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Building a B2B prospect database can be a challenging and time-consuming process, but it doesn’t need to be! By implementing the right B2B prospecting tool, you can reduce the amount of time and money you spend on this process, giving you more time to spend on growing 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 over time, and there is now more competition than ever before. 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 the way 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’ll need to make sure you should include these individuals in your B2B prospect database.
Offering value over price
In the B2B landscape, there is a whole range of value propositions that businesses offer customers. This means that price alone is not enough to entice B2B consumers these days. Research by Harvard Business Review stresses the importance of providing value to businesses and ensuring you have clear value propositions that you can express clearly when prospecting can be very 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 make sure that you find high-quality prospects in order 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 that are already interested in your product or service. This means that you’ll spend less time targeting people that are unlikely to convert, saving you money in the process.
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 that are already interested in your products and services, thus helping you to 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 that are interested in your products, engaging with your competitors, or recruiting for key positions. This helps you to improve your chances of securing new business when compared to using 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 a 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, it can also take a lot of time before you see any real results.
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 the use of 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 that are already interested in products and services similar to your own offering. This means that you can build a hyper-relevant list of businesses to target with ease.
How to find B2B leads that convert
With the help of Automaly, we can help you hone your B2B prospecting strategy so that you secure leads, increase conversions, reduce churn and ultimately grow your business.
Interested? Book a discovery call with our team today.
