As far as I am concerned B2B sales still requires a level of cold calling and associated follow up to qualified prospects.  Cold calling itself is definitely not dead. If anything in addition to the cold call, there are more tools than ever for a B2B sales person to employ to drive leads.  My focus in this post is on sales tactics to reach out to and follow up with qualified prospects.

Here are 6 tactics to try:

1. Call before or after business hours

In all honesty, I still feel that in many cases, a direct approach when you contact your target is effective.  The key though is to try to get around the gatekeeper if they have one and to ensure your target has a few moments to speak to you.  One tactic we recommend is calling before or after business hours.  Why?  The gatekeeper may not be in, ensuring your calling is not intercepted.  In addition, a number of busy executives get into the office early and stay late – this is their quiet time to get caught. This may be a good opportunity to get them to pick up the phone.  If successful, keep your message short and sweet, ask some probing questions and then get a sense for the next step.  If the conversation is going well, continue on and push for a meeting or internal referral.

2. Email at night

One tactic I have success with is emailing prospects in the evening.  Many people, myself included habitually check our smartphones at night.  In many cases, given there is less email noise, your prospecting email may get a read and a response.  I remember in one situation, I emailed the CEO of a large gold company around 11pm at night and within 1 hour of that, he responded and put me in touch with the Director responsible for the product I was selling.  Within 1 week of this we had a face to face meeting and proceeded to win the business.

3. Tradeshows

I find tradeshows to be fruitful or a complete waste of time. It depends on the audience and how you invest yourself.  Prior to any tradeshow we attend, we try to line up prospect and client meetings for the event.  At a recent show, we lined up 6 meetings, 2 showed up and 1 is in the process of closing for $42,000.

4. Event sponsorship

This can be particularly effective in niche sales markets.  As an example, one organization we work with sponsors an event for all the provincial conservation authorities every year.  This event has the main contacts from each conservation authority and it is expected that attendees will stop by sponsors booths.  This is a great way to prospect for new leads and keep current contacts warm and stay top of mind with them.

5. Inmail

I personally find Inmail, through LinkedIn, a very effective tool for prospecting.  The inboxes of many of the senior targets you are going after are overflowing as they simply can’t keep up with the electronic bombardment coming at them.  Inmail tends to be less used and can help you separate yourself from all the other noise.

7. Email newsletter

An email newsletter is another way to keep customers and prospects warm.  As your database grows it can become very difficult to cycle back through each contact. An email newsletter that keeps you and your company top of mind is helpful.  In addition, you can track what your customers and prospects are clicking on and if it warrants it, follow up if you see fit.  As an example, a prospect could have clicked to a whitepaper you have recently produced. That could be a good reason to drop them a note to see if they have any questions of if you can assist in any way.

The tips above are just suggestions, I hope you find them useful.  If you are in need of assistance from a sales and marketing perspective feel free to contact me. I would be happy to see if we can help.

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