Table of contents:
Building a B2B prospect database can be challenging and time-consuming, but it doesn’t need to be! By implementing the right B2B prospecting tool, you can reduce the time and money you spend on this process, giving you more time to grow your business.
Nailing your B2B prospecting strategy in 2021 will help you to stay ahead of the competition, improve your efficiency, and secure those all-important sales.
To help, we’ve put together this guide on how to build the ultimate B2B prospect database for your business.
Why is B2B prospecting so difficult?
Why do so many businesses find B2B prospecting so challenging? There are a number of reasons for this.
Increased competition
The B2B landscape has grown massively, with more competition than ever. This can make it difficult for individual businesses to stand out from the crowd and cut through the noise. Fortunately, with the help of the right B2B prospecting software, you can use sales and marketing automation to create demand for your product or service. Read our blog post on marketing automation to learn more.
The B2B buyer has evolved
The internet and globalisation have completely transformed how we buy products and services. With a wealth of information at our fingertips, the B2B buying process has evolved to include multiple players rather than just one.
These days, there are a number of different stakeholders involved when it comes to B2B purchasing decisions. Therefore, you must include these individuals in your B2B prospect database.
Offering value over price
In the B2B landscape, businesses offer customers a whole range of value propositions. This means that price alone is insufficient to entice B2B consumers. Research by Harvard Business Review stresses the importance of providing value to businesses and ensuring clear value propositions you can express clearly when prospecting can be difficult.
Did you know? “By 2022 over 70% of B2B marketers are going to be using intent data as part of their marketing strategy?”
The benefits of a high-quality B2B prospect database
Creating a winning B2B prospecting strategy is crucial for your business. However, you’ll need to ensure that you find high-quality prospects to increase your chance of sales success.
Working from a cold, dated B2B prospect database is no help to anyone, but building a hyper-relevant B2B prospect database can help you to save time and money.
The best way to build a prospect database is to use buyer intent data. With buyer intent data, you’ll find businesses and prospects already interested in your product or service. This means you’ll spend less time targeting people unlikely to convert, saving you money.
Consistently pushing your product or service to low-quality prospects can have a negative impact on your brand, and it could cause brand fatigue.
On the other hand, when your B2B prospect database is more relevant, you’ll send out marketing messages to businesses already interested in your products and services, thus helping you maintain your brand reputation.
With the help of Automaly’s B2B prospecting tool, you can use buyer intent data to build prospect lists full of individuals interested in your products, engage with your competitors, or recruit for key positions. This helps you improve your chances of securing new business compared to generic prospecting lists.
How to build a B2B prospect database
There are a whole host of methods you can use to find and target potential leads. However, you’ll need to find the right option that suits your business needs. To help get you started, we’ve included some of the most used methods below.
Cold calling
Cold calling is often seen as a dated prospecting method. However, it still has its uses today.
One of the benefits of cold calling is that it can help you to build rapport with potential B2B buyers. However, it is also seen as an annoyance to a lot of customers. Therefore, you may have limited success when compared to other prospecting methods.
Inbound lead generation
Many businesses use content marketing to attract prospects and leads. This includes creating:
- Blog content
- Whitepapers
- Webinars
This can help you to engage with key decision-makers without the need for ‘pushy’ sales tactics. It can also help you and your business build credibility. However, seeing any real results can also take a lot of time.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the most common platform for professionals to connect. LinkedIn allows you to expand your connections by offering you helpful tools. For example, you can filter your search to fit your buyer persona and efficiently find the right contacts. According to LinkedIn:
- 50% of B2B buyers use LinkedIn as a source for making purchase decisions
- 76% of B2B buyers prefer to work with recommendations from their professional network
Prospect Automation software
One of the fastest ways to build B2B prospect databases is through marketing automation software.
The best automation software scans the internet to find signs of buyer intent. This includes social media posts, event registrations, Facebook groups and more to find individuals already interested in products and services similar to your offering. This means you can easily build a hyper-relevant list of businesses to target.
How to find B2B leads that convert
With the help of Automaly, we can help you automate your B2B prospecting strategy so that you secure leads, increase conversions, reduce churn and ultimately grow your business.
Interested? Book a free Sales Power-Up with our team today.
