sales prospecting tools

Useful Sales Prospecting Tools for Higher Conversions

Sales prospecting is the foundation of every successful B2B company. In simple terms, it is process of getting high quality prospects that have the high probability of converting to paying customers. Because of technology, sales prospecting has radically changed from generations before. Your target market is more informed and savvier than ever thanks to the internet. To be able to effectively identify and target your ideal customer, you need to well be equipped with the latest sales prospecting tools.

The B2B buyer’s journey has become very complex. There are more decision makers involved. In fact, a report from Forrester estimates that there are now about 7 people included in the process before a choice is made.

Sales prospecting tools help you keep your sales funnel full and the success of your organization depends on how effective you are in generating new leads. Here are some of our favorite sales prospecting tools that you can easily deploy in your own organization.
 

Linkedin

While Linkedin is often associated with job hunting and a great platform for recruiters to look for new talent, it certainly provides value to many sales professionals as a sales prospecting tool.

LinkedIn is a social network that boasts of over 460 million users around the world. Unlike Facebook which is often for personal use, Linkedin is a networking platform where people list important details such as their company, location, role, employment history, educational background and business interests.

It’s a great tool for research using the advanced search capability. This helps you map out possible decision makers involved in the business and get a clearer idea of who you should be talking to within the firm. If you pay for a premium account, you have the opportunity to send messages to people you don’t know directly through inMail. But don’t use a generic sales pitch. Be sure to properly articulate how you can add value or can help solve a pain point.
 

Hunter.io

Hunter.io is a useful tool to find email addresses. It’s a good complement to Linkedin, which often does not show you the person’s email. By entering the prospect’s company website on the Hunter.io search box, it will cull all the available email addresses publicly available on the web. If you are lucky, you will find the person you are looking for. If not, it will give you an idea how team members format their email addresses. The email addresses are also marked verified to give you a better idea if that address is still accurate. Hunter.io helps you build lists or a database of viable prospects.
 

Mailchimp

MailChimp is a very user friendly tool to create great looking newsletters or email campaigns. You don’t need a degree in graphic design to create eye-catching emails. You can choose a ready-made theme and simply upload photos and text and that’s it.

If you have your database on excel or csv file, it’s also very easy to upload on the website. If you have a free account, you can segregate up to 5 lists, but total number of contacts is capped at 2000. It’s a good starting point for small businesses and you can decide later on if you want to upgrade.

If you collect emails on your website through a sign-up form, this can conveniently be synced with Mailchimp so you can build your list directly.
Another benefit of using Mailchimp is that with each campaign you send, it will show you information about who has opened the email and who has clicked which links in your email. This helps you assess who from your database are most engaged and what they are interested in. You can then prioritize which prospects to pursue and follow-up with another email or a call.
 

Vidyard

Because people are distracted by so many things, especially online, it has become more difficult to get their attention. To stand out, savvy salespeople have begun using personal video messages. Vidyard makes it easy to do just that. It is said that using this new sales prospecting tool can boost response rates 5 fold. But don’t just use the same old boring script. Make sure that your message is personal and relevant. It allows you to provide a human touch to an otherwise cold email. While B2B purchases are often considered rational and dispassionate purchases, you have to remember that the people behind the decision-making process are humans who are often affected by emotions whether they are aware of it or not. It is your chance to show your authentic self and exhibit empathy to their needs and challenges. If you have been nurturing this prospect for while, it also helps to customize your messaging according to the stage in their buying process they are in. Sales cadence is key.
 

Hubspot

In today’s complicated sales process, having a CRM system is imperative to keep track of leads, current clients and past customers. It helps your sales team quickly access information and avoids duplicating efforts. You can now do-away with tedious excel sheets that are very hard to keep track of. And if a sales employee suddenly quits or moves on to a different organization, you get to keep information on prospects they are working on.

Hubspot is our CRM of choice. It is easy to install and is quite intuitive. Unlike other CRM platforms where you need to manually input information such as company address, contact numbers, and social media accounts, Hubspot lets you skip these steps by automatically culling relevant information from the company website.

Email campaigns can also be done inside Hubspot as an alternative to Mailchimp. It can also monitor who opened the emails allowing you to see which prospects are more interested in your product and service. This saves you time and effort since you are able to chase hot leads instead of those whose interest have gone cold.

Do you have other sales prospecting tools that helped your business close more deals? Let us know in the comments below. Want you want to learn more marketing tips? Sign up for VA Partners’ email newsletter for a monthly list of our most recent blog posts.

Useful Sales Prospecting Tools for Higher Conversions