The best way to engage new prospects is all the rage in today’s B2B sales world. The truth is who doesn’t like a stream of inbound leads? It’s no secret that a nice list of warm inbound leads that are in the middle of the funnel will close faster and more likely than a list of leads developed from a cold but targeted list. In B2B lead generation, how can you develop that stream of inbound leads or higher percentage engagement to your pipeline? Below, we go over some of the best ways to engage prospects and developing those prospects into your pipeline.
Social Selling
Social Selling or digital selling can help you engage prospects with more credibility and help you warm up those prospects to take to the next stage in the process. Adding people, liking or commenting, posting targeted content to their needs, and giving them a call for a discussion are ways you can better engage and qualify your prospects.
By slightly engaging with them on Linkedin and posting content, you are instantly building a sense of credibility. You are not a faceless person calling them out of the blue and trying to pitch them. When you decide to call them, they will know you and be more familiar with your company which can lead to having better conversations and a higher percentage chance of qualifying them to the next stage of the funnel.
Referrals
Referrals are one of the best and easiest ways to engage prospects. Yet so many salespeople do not use referrals to their advantage. It’s no secret that prospects are more willing to talk to someone based on somebody they know and trust. Think about companies that are hiring like Salesforce.
60% of all new hires from Salesforce are based on referrals. Look at real estate agents, a lot of agents live strictly off referrals. People say the buying journey starts online by googling for a product, but the real journey starts with them asking there sphere of influence on their thoughts on a product which leads to the start of the referral process.
You can use internal referrals and use a top down approach by asking who is the person responsible for so and so and if they wouldn’t mind introducing you to the appropriate person. You would be surprised at how many people are willing to help get you to the right person. Call your best clients as well and ask them to introduce you to someone in there network that you can help in regards to your product.
Old School Networking
These days everyone is trying to come up with the newest and freshest ways of engaging prospects through new technology or some new idea or gimmick. Sometimes there are strategies that will never die.
Just like referrals, old school networking will never die and is probably the easiest way to engage with new people. Have great conversations with people at events or shows, and collect as many cards as you can to build out your prospect list.
Send an email to each card and tell them it was great meeting them and also thank them for the conversation. Add them to your email nurturing list, give them a call to discuss some of their needs, and see if they are a fit for your companies products. It’s just that easy!
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