Finding new B2B customers doesn’t have to be an uphill battle. In fact, you can leverage a few key strategies and start finding new customers and clients this month.
Today, I’m going to break down the two big buckets of sales and marketing. And by the way, your B2B company must be doing both sales AND marketing to ensure you have new leads coming in during the short-term and long-term.
That said, I’m going to primarily focus on sales, as that’s my main area of expertise. But don’t worry, I’m also covering some critical marketing tactics. You can find new B2B customers by performing outbound sales and inbound marketing, consistently over time.
So let’s dive right in.
A Sales Approach to Finding New B2B Customers
Any sales activity is an outbound initiative. This means you are reaching out (hence, outbound) to potential new b2b customers. What I love about sales is that YOU are in complete control of your own destiny. You can almost literally write your own ticket to success. Hear me out…
If my team of sales development reps (SDRs) make 1,000 calls in a day, collectively, then I can assume we’d have 60 conversations with our target decision makers (not gatekeepers) that day. From these 60 conversations, we should net 20 meetings / demos. And keep in mind this is the fortune 500 type of target we’re after.
Diving a bit deeper, if you’re averaging 20 meetings/demos per day throughout the month, that’s 400 meetings/demos for the month, or 4,800 for the year. That’s a LOT of sales qualified meetings. Even if your product is garbage (which I’m sure it’s not), you’ll still be signing loads of deals from that call volume. Of course, there is a sales cycle involved, so this isn’t immediate revenue.
But now for the kicker… assuming you do have a great product or service, imagine what following a proven sales methodology can do for your company. If you schedule, say, 100 meetings in a month, imagine what scheduling 500 meetings in a month will do for your bottom line. And if 20 new customers are converting each month, imagine the heights 100-500 new customers or clients can take your business to.
Sure, the numbers above might seem like an oversimplification. And in some ways it is because there are many, many factors and variables to consider. But my point is that if your goal is to find new B2B customers, then you must prime the pump (make daily cold calls) to earn new business.
I’ve already written a handful of guides on how (and when!) to cold call effectively. But if you don’t have an outbound sales strategy in place, this is your first order of business. Come up with a simple plan and stick to it. If possible, hire a small team of SDRs and a couple of closers. Or… if you really want to prime the pump and get qualified sales appointments hitting your calendar daily, hire it out to a lead generation service like C-Level Partners (it’s what we do).
RELATED: Referral Based Selling Tips and Tricks
Step-by-Step Strategy to Acquire New Customers
All right, now you know outbound sales – specifically cold calling – is your ticket to success as a B2B business owner or salesperson. But now how do you find new B2B customers armed with this knowledge?
Easy. Just follow the strategy I outline below.
7 Steps to Finding New Customers for your B2B company (basic sales strategy):
Step 1 – Get a call list. If you can, build your call lists internally as the data/info will be more accurate and right in line with your target prospects. You can do this with Zoom Info, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, or any number of lead-list builders. You can also buy lists – just be sure to buy quality lists from a reputable source (it matters).
Step 2 – Do your homework. If your team has mobile numbers to call, have them do some research on the decision makers they’re calling. It only takes a few minutes to learn the prospect’s name and title, any recent news headlines (ex. the company was acquired or won a prestigious award), and if possible the prospect’s personal interests or hobbies.
Step 3 – Call with confidence. When the prospect picks up, act like you’ve been there before. By that I mean you need to be confident and not apologetic. Remember, you are doing them a favor by reaching out. Confidence is the key to getting past decision makers and setting appointments.
Step 4 – Qualify your prospect. When you get a decision maker on the phone, ask B.A.N.T. That stands for budget, authority, need, and timing. If you don’t get a green light on all of these, probe a little deeper, but don’t waste too much time. You’re barking up the wrong tree if they simply don’t have the budget or have no need for your product.
Step 5 – Speak authoritatively and listen empathetically. Again, speak with authority/confidence and leverage tonality, but also be sure to listen, listen, listen. When I say listen empathetically, I mean really try to put yourself in your prospect’s shoes. What is motivating them? Where are their pain points? And what are they looking for in terms of solutions? This is all vital info when it comes to overcoming objections and closing the deal.
Step 6 – Ask for the sale. You need to have a call to action (CTA) in your pitch. That is – you need to very specifically ask for their business. Don’t just pitch them and sit in awkward silence. Too many deals die this death. Even if it’s an implied-close, you need to do something to express your intentions. (An implied close might sound like this: “Mr. prospect, you said you could benefit from my product and could start using it this month, so you can sign right here to get started).
Step 7 – Ask for referrals. Once you’ve closed the deal, be sure to circle back and ask for referrals. The referral close rate is astronomical at 60%+. The more trust and rapport you build with your current customers, the more they’ll be willing to refer you to their business colleagues. You should start a referral system and always be asking for referrals.
RELATED: B2B Sales Strategy – A Proven Strategy to Crush at Sales
A Marketing Approach to Finding New B2B Customers
I will go into greater depth in another post on marketing methods to find new customers. But for now, let’s quickly discuss a few tried-and-true B2B marketing tactics.
Start a Podcast
If you have a specific expertise on a product or service (which you do!), then why not start a podcast? You can start a podcast for free and interested buyers will come looking for you, instead of the other way around. If you don’t know what you’d talk about, just bring on guests and have a Q&A interview style. Think Joe Rogan, only less DMT and elk hunting.
Create a YouTube Channel
Similar to a podcast, a YouTube channel is basically free to start and you can use it as a top-of-funnel marketing mechanism. That is, people will find you through organic YouTube search, they will watch your video, and they will click on your link in the description to visit your site and ultimately purchase your product or service. Just know that podcasts and YouTube channels require some ramp-up time, just like sales, so don’t expect overnight success.
Use HARO (Help a Reporter Out)
This is a rather unique, but effective, way to build authority in your niche and find new B2B customers. HARO is a website that allows you to act as your own PR agency. Reporters will ask questions for their articles, you answer their questions, and if they like your answer they will put you in their publication with a link to your website.
Now, those are just three marketing tactics for earning new business. But there are other highly effective ways to find new customers, including creating and maintaining a blog, industry events, search engine optimization (SEO), social media and community building, and more.
Does marketing work? Absolutely. Just like sales, though, there’s a marketing cycle. The magic doesn’t happen overnight. The work that you put in today might not pay off for three months, six months, or longer. But sure enough you’re priming the pump so that when the water does begin to flow, you should have plenty to drink in the months and years to come.
Consistency Trumps Velocity
In the intro of this article I wrote, “You can find new B2B customers by performing outbound sales and inbound marketing, consistently over time.” And so before we wrap this up, I just need to highlight the final clause of that sentence: “consistently over time.”
Consistency is king. You may not have the resources to call 1,000 or even 500 prospects in a day, and that’s OK. Just be sure that each and every day prospects are being dialed. If you slowly chip away at a giant tree over time, it will fall in time.
If your strategy is slow and steady, don’t worry because slow and steady can win the race. Of course, I always recommend hiring out your lead generation to a professional firm, because consistency + velocity = massive success. But if you have to keep it in-house, then something is always better than nothing.
So get out there and close some deals.
Until next time…
Jonny-Lee Reinoso