Commercial prospecting software is a tool that facilitates the search for new customers for a company. It is used to continuously feed the commercial pipeline and identify short -term projects among customers. It also makes it possible to collect and centralize information on prospects, so that salespeople can contextualize contact and maximize their performance.

Today, prospecting is available on numerous commercial tools and channels . Companies prospect on the web, on social media, by telephone, by email, at trade shows. A prospecting solution makes it possible to adopt omnichannel management of prospecting actions. In other words, it guarantees the consistency of actions thanks to the centralization of data and the overall management of commercial activity.

Prospect well: the features of a commercial prospecting tool

Contact and customer management

The first feature of prospecting software is the construction of a prospect database . Whatever the prospecting methods used by the company, the tool centralizes contact data.

It contains both profile information (contact identity, position held, company, email address, telephone number, etc.) and behavioral data (interaction history, maturity level assessment, lead scoring, etc.).

Centralizing this information in a single tool then makes it possible to:

• Segment the base according to the criteria of your choice (position, geographical area, maturity level, etc.)
• Perform simple or advanced searches in the contact database
• Manage prospecting actions (teleprospecting, email campaigns, etc.)

Managing marketing campaigns

Prospecting is not just about handling prospects by sales teams. Upstream, you must create a continuous flow of prospects, a commercial pipeline. The prospecting software therefore covers all stages of the conversion tunnel, from the first contact to closing. These software are real tools that also act as facilitators of marketing activity.

Email marketing automation

When prospects are cold or still in the discovery phase, they don't know the company and are only just beginning to identify their problem. At this stage, their purchase intention is low. They are therefore not ready for immediate commercial support. Your salespeople will also be better employed doing what they do best: closing sales with hot prospects.

Marketing automation (and particularly email marketing automation ) will make it possible to automatically process leads that are not yet mature. In your prospecting tool, you can program automated email sequences to mature prospects and assess their purchasing intention.

Lead scoring

By using dedicated commercial software for prospecting, you will also benefit from the lead scoring functionality. Lead scoring consists of assigning a score to the prospect, corresponding to their maturity level. For each interaction with your emails or the content of your site, the prospect receives points. For example, +10 if they click on a link in an email or -5 if they did not open the message.  

When the lead reaches a previously defined score, it is considered mature enough for a sales qualification call. The prospecting tool automatically triggers the relay between marketing and sales.

Management of commercial actions

Using a B2B prospecting tool facilitates the management of commercial activity. In fact, it allows salespeople to very quickly identify mature prospects who should be contacted as a priority.  

In addition, each prospect sheet summarizes the history of interactions. When the salesperson prepares his call, he knows exactly which marketing messages the prospect reacted to. This information is very useful for personalizing and contextualizing the contact.

Reporting and management of commercial activity

The interest of prospecting software also lies in its functionalities and reporting tools. Indeed, a commercial strategy is based on precise objectives. When implementing the strategy, sales managers also determine KPIs to monitor the performance of the actions carried out.

The prospecting tool allows you to generate reports and dashboards to monitor campaign results in real time and, if necessary, readjust the action plan.