Double your sales: 10 business prospecting methods

How do you go about business prospecting? Succeed in business prospecting and find new customers? Business prospecting definition. 10 effective prospecting methods for prospecting a market.

Getting prospects for your company and turning them into leads are the basic elements of a sales cycle.

Without prospects, there would be no leads. And without leads in your sales funnel, you can't make sales.

Getting leads is the first key ingredient to business success. Here's how to accumulate more of them, by doing your business prospecting right. But first...

What is the definition of business prospecting?

Prospecting is the act of finding new customers.

A prospect is therefore a person, a department of a company or an entire enterprise, who has an interest in your company and your product. A prospect is a person who has a need, desire and/or interest in what you offer.

Business prospecting is therefore the act of canvassing companies to turn them into customers. This mission is usually carried out by a sales prospector or sales team.

Now that we've agreed on the purpose of prospecting. Let's start looking at how to carry out sales prospecting!"

How to carry out sales prospecting for your company?

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Prospects can be canvassed in a number of ways:

• Online. Via social media, for example.
• In the physical world. At a trade show.
• Or they may contact you first. Visiting your website or answering a form.

But to make your business prospecting easier, in this article you'll find different types of prospecting and above all 10 business prospecting methods to make finding new customers easier. Here they are:

Keep in mind, when reading these 10 prospecting methods, that you're first and foremost responding to a problem your future customers have. You're there to help them solve it, so there's no reason why they shouldn't be happy with what you're offering.

#1 Prospecting on social networks (social selling).

Social networks are the manna of the business world. They offer not only a great way to connect with your customers, but also a new place for you to do your business prospecting. Showcase your business, your team, your results or the achievements of your company.

Most importantly, it's a great way to start building and nurturing relationships. Start conversations, share relevant content and generally get to know the companies you're prospecting.

Also use the Facebook pages of the companies you're prospecting to find out more about what they offer. This will enable you to make personalized proposals based on their needs. A big plus for getting warm leads.

automation tools can also make this task of prospecting on social networks easier for you.

At Boostfluence, we've already helped thousands of companies automate their Instagram accounts. The aim being to help them gain visibility with the prospects they were targeting and develop their sales more easily.

If this interests you for your business prospecting, here's what more about instagram automation.

#2 Prospecting thanks to influencers.

Connect with influencers on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn ect. and communicate with them.

Share some of their content and by the law of reciprocity, they'll share some of yours.

This way, they'll market prospect your business and ultimately recommend your brand and product to their entire audience. You'll also gain notoriety and credibility with other companies who may follow or collaborate with this influencer.

Once your message has received the seal of approval from an expert in your industry, your potential prospects will feel much more confident. They will then start to follow you, share your content, subscribe to your newsletter, contact you and eventually buy from you.

Collaborating with influencers therefore has nothing but positives for your business or customer prospecting.

#3 Social proof in your business prospecting.

Publish case studies and success stories of people and companies who have achieved success thanks to you and your product or service.

Use positive feedback is a sales technique to convince your new prospects. You should also learn from negative comments to improve your business and prospecting.

This social proof will give people the confidence to check out your website. Once on it, they'll be able to sign up for a free trial and become leads in your sales pipeline.

#4 Content for business prospecting.

Good marketing content is one of the easiest and most effective ways to attract leads to your business.

Good content relevant to your target audience is the key to prospecting a market. It's what will make people subscribe to your networks, share your content with others and, help you build a loyal audience.

This loyal audience is your potential future customers who could be encouraged to become your loyal customers.In any case, as soon as they encounter the problem you solve for people or businesses. They'll think of you and contact you immediately, knowing about your business, your results and simply wanting to buy your products or services.

Look at something as simple as a blog post or a infographic; These are elements that can be shared easily and ad infinitum!"

Why? Because sharing knowledge and information is something we all do, and the company that publishes this content becomes something of an expert in the field.And who doesn't want to do business with an expert?

#5 Find customers at events and trade shows.

Meet new people!

As effective and practical as some of the digital approaches to getting leads are. Good old-fashioned networking should still be an essential part of your weekly routine and prospecting plan.

Engage with people face-to-face, tell them about you, your company and your product, and ask them questions about themselves.

Exchange contact details, add them to your prospect file and keep in touch.

You'll certainly learn a lot from this new contact, and collaboration with other departments could also make your business prospecting easier.

#6 Retain your best customers.

Make existing customers your ambassadors!

The cost of retaining a customer is much lower than that of acquiring a new one.

Loyal customers tend to buy more and spend more. So treat them well and they'll recommend you (which is the best thing that can happen to you).

Word-of-mouth is undoubtedly one of the most powerful tools a company can use to increase its number of leads. So make sure your customers have something good to say about you.

Discover how to encourage word-of-mouth.

#7 Use promotional emails as a sales technique.

Use'emailing and automated communications to stay in touch with your prospects, follow up and turn them into customers.

Expand your audience and get your message across to more and more people. Nurture leads and navigate the sales funnel with targeted content distributed by email, your prospecting will be all the better.The advantage of mailing is that it can be used in conjunction with other tools such as social networks or networking events. Don't hesitate to multiply your contact methods.

#8 Optimize your website to convert your hot leads.

Chances are, your website is the first point of contact between a potential customer and your company. So make sure your website (every page, not just the home page) is up to the task.

Make the whole experience user-friendly. Check that it's easy to find information and that site navigation is good. Use keywords and don't forget to include a registration and/or contact form!

Make sure that every page gives the visitor the opportunity to register to receive your content.

#9 Don't ignore small prospecting methods.

Some of the ways we find prospects are so small that we tend to forget about them.

For example, do you have a fish bowl on your counter where people can put their business cards if they want to receive communications from you or make recommendations to improve your business? Do you have a call to action such as "Give us a call now" or "Visit our website" in your e-mail signature?If not, you might want to think about it. These are very effective and simple methods when'you don't know how to do sales prospecting.

#10 Focus on long-term relationships.

It's easy to focus on acquiring your next sale. But unless you have a long-term vision and focus, you're doomed.

You'll find prospects that could turn into leads and then into sales. But don't forget that during this time, you're also nurturing a relationship. A relationship between you and a potential customer, and ideally, you'd like them to stay with you for the long term, not just buy and go.If nurtured properly, a large proportion of your leads can turn into qualified prospects who will remain loyal to your company.

Conclusion: Everything you need to know about business prospecting.

You now know these 10 methods to facilitate your business prospecting. It's up to you to put them into practice to develop your business.

If you'd like us to help you, feel free to launch your Boostfluence trial to start developing your prospecting on Instagram.