How to set up your B2B commercial prospecting?

When competition in your market intensifies: you focus on commercial prospecting. 

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But when it is long and complex: it can become an obstacle to your growth. 

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This not only leads to wasted time, but also missed opportunities, with sales cycles that drag on, prospects that no longer have any interest, etc.

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Without a structured method and appropriate tools, goodbye customer, hello anxiety! 

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Fortunately, we have the solution: implement B2B prospecting strategies that combine traditional techniques (telephone, physical meetings) with modern tools (email, social networks). 

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How to set them up? 

This is what we will see now 👇

Introduction to b2b commercial prospecting

Definition

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B2B (Business-to-Business) commercial prospecting refers to all the actions implemented by the company to: 

• identifier
• attract 
• get in touch

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with potential customers, who we call prospects, who are part of another company and who might be interested in the products or services you offer.

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Unlike B2C (Business-to-Consumer) prospecting, B2B commercial prospecting targets business decision-makers. 

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LB2B commercial prospecting involves complex sales strategies:

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• These latter are longer because decisions come from several people, the amounts are high and decision-makers want to compare offers. Sometimes also, companies offer testing periods, which further lengthens the sales cycle.
• The personalization of relationships : offers are often personalized to further convince the prospected company. You must build a human relationship with the company you are targeting by sending them relevant content specific to their needs;
• Of the solutions adapted to specific needs companies in the crosshairs: you will present the benefits of your offer in direct connection with the challenges encountered by the company. 

The importance of b2b commercial prospecting

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B2B sales prospecting plays a main, nay, essential, role in the growth of your business. 

Development of your turnover 

This is precisely why your salespeople exist. Their role is to broaden your base of clients by determining the best and new opportunities and therefore increasing your turnover. 

Precise targeting 

Your B2B commercial prospecting allows you to offer fully personalized solutions for each company. When you approach a prospect, your goal is to understand their challenge and provide them with a suitable solution. (we’ll talk about that more below!) 

Strengthening long-term relationships

B2B sales prospecting does not end when the customer says “yes”! Your salespeople know that the relationships they maintain with customers must last over time, to maintain a good reputation and why not offer additional solutions in the future.

Improved market positioning 

A salesperson who prospects regularly and a salesperson who knows almost everything: market trends, customer expectations, objections...nothing escapes him. Thanks to your knowledge, you can, for example, refine your offers or share the right content at the right time. 

Sales cycle optimizations 

Commercial prospecting is an accelerator of the sales cycle. How ? Thanks to all the new automation and artificial intelligence tools: you will more easily identify qualified prospects. 

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Moreover, Humanlinker is perfect for this: the tool optimizes your sales processes by personalizing your approaches with prospects. Automate your commercial prospecting here ! 

Obtain customer feedback

B2B sales prospecting literally means contacting a large number of prospects. Your discussions will help you detect recurring problems between each prospect, in order to direct your speech and sign more.

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Constructive feedback is always welcome! 

Effective b2b sales prospecting techniques

B2B commercial prospecting: traditional techniques 

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It started in the pre-2000s! Sorry for getting old. 

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Before the Internet, it existed 4 main prospecting techniques: 

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Le Cold Calling: 

Your salespeople contact people who don’t yet know the company. Nowadays, it seems intrusive as a prospecting technique, right? 

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Except that at the time, there was no Facebook, no Linkedin, no websites to find out about a company. When well prepared, it was a super effective prospecting technique! The salesperson still had to know the prospect inside and out to hope to get a positive response. 

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Networking in physics: 

This one still exists, of course! Attending trade shows, conferences or any other professional event allows you to meet your prospects in person. Seeing the person physically remains the key element to gaining the prospect's trust and engaging in more informal conversations.

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Word of mouth: 

Universal affirmation: word of mouth is an unstoppable technique since your prospects listen more to their peers than to the company selling its product. If you are referred, you have a 90% chance of signing. 

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Postal mail: 

It’s rare to still receive postal letters for prospecting. Although, since we're all overloaded with emails, maybe it's a good prospecting idea again? 🧐

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All of these prospecting techniques are called analog prospecting. 

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Be careful, certain prospecting techniques remain very effective depending on the context! 

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(Personally, I am convinced that word of mouth is the holy grail of prospecting. Can you imagine: your customers are prospecting for you?!) 

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The b2b commercial prospecting: modern techniques

Back in 2024! 

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In addition to traditional techniques, several current techniques are available to you to optimize your prospecting:

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L’emailing

The one we love as much as we hate! It is still a widely used channel in B2B to make contact and stay in touch with prospects. A well-targeted email campaign, which sends the right content based on the prospect’s purchasing cycle: a winning strategy! 

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Social networks 

This part could have been titled “LinkedIn”. In 2024, not using LinkedIn for B2B sales prospecting is like looking for a needle in a haystack, when all the needles are in the sewing kit. It is THE ideal platform for: 

• get in touch
• share content 
• develop your network

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Inbound Marketing (= Content Marketing) 

Unlike Outbound Marketing (the salesperson goes looking for the prospect), Inbound Marketing consists of attracting prospects to oneself, by creating and publishing content (blog articles, white papers, webinars, etc.). 

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All of these techniques will allow you to reach your prospects in a more targeted way.

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Speaking of targeting 👇

The importance of targeting in B2B commercial prospecting

Why it is essential to properly target and segment your prospecting 

Prospecting without targeting is like shooting arrows in the dark: you risk missing your target every time 😬

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Targeting will avoid you waste of time. Without targeting, your prospecting will be ineffective. 

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Imagine: out of 300 prospects, only 10 have real needs that you will meet. You are wasting your time contacting 290 companies who will quickly tell you “no”. Outch! 

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Thanks to personalized B2B commercial prospecting, you will therefore improve your conversion rate. The more specific you are in your targeting, the more likely you are to transform a prospect into a customer. More conversion, less rejection. 

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How to target your prospecting using your Ideal Customer Profile

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The ideal customer profile (ICP = Ideal Customer Profile in English) is a very relevant tool for refining your B2B commercial prospecting. Thanks to a set of criteria, you will be able to know the company that requires the most of your product or service. 

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Among these criteria, you will find: 

• Demographic data (turnover, sector of activity, company size, location, type of structure, etc.). 
• Their specific needs (do they need automation? Ease in their HR process?) 
• Buying behavior (how your prospects make decisions, who is involved, etc.). 

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Here is an example of a complete KPI:

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Once each company's KPI is defined, you can group them into sub-segments (e.g. segment by company size, by industry, by common behavior). 

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No need to do it by hand: tools like Humanlinker can help better target prospects by automating the collection and analysis of data on companies and their members. In just a few clicks, know who matches the criteria and who is part of your target. 

How to organize your B2B commercial prospecting?

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The watchword of B2B commercial prospecting: the organization ! 

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Between the different prospects, their specific needs and the messages addressed to them, it is difficult to navigate. Unless you have an organization worthy of the name. 

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Your organization will be effective if it allows: 

• a saving of time 
• better prioritization 
• a follow-up efficlear  

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How to organize yourself well? This is what we will see right away 👇

The method of organization

The companies that have the best conversion rates are those that have a very specific organization.

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You can, for example: 

• Segment your prospects : As mentioned above, segmenting your prospects according to specific criteria will help you tailor your messages for each business.
• To plan : you could establish a calendar or a to-do with a list of tasks to accomplish each day, or even objectives to achieve each week (e.g.: contact 10 people in this segment, follow up with those who have not responded within 2 last weeks, etc.). 
• To prioritize : among your prospect segments, some would be more interesting to deal with first, in particular because the sales cycle is shorter, or because they are more qualified. Don’t hesitate to distribute efforts according to your ICP! 

The importance of CRM

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To do this, nothing better than a good old CRM (Customer Relationship Management = customer management tool in French)! 

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A CRM is a tool aimed at gathering, managing and analyzing customer data, from discovery to purchase. 

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Firstly, the management tool allows all information about the prospect to be grouped together in one place, to facilitate monitoring and management. It also allows you to automate tasks (follow-up emails, reminders, etc.). 

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The holy grail of a CRM: it analyzes data and the results of the content sent, in order to adjust according to the results, for better performance. 

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Since we are talking about word of mouth in this article, we recommend these CRMs: 

• Hubspot
• Salesforce
• Zendesk

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It’s a gift 😊

Commercial follow-up and reminders 

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If you send a prospecting message and get no response, what are you going to do? 

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• Answer A: nothing, I'm waiting for him to answer me
• Answer B: I follow up with my prospect
• Answer C: I block it 
• Answer D: answer D 

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The correct answer is obviously B! It is neither by blocking nor by doing anything that you will maintain the prospect’s interest. 

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In this case, you have plenty of other ways to follow up: either by sending a reminder on the same platform that you used for the first message, or by going through another channel: social networks, emails, telephone, etc. 

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Maintaining the link means establishing a relationship of trust with your prospect. Rather essential before a purchasing decision, right?

The different B2B commercial prospecting channels

Multiple commercial prospecting channels mean more chance of reaching your prospects.

Let's summarize the main prospecting channels: 

Physical prospecting

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Physical prospecting includes in-person meetings and professional events. It is ideal for sectors where trust is essential. You will create a direct link, you will be able to personalize your approach and your conversations. 

Mail

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Do you think the letter dates from the Middle Ages? Us too! 

Finally…at a time when everything is digital, sending a prospecting letter can be an ultra-effective differentiation strategy!

Email 

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Email, we love it or we hate it. We love it! In B2B commercial prospecting, it is one of the most effective tools, provided the email is particularly well thought out: 

• A clear objective 
• Personalization 
• Relevant content
• A clear call to action

Social media posts

When it comes to social networks, LinkedIn is THE ideal platform for B2B commercial prospecting. Opportunities for exchanges and initiating conversations are very easy. Add to that a touch of customization, and that’s it! (You will have understood, we are a FAN of personalization!)

Phone

By prospecting verbally, you will get immediate responses and instant feedback. This is a good strategy when you want to add a human side to your prospecting. Be careful to be well informed about the prospect, in order to avoid sharing bad information directly!

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Even better: if you use these channels simultaneously, you will have a much better chance of attracting leads and converting. This is what we call the multichannel prospecting, And we wrote an article on the subject. It was nothing ! 

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The importance of compliance during b2b sales prospecting

Let's get down to business... What about the regulations around data protection (which are becoming more and more strict)? 

Regulations to respect during b2b commercial prospecting 

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The CNIL (National Commission for Information Technology and Liberties) focuses on 3 specific points: 

• The consent : prospects must have consented to being contacted (especially via digital channels such as email). 
• The possibility of unsubscription : Prospects can unsubscribe from mailing lists for free and easily if they wish. 
• The data retention : prospect data must be kept secure and not stored beyond the time necessary for its use. 

Best practices for respecting compliance during b2b commercial prospecting

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To prospect effectively while paying according to the rules, here is a list of best practices to put in place today (if you have not already done so): 

• Be transparent : you must clearly inform your prospects about how you got their contact details and what you are going to do with them (by email or on your website); 
• Update your contact list : do not hesitate to delete unsubscribed prospects, those who have requested to be unsubscribed and even those who never engage with your content (this will increase your opening rate, by the way!);
• Train your teams : your sales prospecting teams must know the compliance rules in order to avoid sanctions.

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PS: being in good standing will increase the prospect's trust in your company ;) 

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Conclusion

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Here are the 3 key points to remember to succeed in your B2B commercial prospecting: 

• prospecting requires rigorous organization (with the right tools, it is very easy to set up)
• and precise targeting : an ICP + sub-segments + personalization = successful commercial prospecting 
• the use of several channels simultaneously, in order to maximize your chances of engaging and converting. 

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Don’t hesitate to try it and tell us how it worked for you! 

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And don’t forget to test Humanlinker, for effective B2B commercial prospecting: 

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