How to find prospects in 2024? The complete guide

Having trouble finding qualified leads? I have good news for you: you are not alone!

We're not going to lie, in 2024, prospecting is...complicated! 

Between customers who are more demanding and the difficulty of reaching them, the very strong competition and the list of endless prospecting tools, it is easy to get lost. 

You know our love for automation: thanks to this method, you have access to methods to identify the right prospects by adapting your approach to capture the prospect's attention, and all this, while saving time. 

Whether you run a small business or a large sales team, in this article you will find a guide that will accompany you every step of the way:

• Define your ideal prospects
• Find prospects efficiently
• Personalize your approach
• Automate your actions

How to find qualified prospects?

The key to the best successful prospecting strategies is identifying the right prospects. Your target must have the criteria to become a paying customer. 

Understand the importance of lead qualification

A qualified lead is a lead who has a high chance of purchasing your product, period. This is the basis of prospecting: finding and attracting qualified people.

Qualifying a prospect not only saves time, but also optimizes sales efforts: by focusing on the right people, you avoid dispersing your resources and exhausting yourself with prospects with low purchasing potential.

Also, this prospect must be reachable through direct prospecting or through the main strategies that enable lead generation.

Moreover, Humanlinker allows you to find prospects for free.

Define the profile of your ideal client

Before even looking for prospects, you need to know exactly who you are looking for. The Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is an important concept in prospecting that helps you focus your efforts on qualified prospects.

Here are some things to include in this profile:

• The sector of activity: there are necessarily industries that are more likely to need you;
• The size of the company: needs vary depending on whether it is an SME or a large company.
• The position of decision-makers: Understanding who in the company is responsible for decision-making allows you to target the right people.
• Other important criteria appear on this visual 👇

Criteria for identifying a qualified prospect

Once your ICP is defined, there are other criteria to take into account, in order to know if your prospect is really qualified or not:

• Does he have the necessary budget? A prospect who has the means to invest in your solutions is essential;
• What is his need? The prospect must have a concrete need that your product or service can solve;
• When can he buy? Assess whether the prospect is ready to act now or in the near future.

These questions allow you to save time to move on to phase 2: finding these prospects. 🕵️

How to assess the potential of a prospect?

It's difficult to know if your prospect is low qualified or very qualified. Here are some ideas:

• Did he spend time on your content? 
• Has he watched a product demo? 
• Has he ever had an exchange with anyone on the team?
• Has he looked at the “case study” or “reviews” page of your site?

Use analysis tools like Humanlinker can help you track these interactions and determine each prospect’s level of engagement. 

A prospect who contacts you after visiting several pages of your site or downloading a white paper is much more ready to move forward in the purchasing process than someone who has not yet had any interaction. 

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What are the best prospecting techniques?

To find prospects in 2024, you must diversify your approaches and use several strategies to attract the right people. You have to be EVERYWHERE. 

Here are 5 strategies to constantly increase your sales potential:

Commercial prospecting 

It is rare that a company does not need to do commercial prospecting. Even if technology makes prospecting easier today, people remain central. 

In B2B prospecting, here are the most effective prospecting methods:

• ​Telephone prospecting
• Email prospecting
• Prospecting on social networks

Calling, sending personalized emails, connecting with people to initiate exchanges, that’s the basis.

The most important thing is not to be discouraged by a 'no' but to have a long-term approach. When you get a no, the idea is to understand why, in order to change your speech.

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Content marketing on social media

Social networks have become essential channels for generating leads. 

Whether on LinkedIn, Instagram or X, regularly publishing quality content attracts prospects who share your values ​​or are interested in your products or services.

If you want to play the game, here are our tips:

• Post useful content that addresses specific issues of your prospects;
• Stay active by engaging in conversations about other people's posts;
• Publish regularly in order to make yourself known and recognized over time.

​Experts in the field call this method: inbound marketing.

Participate in networking events

Networking is a very effective method in prospecting, quite simply because two humans who engage in a physical conversation = two humans who trust each other. 

Nothing will replace the ability to chat directly with a potential prospect. 

During these events you have the opportunity to meet prospects in person, which makes the exchange much more authentic. This is the time to exchange ideas, discover other needs and expand your network. 

Participate in trade shows where your prospects are present

Trade shows are perfect for meeting targeted prospects. In a living room, you can:

• Present your products live, which captures attention much more than brochures.
• Build connections quickly with prospects who already know your sector.
• Increase your visibility to people who might never know you.

Optimize your website for SEO 

An optimized website is prospecting that works even when you sleep. 

When you are well referenced on important keywords searched by your target, Google will put you forward, and you will obtain credibility from your prospects. 

To answer your prospects' questions, always create useful and informative content and use the appropriate keywords to be visible in search results. In addition to blog articles, you can also work on the fluidity and speed of your website.

Targeted advertising

In B2B, many companies integrate advertising into their marketing strategy.

Advertising allows you, by paying advertising agencies, to directly target your target customers.

As old as the world (or almost), advertising is a formidable sales technique.

By addressing the right audience with the right message, you can quickly grow your customer base.

How to personalize your prospecting to find more prospects?

Personalizing your prospecting is a bit like inviting someone to dinner. The more you adapt to their tastes, the more likely you are to seduce them. The prospect will immediately feel valued when they see that you took the time to understand their needs.

What are some tips for effectively personalizing your approach?

The importance of personalization in prospecting

If you want to stand out from the crowd, personalizing your messages is not an option: it’s a necessity! 

Prospects are constantly solicited. By having a unique approach, they will appreciate that you took the time to understand their business or their problem. This increases your chances of attracting their attention. 

A generic message? it's easy to ignore. 

A personalized message? it captures the interest. 

Through personalization:

• You show that you care about their needs.
• Prospects are more likely to respond when they feel understood.
• A tailored message is much more engaging than a generic message.

Tools to personalize your prospecting emails

To personalize your prospecting emails, you can rely on several tools that make this task easier and less time-consuming. 

Email automation tools allow you to personalize emails in bulk, meaning you send thousands of messages at once, all of which will be personalized. They offer segmentation features that allow you to address a prospect based on their profile. 

You know our obsession with personalizing messages. It’s even easier with Humanlinker, the ultra-personalization tool 👇

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Humanlinker is an all-in-one tool with which you can: 

• analyze each of your contacts and understand their personality; 
• personalize your approach with unique messages, generated with AI;
• analyze your performance and adapt your strategy.

How to adapt your speech according to the prospect's profile

Each prospect is unique. Therefore, adapting your speech according to their profile is essential to optimize your chances of conversion. What works for one may not work for another. Some ideas:

• Understand the industry: for example, a prospect in the technology sector will not be interested in the same arguments as a prospect in the healthcare sector. Logic ! Your speech must be adapted according to the specific issues.
• Listen to needs: during your first discussions, ask open-ended questions to better understand your prospect's expectations and needs. This will help you formulate a more targeted response.
• Use their language: If a prospect uses specific vocabulary, adapt to their language to create an instant connection. 

Automating prospecting: saving time to find more prospects

Automating your prospecting is like having an ally who manages repetitive tasks for you, leaving you more time to focus on the strategic aspects of your business. 

You know, those repetitive tasks that take a lot of time but are necessary to reach new prospects?

Automation takes care of them. But how? 👇

The benefits of prospecting automation

Prospecting automation saves valuable time while reaching more prospects, here’s what it can offer:

• Save time: no more need to personalize each email by hand or follow up each prospect one by one;
• Consistency: you send messages regularly without worrying about forgetting a prospect;
• Better targeting: automation tools can segment your prospects to send even more tailored messages;
• Simplified tracking: you can follow the progress of each contact, know who opened your emails and relaunch them at the ideal time

What tools should I use for prospecting?

Today, there are a multitude of tools to automate emails that will revolutionize the way you prospect:

Hubspot

Let's start with Hubspot, a complete CRM (= customer relations system) that allows you to automate emails, campaigns and even follow-ups, while following your prospects at each stage of their journey. This platform also allows you to monitor and optimize your customer service.

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Lemlist

Another great tool is Lemlist. This is ideal for automating your emails while maintaining a personalized tone. You can even integrate personalized videos into your messages to capture even more attention.

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Salesloft

Salesloft is an email prospecting software primarily designed for large businesses. It mainly focuses on email campaigns. But it offers powerful features tailored to the needs of large sales teams. The problem is that this type of tool does not make prospecting free. They are quite often very expensive because they are adapted to large companies.

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We saved the best for last: Humanlinker 

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Humanlinker is a tool for hyper-personalization of your multi-channel prospecting campaigns. It works on a large number of contacts.

Humanlinker has a robust database (700,000,000 contacts) and buying signals. It also integrates perfectly with CRMs. It is designed to maximize the effectiveness of your prospecting. He also schedules qualified appointments.

Humanlinker now allows you to combine your prospecting tool, Linkedin Sales Navigator (and its advanced search tool) in the same platform.

Needless to say, our customers love the fact of being able to bring all these expensive tools together in one.

How to integrate automation into your prospecting strategy?

Automation is not an end in itself. It should complement your strategy, not replace it. To integrate it effectively:

• Define your goals: what do you want from automation? is it to qualify prospects, generate appointments or simply increase the visibility of your products?
• Segment your prospects: personalize your approach based on segments. Automation does not mean “one message for all” but rather “one message for every type of prospect”.
• Create effective sequences: Plan your messages, follow reminders and adjust them according to prospects' reactions.

The Humanlinker database allows you to build a base of qualified prospects to launch your prospecting

With the Humanlinker database, you have access to a gold mine of qualified prospects. 

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With automation, you can use it to create segmented lists, identify the most valuable prospects and launch highly targeted campaigns. 

Using this tool you can easily:

• Create a dynamic database, updated in real time.
• Benefit from direct access to qualified prospects ready to be contacted.
• Optimize your campaigns by choosing the prospects most likely to convert.

With automation, you can focus on what really matters: converting your prospects into customers. Let the tools do their work, while you take care of building strong relationships.

PS: we wrote an article on prospecting databases here ! 

Find more prospects? It's easy with Humanlinker 

What if you could turn your prospecting into child's play? 

Imagine a platform that helps you: 

• find the right prospects, 
• optimize your campaigns 
• personalize your messages in just a few clicks. 

All for free, thanks to a trial offer. 

Humanlinker Free Trial Offer Overview

Humanlinker offers a free trial period which allows you to discover all its features without obligation. This is the perfect opportunity to test a tool to simplify your prospecting and multiply your results. 

Whether you are a novice or an expert, this trial period is designed to give you a real glimpse of what the tool can accomplish for your business.

Test for free by clicking here  

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The benefits of using Humanlinker for prospecting

You know like me how prospecting is a long and tedious task. Between finding the right contacts, personalizing messages and following up on follow-ups, it’s easy to waste time and energy. 

Humanlinker changes the game by centralizing all these tasks in a simple and intuitive interface. You benefit from:

• An enriched database: find qualified prospects in no time.
• Advanced segmentation tools: target your campaigns surgically.
• Help with writing your messages 
• Effective monitoring

In just a few clicks, you go from time-consuming prospecting to a structured and effective method.

How to register on Humanlinker and start using the software?

To register, nothing could be simpler: click here and fill in the ⅔ questions that the tool asks you to optimize your interface. 

You immediately access the interface and all the features of the tool. Take advantage of the free trial to test the tool and try out a campaign. 

PS: there have been lots of new things recently, don’t hesitate to read the press release about that! 

Finding prospects in 2024 means knowing how to combine tradition and innovation, physical and digital, human and technology. 

Each step from personalization to automation plays a key role in building an effective and sustainable strategy.

• Understand your prospects: know who they are and what they are looking for.
• Optimize your approach: Use efficient tools to save time and better target.
• Adopt good practices: Personalization, engaging content, participation in events... every action counts.
• Leverage technology: solutions like Humanlinker make it easier to manage and automate your campaigns.

We hope that thanks to this article, you will have learned something and above all… you will find your prospects!