, a simple definition and tips to keep in mind to improve your search for clients? Right this way!
Prospecting is a sales process that is essential to a great many companies. It consists of searching for potential clients in order to convert them into actual clients. That is how you should define prospecting if you were asked to sum it up in a single sentence. Yet it is something much broader, with many characteristics. Before setting up a prospecting strategy, you need to understand its terms and the mechanisms surrounding this process. From first contact to purchase, your strategy must be mastered from A to Z.
Don’t know where to start? You have knocked on the right door! This article is here to answer all your questions and help you explore sales prospecting. Read it to the end and discover our ultimate tip for landing new B2B clients.
What is sales prospecting?
Prospecting is a sales process that professionals go through to find prospects and turn them into clients. It is a key step in a company’s growth and in the effort to develop its market. Beforehand, it requires building a database and targeting a specific audience to rely on. This then makes it possible to set up a prospecting plan. Depending on your expectations and how you target your prospects, you can draw up this plan yourself or delegate it to an expert.
Now discover the different prospecting methods used every day by salespeople, one of which, less well known, delivers conclusive results very quickly. That one is presented at the end of the article. Read these texts in full and then discover our ultimate tip! Starting now, take advantage of our expertise to help you grow your client base.
What is the goal of prospecting?
The goal of prospecting is to win new clients and keep them loyal. To achieve this, prospecting must make it possible to:
- define clients’ needs;
- build brand awareness among prospects;
- land meetings;
- collect reviews from your clients.
What are the different types of sales prospecting?
It is time for you to look at the different prospecting methods available for your day-to-day work. On the menu: the 4 most common types of sales prospecting. Discover our definitions and tips on prospecting and, after this overview, read our ultimate tip for landing new B2B clients.
1) Cold calling
Telephone prospecting, or cold calling is one of the most popular practices among salespeople and one of those they use most in their daily work. Why? Simply because it is very easy to set up and, what is more, it is an effective prospecting method (if done well). It has the advantage of creating a certain closeness with the prospect without being face to face. Discover our definition of telephone prospecting now.
a) Definition of telephone prospecting
Telephone prospecting covers all the marketing actions used to attract new clients through calls. It can be organized on a small or a large scale. In the first case, the salesperson contacts the prospect personally; in the second, this prospecting is entrusted to a call center specializing in telemarketing.
b) Advantages of cold calling
As mentioned above, cold calling gives you direct contact with your prospect, which allows a more personalized interaction, easy organization and quick results, whether they are above or below your expectations. But that is not all! Direct conversations let you collect as much feedback and information as possible. This data is a valuable source for an analysis of where you can improve.
Telephone prospecting quickly identifies the people who are interested in your product or service.
c) Disadvantages of cold calling
Despite its many strengths, telephone prospecting still has a few drawbacks:
- telephone prospecting has a bad reputation among the prospects being called.
- it is time-consuming and tedious, which can wear out the salespeople in charge of it.
- this type of prospecting requires a trained person.
d) Our cold calling tips
To begin with, you need to build a database you can use at any time to start your cold calling: to do this, consult the directories available online. Want to boost your telephone prospecting? Read our phone call guide and discover our 10 tips to help you with your cold calling. With these techniques, you can optimize your telephone prospecting and achieve your goals!
2) Email prospecting
Email prospecting is the type of prospecting that uses email as a means of communication in order to convert targeted prospects into qualified clients. Salespeople use it regularly to present their services or products, or as a loyalty tool.
a) Definition of email prospecting (or cold emailing)
Emailing, an English term commonly used in French sales jargon, is a direct marketing method. As mentioned above, email is the medium salespeople use for their promotional message to persuade a client or build their loyalty, but it can just as well be used to announce a large-scale promotional event or to promote a service.
An email campaign is divided into four stages:
- The first is designing and writing the email.
- the second is defining the target audience.
- the third is sending the email.
- the last is analyzing the results of the prospecting campaign.
b) Advantages of email prospecting
Email prospecting offers some significant benefits in your prospecting plan. First, the cost: email prospecting is one of the least expensive prospecting methods among the advertising media available on the market. This is largely because this type of prospecting is entirely digital and therefore requires no printing. Another advantage is its flexibility, since this medium can be highly customized over time and according to the targeted prospects.
It is also an easy type of prospecting to set up, since it does not require major resources. Finally, email prospecting gives you results you can analyze very quickly and lets you reach a larger number of prospects.
c) Disadvantages of email prospecting
Before adding email prospecting to your prospecting plan, you need to be aware of its drawbacks. First, email prospecting does not allow direct contact with your client, which is why it may need to be combined with another method in parallel to make it more effective. Next, your email may face “deliverability” problems: you need to make sure that most of your emails actually reach their recipients, since most mailboxes today use spam filters. Finally, the last drawback: once the email has been sent, you cannot change it.
d) Our email prospecting tips
Read our tips and set up an effective email prospecting campaign that fits your resources.
First, take great care over the substance of your content: the language in your email must be flawless, and the content must be clear, concise and concrete for your prospecting strategy to work. Rely on the AIDA method (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) to write your emails.
Next, as for the form, don’t hesitate to add line breaks to make your email pleasant to look at: it is essential that it makes people want to read it. Also make sure you pique your prospect’s curiosity by including a strong, concise phrase in your subject line that makes them want to click on it.
Finally, an essential step: personalize your email according to how you target your prospects. Also use data analysis software for your prospecting campaign. This way, you can assess how effective your email prospecting is and adjust your strategy after each campaign.
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3) Postal prospecting, or direct mail
Postal prospecting, or direct mail, is a method commonly used by professionals. Just like email prospecting, it involves sending information and advertising in bulk in order to convert prospects into clients. The difference from email prospecting lies in the medium: instead of email, your prospecting strategy uses letters sent by post to your clients.
a) Definition of direct mail
Direct mail means sending a personalized letter to a prospect’s mailbox in order to convert them into a client. Your goal is always the same: to prompt your potential client to act on your product or service and encourage them to buy.
A typical letter generally includes a presentation of the offer, contact details so that the prospect can reach the professional, or a reply coupon to send back to the sender.
b) Advantages of postal prospecting
There are several good reasons to choose direct mail for your prospecting plan. First, the market offers many ways to customize your sales material. In addition, postal direct mail is an even more effective type of prospecting than email, because it reaches your potential client more easily. To do this, your letter must contain clear, concise information that your prospect can easily understand. Finally, a letter has a longer lifespan than an email, since it is tangible and easy to keep over time.
c) Disadvantages of postal direct mail
Postal direct mail is more expensive than the other types of prospecting available on the market. Because of the printing costs involved, it requires a bigger budget than email prospecting, for example. On top of that, it is slower to deliver, since it takes at least 24 hours before your potential client can receive it. Finally, printing, editing and the other steps involved in preparing your letter mean that it takes more time to set up.
d) Our postal prospecting tips
It is advisable to have a large enough database to launch your prospecting campaign, so as to reach a sizeable market. Starting a direct mail campaign for just a few clients would be counterproductive. The effectiveness of good postal prospecting also depends on the number of letters you send to your potential clients.
Take great care over both the substance and the form of your prospecting letter: remember that it conveys your company’s image.
Finally, budget your direct mail campaign in advance. This tells you how many prospects you need to convert into clients for the campaign to pay off.
4) Digital marketing
a) What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing is a set of techniques through which a company uses the web to make itself known, promote its services and convert prospects into clients. It can rely on a multitude of media available on the internet, for example the website, the mobile app, the podcast, online video, the blog or social networks.
b) How do you set up prospecting based on digital marketing?
For a successful digital marketing strategy, you need to take into account the different components of the digital world and see how to apply them to your company:
- Defining your content strategy based on keywords and what internet users search for.
- Search engine optimization (SEO) for your website, based on 3 pillars: the technical optimization of the site (loading speed, mobile-friendliness, etc.), the quality of the content in the eyes of the search engine and, finally, links (internal linking and backlinks, which improve the user’s navigation).
- Inbound marketing, which consists of attracting clients (rather than going out to find them).
- Social selling, which uses social networks to support each prospect throughout the sales journey.
c) Why set up digital marketing?
Integrating digital marketing into your company’s prospecting plan has several benefits. First, it is a very flexible type of prospecting depending on the budget you want to allocate to it, which varies greatly from producing a video to creating a website. Second, it lets you reach as many potential clients as possible in record time! Indeed, more than 90% of French households have an internet connection, which makes it an exceptional pool of potential clients to tap into.
In addition, there is a type of prospecting that comes from digital marketing and delivers impressive results in terms of converting prospects into clients: LinkedIn® prospecting. LinkedIn® prospecting is complex, so you need to learn about it beforehand to master it. If you want to know more, discover our training and coaching programs for B2B professionals now! Any questions? We will be happy to answer them!
The tip for landing new B2B clients: LinkedIn® prospecting
LinkedIn® is the largest professional social network, which lets you:
- connect for free with an impressive pool of B2B professionals;
- build your reputation and your image;
- attract prospects to your pages;
- be visible and get noticed by potential clients.
LinkedIn® prospecting is done either:
- Through inbound: you publish quality content that draws visitors to you. In this case, you regularly publish high-value content for your target audience.
- Through direct prospecting: you target people and send them personalized prospecting messages.
- Or both, with a complete method that combines visibility, reputation and highly targeted prospecting. This is the case with the Proinfluent™ Method, which helps you get up to 1 qualified prospect a day and 5 business clients a month.
Your business needs quality B2B prospecting, but you still cannot make it effective? If this area is still an ordeal for you, don’t wait any longer: get in touch with a Proinfluent expert, right HERE!
Prospecting def: in conclusion
The objectives of prospecting:
- define clients’ needs;
- build brand awareness among prospects;
- land meetings;
- collect reviews from your clients.
The 4 main types of prospecting commonly used by professionals are:
- Cold calling, which covers all the marketing actions used to attract new clients through calls.
- Direct mail, which means sending personalized letters to a prospect’s mailbox.
- Email prospecting, which is the use of emails as a prospecting method.
- Digital marketing, the use of the web to land new clients.
Prospecting def: a summary in 7 questions
What is field prospecting?
Field prospecting is one of the direct prospecting methods professionals use to meet their prospects in person. This prospecting technique consists of meeting individuals where they live, or professionals where they work. From side streets to main streets, the salesperson walks the area in search of new clients. In field prospecting, professionals adapt their approach to the geographical area and to their business sector.
What is the purpose of a market study in a prospecting plan?
A market study uses data to determine how the different forces at work in a market operate. It relies on the various data available to establish a strategy. When drawing up a prospecting plan, the market study relies on a number of data points, such as the definition of the target audience or the prospecting method to use.
How do you define prospecting?
Prospecting is a sales process defined as a professional’s search for prospects. The professional’s aim is to use prospecting to convert the prospect into a client. It is an essential step in the development of a company looking to grow its market.
What is the goal of prospecting?
The main goal is to win new clients and keep them loyal. To achieve this goal, prospecting must make it possible to define clients’ needs, get meetings, collect reviews and, finally, build brand awareness among prospects.
What are the different types of prospecting?
The 4 most common types of prospecting are cold calling, email prospecting, direct mail and digital marketing.
Why do people prospect?
Prospecting is essential for a company seeking to grow. That is why salespeople prospect: it is a major factor in a company’s development.
Inbound marketing: what is it?
Inbound marketing, an English term also used as is in French, refers to all the prospecting methods that aim to bring the prospect to the professional through a content marketing strategy designed in advance.
