Your marketing brings in many leads, but your conversion rate remains quite low? You struggle to turn these leads into customers, and therefore feel like you're missing out on many opportunities.
Your first instinct is often to look for the source of the problem within your sales teams. However, difficulty converting prospects can also stem from prospecting errors. And these errors harm your sales performance in the long run.
To help you avoid this, we share in this article 5 prospecting mistakes that you absolutely must avoid .
Mistake #1: Not targeting
Mass prospecting , cold calling, or sending emails to hundreds of random contacts are all tasks you can perform quickly and with minimal effort. However, they can all prove far less profitable than targeted prospecting .
Want to close more sales? Then avoid blindly launching marketing campaigns whenever possible. Before you begin, always clearly identify your target audience and their needs.
To do this, always conduct a study of your target audience . Carry out not only a quantitative study, but also a qualitative one. This will allow you to gather as much information as possible about them (age, gender, location, profession, consumption habits, etc.). Subsequently, you will be able to more easily analyze their opinions and behaviors, and above all, precisely understand their needs .
As you've probably gathered, conducting a persona study will give you a clearer picture of your ideal customers. Once this study is complete, all you'll need to do is identify your target audience .
As a reminder, B2B sales , your target prospects should be identified based on their job function . Therefore, you will need to choose between contacting marketing managers, technical managers, or project managers within a company, for example.
To quickly select and contact these various managers, consider using a good database . If yours isn't yet robust enough, platforms like Magileads can help you build one. This French customer acquisition and retention offers a database of nearly 20 million named B2B contacts, updated daily , ideal for facilitating your targeting strategy. It allows you to choose your contacts based on several criteria (industry, job title, gender, etc.) and then send them automated messages through your preferred channels (email, SMS, VMS, LinkedIn, etc.).
Keep in mind that by targeting effectively, you'll increase your chances of directly contacting the right people . This will also allow you to tailor your sales pitch to their specific needs. In short, it will help you better persuade them and close deals.
Mistake #2: Focusing your messages on your offer rather than on the needs and problems of your prospects
If your messages mainly focus on the features or functionalities of your products, don't expect to make any sales. With that kind of content, you won't convince anyone.
The fact is that today, what B2B prospects want most is the certainty that your products or services can solve their problems . Instead of touting the qualities of your products in your messages, focus on making them understand what you can actually do for them and why they should absolutely do business with you .
To do this, you will obviously need to have identified the needs of your target audience. You will achieve this by avoiding mistake number 1. Once you have clearly defined the needs of your prospects, all you will have to do is offer them your best solutions, emphasizing the concrete benefits these solutions can bring them .
In short, focus on the value you can bring to your potential clients . Reassure them, and instead of trying to sell them your products at all costs, make them feel that if they decide to choose you, they will gain many advantages .
Furthermore, during your initial interactions, always strive to establish a genuine relationship of trust with your prospects . If they ask questions, answer them clearly and precisely. Once convinced and reassured, they will naturally make a purchase from you.
Mistake #3: Not personalizing your offers based on your prospects
If you truly want to close more sales, avoid sending the same messages to all your prospects personalized messages . This way, you can more easily build a personal relationship with them, which will increase your persuasive power.
Furthermore, personalizing your messages is the best way to show your contacts that you've taken the time to research them . Through these messages, you can also let them know that you've truly understood their needs and challenges before deciding to offer them your solutions.
When writing your next prospecting emails , remember to include variables such as your contact's name, job title, or industry. These may seem like small details, but they can make a big difference.
Mistake #4: Not automating your follow-ups
Your target audience didn't respond to your initial message? You'll need to follow up to close sales. However, as you probably already know, sending follow-ups is extremely time-consuming timing is crucial for these follow-ups .
Do you want to be able to re-engage your prospects without being pushy? Do you want to do this before they choose your competitors' offer? Automate your messaging . To do this, use automation tools like those offered by the Magileads platform. These tools will allow you to track your prospects and know exactly when to follow up with them.
Digital tools will also help you to carry out various actions to strengthen your relationships with your prospects . Before automatically sending them follow-ups, they will offer you, for example, the possibility of "lead nurturing," which means sending various relevant content (newsletters, white papers, etc.) to your contacts to gently but surely guide them towards becoming a customer.
Mistake #5: Putting all your eggs in one basket with a single prospecting channel
You are no doubt aware that consumer habits and behaviors are constantly evolving . If you want to increase your sales, don't put all your eggs in one basket. In other words, don't rely solely on a single sales channel .
Certainly, that could work. However, it would mean depriving yourself of all the other sales opportunities you might have by using other channels.
Today, consider using an omnichannel prospecting approach . In addition to email marketing and cold calling , for example, also utilize LinkedIn . Currently, this network is considered one of the most effective channels for B2B sales .
To achieve precise targeting , conduct omnichannel prospecting, or automate email and follow-up campaigns , several marketing automation platforms are now available. One such platform is Magileads: a omnichannel SaaS platform for customer acquisition and retention . Magileads brings together various tools to help businesses better engage their prospects, customers, and partners through the creation and launch of effective marketing campaigns.
