The road to landing a B2B sale can be a long and winding one. But whatever that journey may look like for you, it all starts with understanding your target market and who may have a need for your product. Identifying potential customers – or sales prospecting as it’s commonly known - is what lies right at the beginning of the sales process. As before you can start selling anything to anyone, you need to have a list of people to sell to. And that’s a fact that will never change.
What has changed, however, thanks to advances in technology and the digital world we now live in, is how these prospect lists are compiled and the methods used to do so. This is particularly true when it comes to account-based marketing (ABM) and taking an approach that focuses on each individual and their likes, needs, and interests, rather than aiming at the masses.
When you’re using ABM together with online lead generation you have one simple goal - to get your target accounts to visit your website, so you can start getting to know them. You will want to find out what their interests are so you can start to build a relationship with them and, when the time is right, move them along your sales pipeline to finally become a paying customer.
On paper, the process itself is pretty straightforward:
Build a list of prospects
Contact them
Work on building a relationship with them
Encourage them to visit your website
Have effective lead generation mechanisms in place to collect data
Continue nurturing each lead
Spot the right time to pass them over to sales and close the deal
So how do you build a highly targeted ABM prospect list to kick the whole process off successfully?
Step 1 - Define your ideal customer profile
It makes no sense to waste time or effort chasing the wrong accounts. Start at the beginning and figure out exactly who you should be aiming for. Consider what account details may be good indicators for you, such as company size (in terms of employees or turnover), geographical information and industry.
Don’t forget to also think about whether they are going to be a good ‘fit’. If you are aiming for a long term relationship then it is important that you speak the same language and have a similar culture and vision, otherwise, trouble may lie ahead.
The best way to start figuring out who is a good fit is by analyzing your existing customers. Have a good look at what they have in common. If you’re just starting out then you will have to do some guesswork here and refine your assumptions later on, once you have a couple of clients.
Step 2 – Do your research
Once you know the kind of accounts you want to target you can start finding the right people and begin building your list.
For sales teams, your CRM is going to be your best friend. It’s the glue that holds it all together and can make it a seamless process. You’ll want to know everything there is to know about an account and the people that work there. And importantly you’ll need to find out who the decision makers are and how you can contact them.
Defining your buyer personas will help you here, as they will help you identify the specific people within an organization who you should be speaking to. Social selling techniques and tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator are also invaluable for ABM. The data they provide will be vital for enabling you to sort your list into hot and not so hot prospects.
Plus, don’t forget to ask for referrals within your existing network as that can be a hugely effective way to find new contacts.
Step 3 – Get connected
Once you know who the decision makers are it’s time to reach out to them. This will take some trial and error to do well. You’re looking to pinpoint what works most effectively. Keep in mind that each prospect will have a preference when it comes to how they want to be contacted. This may not be your preferred medium but remember, it’s not about you, you need to put the contact at the center of every decision you make.
For example, if they are active on Twitter it will be quite easy to reach them that way and start talking to them. Just bear in mind that with social media it’s important you go in lightly, not in sales mode. This is especially important in the beginning, but in reality, there’s never going to be a good time to try and sell 1-on-1 over a social channel. Instead, aim to use your social platforms to find out what’s happening in the world of your prospects and to build a relationship with them.
Then think how you might start a conversation with these prospects - what kind of trigger events are going to be good routes in? For example, mergers, new executive hires, new funding rounds.
Your sole aim when reaching out to any cold contacts is to get them to visit your website. You probably won’t manage this first time round or even second, but it could happen. Your success will greatly depend on the kind of messages you’re putting out and what content you’re offering.
Just how clean is your data? Identify where your data requires attention, allowing you to choose which areas to improve.
Get Free Email Append Test from AverickMedia
Remember to always aim to be helpful and relevant. Go into each prospect’s world first and figure out if there’s any way you could help them solve a problem they have. Or you could even ask their opinion on your content. Whatever route you take, make sure it is helping them and makes sense for them to engage with the content and so with you.
Cold contacts who are well-researched contacts, aren’t actually going to be that cold because you’ve done your homework. Don’t waste time (and money) making contact with people off a list you just buy in, instead focus on those people who you think are most likely to have a need for what you’re offering. This can often mean making the first contact will be a positive experience. But if it isn’t, just keep your communication light, which is easy to do via social channels.
Special content for your ABM prospecting
For this method to truly work it is crucial that you don’t send out boring, generic content, and just hope for the best. Instead, ensure that any content you do use shows that you truly understand what they might need right now.
Let’s imagine for a second that you know that the prospect has just received a new round of funding and needs to expand rapidly. If the service you provide can help them with their HR activities then they have a need. Hiring good people fast isn’t easy so anything you can offer to help them do so is going to be a huge bonus. They will be interested in this and will listen to you.
If however you just read that they’re downsizing then content around recruiting fast will obviously not work for them.
Also, think what content you could use that isn’t going to be strictly about your product or service. It could be something related to your prospect’s industry, or yours. Checklists can also work well here. There is a way of telling people what they need to do without actually telling them (if you want them to hire you to do the job), so spend some time developing that kind of content.
Using an example of a case study company in a similar situation can also be a good first approach. "Look here’s XYZ who like you had to _____ and I thought you might find it interesting how they achieved ____".
4 hot tips for your ABM prospecting activities
Set up a clear process for every team member to follow
Work smarter by dividing your day into different activity types, rather than going from account to account:
Do a block of research activity
Do a block of connecting activity
When using LinkedIn to research leads Rapportive is a useful tool for getting hold of contact details. It’s linked to Gmail, so you may need to set up an account if you don’t already have one.
When you pick up the phone use a local phone number. Many people will automatically ignore a call from a number that looks like it will be a sales calls.
Article From: blog.leadforensics.com
