Sales prospecting is, quite simply, the process of searching for and identifying potential customers for your business.<\/p>\n
In other words, it is about finding people who match your different audience personas in order to nurture them into becoming your paying customers.<\/p>\n
So, where do you start?<\/p>\n
Prospects are not leads \u2013 thought I would get that out of the way as soon as possible. A lead can be anyone who expresses some sort of interest in your company, for example by subscribing to your email list, attending one of your webinars, or downloading a resource from your website.<\/p>\n
Prospects, on the other hand, might not have anything to do with your business \u2013 maybe they haven\u2019t heard of you or simply haven\u2019t checked out your website or other channels yet. But, they are a target buyer. They tick most, if not all the boxes of the ideal customer.<\/p>\n
The idea is to be proactive and find these prospects so that you can nurture them into being your customers.<\/p>\n
The first step should be establishing what makes a prospect\u2026well, a prospect. When you clearly know who you are targeting you can focus on those prospects that not only have a real need for your product or service\u00a0but also have the means to purchase it.<\/p>\n
There are several things you should consider when scoring a prospect:<\/strong><\/p>\n Once you know what makes someone a good prospect for your business, you can start searching for sales prospects:<\/p>\n Technology now allows\u00a0sales teams<\/a>\u00a0to find prospects more easily than ever before \u2013 and a big reason for that is social media, particularly LinkedIn, although other social networks can be just as rich in prospects (maybe just a bit more difficult to find than on LinkedIn).<\/p>\n Another big reason? Tools: there are a plethora of useful tools that can help you prospect faster than any sales person would\u2019ve dreamed of even just 15 years ago.<\/p>\n LinkedIn might just be the most powerful sales prospect search engine that we have at our\u00a0disposal.<\/strong>\u00a0Not only can you search for companies that meet your criteria and see exactly who works there, how many years they have worked there, and what their job title is (among other useful information) but you can also see most, if not all of the information you need to score your prospects.<\/p>\n However, if you want to get more out of LinkedIn from a sales perspective, then you will need to either get a pro plan or, better yet, get the\u00a0LinkedIn Sales Navigator<\/a>. That is because LinkedIn definitely knows its power as a sales tool, so they limit the number of searches you can perform with a free profile.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n And beyond getting more searches, you also get a lot of other useful features that will help you find better prospects as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n One of its most appealing features is the \u2018advanced lead search\u2019 which lets you search for prospects based on numerous filters, such as location (and even postal code), their title role and function, their security level, years of experience, and years at current company, past company, and many more.<\/p>\n This can help you generate a lot of targeted results and high-quality prospects based on the exact criteria you need. Plus, LinkedIn Sales Navigators will also provide lead recommendations based on your needs and criteria, helping you save more time.<\/p>\n\n
How to Find Sales Prospects<\/h2>\n
LinkedIn and LinkedIn Sales Navigator<\/h3>\n