What is B2B Prospecting?

Various sales and marketing activities play a role in B2B lead prospecting, which can be divided into outbound and inbound prospecting. Here are the best ways to engage B2B prospects. 👇

1. Cold calling 

Cold calling isn’t dead. It works for booking meetings, especially among C-level and VP prospects. SDRs who call B2B prospects can explain the benefits of their product or service directly to the decision-maker and qualify them for future engagement.

That said, cold calling can be a real motivation-killer if reps don’t have prospects’ accurate phone numbers and need to navigate gatekeepers instead of having meaningful conversations. We’ve addressed that issue at Cognism by providing highly accurate mobile phone data (aka Diamond Data®) to deliver the best possible results with fewer calls.

So if you’re struggling to find mobile numbers with your current providers, choose Cognism. You’ll have plenty of mobiles to choose from! Cognism is a global leader in accurate cell phone numbers.

From ZoomInfo & LeadIQ to Cognism

Drift has used Cognism's 98% accurate mobile numbers to enrich its existing data and book 70% of its outbound meetings. The investment was returned in under 30 days gaining an immediate buy-in from Drift’s CFO. 

2. Outbound email 

Email is a popular method when prospecting for business. Sales reps will send B2B prospects an outbound cadence to initiate a conversation. You can use email automation platforms to make this part of the prospecting process more manageable. 

You’ll need a compliant B2B data list for this technique to work. Companies like Evalian and Younium have used Cognism’s data to win 67% more opportunities from outbound sourced deals and book 50% more meetings!

Hook your ideal B2B prospect! Check out Cognism’s favourite cold-calling resources. Get cadences, cold calling scripts and on-demand training.👇

3. Social selling 

Business-to-business prospecting wouldn’t be what it is without social media.

Here's where social selling comes in. SDRs follow B2B prospects on social media, engage with them and develop relationships over time. LinkedIn is the B2B sector’s most popular social network. 

You can learn more about social selling by clicking on these resource links: 

LinkedIn prospecting guide | Social selling on LinkedIn | LinkedIn messaging templates | LinkedIn voice notes | Personal selling

4. Sales cadences 

The combination of all of the above techniques is known as a cadence. SDRs deploy email cadences, LinkedIn messages and cold calls together. This method often increases the chances of a B2B prospect responding.

Here are some of our favourite cadence resources: 

The ultimate B2B prospecting cadence | How to build a winning cadence for sales leaders | How to build a winning cadence for CEOs | Cold email templates

5. Sales demos

The previous four B2B prospecting methods aim to get prospects to agree to attend a sales demo. A demo is a live demonstration of a product or service conducted by a BDM and is an integral part of the sales process. 

Look at these resources for insights into nailing your next demo:

Sales discovery calls and questions | How to conduct a sales demo | Admin: the unsung hero of closing sales | Ghosted? How to reactivate your closed-lost deals

6. Paid 

Also known as pay-per-click or PPC. Paid is an online advertising strategy carried out by performance marketers. Companies pay a fee whenever a business prospect clicks on one of their ads. The goal is to drive traffic to websites/content and increase conversions. 

Watch Canberk Beker and Tim Hughes unpack Cognism’s paid social strategy. They discuss how to create top-performing paid social ads and deep dive into our best creatives. 👇 

7. Content marketing

Content is part of a marketing strategy that includes publishing relevant and valuable content. Another aspect is promoting it to your target prospects across your lead sources.

Content can take many forms, including blogs, videos, webinars, podcasts and eBooks.

To get the most out of content marketing, hosting informative webinars is a good prospecting idea. This tactic will bring in more inbound leads for your sales team to enter into a sales funnel. 

You might also find our prospect marketing resources useful: 

Tips for creating content that Google will love | Money keywords SEO strategy | Inbound vs outbound marketing | The best B2B marketing strategies | What is Account Based Marketing (ABM)? | How to build the perfect ABM campaign

8. Email marketing 

Campaign marketers manage this B2B prospecting strategy. It involves planning and executing B2B marketing campaigns delivered to prospects via email. The goal is to convert B2B sales prospects who are ready to buy or nurture those who aren’t. 

These prospecting activities aim to generate opportunities and feed qualified prospects to the sales team. They will then take over the final stages of the B2B prospecting process, such as conducting sales demos and closing deals.

To achieve the best results, you might want to explore investing in a B2B email list provider like Cognism.

You can improve your B2B prospecting efforts by signing to the latest sales insights from Cognism’s VP of Global Sales, Jonathon Ilett, and Cognism’s VP of US Sales, Frida Ottosson, to get:

• Actionable tactics and strategies that will help you achieve the next level of growth.
• Two emails a month, less than a 2-minute read each. No spam – value only 👇

Where to get B2B prospecting data from?

One of the reliable sources of data for B2B prospecting is company and contact databases that provide up-to-date cell phone numbers and email addresses for prospects. Providers like Cognism allow you to generate prospect lists in your target accounts thanks to the advanced filters (seniority, job title, etc.).

Additionally, you can use intent data and sales event triggers to prioritise prospects who are ready to buy. Then, you can sync the lists to your CRM.

Here is why 2000+ revenue teams choose Cogism as their B2B prospecting data provider:

• Accurate and up-to-date global contact database.
• The best mobile phone number coverage in the US.
• The most complete data in the EMEA. 
• Manually verified mobile data with 98% accuracy and verification service on request.
• Unrestricted access to viewing and page-level exporting global data in all packages (subject to fair use).
• CCPA & GDPR compliance (including broad DNC lists scrubbing and notified emails).
• Sales triggers and firmographics in every package.
• Seamless integrations with your existing tech stack and workflows.
• Intent data powered by Bombora.
• Web app and browser extension (works over LinkedIn, CRMs, sales engagement tools, and corporate websites).

Why is B2B prospecting data important?

Data is vital to the success of B2B prospecting. It’s the bedrock upon which every sales and marketing prospecting activity is built.

SDRs require accurate and compliant data lists to make cold calls, send B2B prospecting emails, and contact leads on social media. BDMs need up-to-date data to gain insights into their prospects, conduct successful demos and close business.

Sales data is also necessary for inbound marketing. Performance, content and campaign marketers use data to research, optimise and analyse their work. A clear focus on data across the team creates a data-driven marketing mindset, leading to improved results.

The answers to the most commonly asked questions about B2B sales prospecting