Not all companies resort to database purchasing. The risk of obtaining low quality files or being penalized by webmail and ISP filtering rules are obstacles to this approach. They prefer to build their database themselves through lead generation campaigns. But it takes time.

Is it then possible to prospect effectively with a small database? The answer is yes. Your results are largely based on the quality of your prospecting methods, and not on the quantity of your contacts.  

Here's a guide to getting you on the right track and making your sales prospecting more profitable, even if you only have a small database. 

Prospecting with a small database: mission impossible?

It is not necessarily necessary to have a large, very sophisticated database. It is entirely possible to prospect even with a small database, but all the more functional and efficient.

One of the main facets of sales prospecting is identifying the customers for whom the product or service is best suited. This involves searching for prospects with a real need in order to offer them the appropriate solution . It is therefore essential that your prospect database includes the majority of the contacts of your most qualified prospects. Indeed, it is better to have a list of prospects who are much more likely to convert, rather than a list of contacts who will only inflate your database, but without results.

It is possible to create your prospect list from a simple Excel file, using specific tools or simply from a template downloaded online. Indeed, you can build your own prospect database yourself, but you can also buy a ready-made database. However, the problem with the latter is that it does not always meet your commercial objective, or that the contacts it offers do not always correspond to your target.

You can also use a prospecting platform. Magileads provides its users with a database of 20 million B2B contacts updated daily to guarantee the freshness of the data. The tool gives you the ability to filter your contacts based on different criteria (position, sector, location) to send targeted campaigns. Choosing our platform is a good alternative to purchasing a database, discover our online demo →

How to enrich your database?

The more relevant information you have about your prospects, the more you can regularly offer them tailor-made offers, and therefore make more sales. But how can you enrich your prospect database? Before answering this question, please be aware that the collection, processing and retention of personal data in the course of a commercial activity is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which applies to European residents . It would be wise for you to understand your obligations before putting into practice the advice that we will present to you below:

1 – Establish contact forms on your website

Setting up a simple contact or registration form on your website can allow you to collect contact details from visitors interested in your business or who want to learn more about your business. So you can have a quality database without much effort. Instead of going for them, let them come to you willingly. Once they fill out your form, you can send them an email or contact them directly by phone to set up an appointment with your sales manager.

2 – Offer quality content: 

80% of B2B marketers believe that their content strategy helped them gain notoriety in 2020. 75% of them say that content marketing greatly contributes to their credibility (Source: B2B content marketing, CMI 2022). These few statistics say a lot about the power of content marketing.

In a prospecting process , you can offer your content in exchange for the contact details of your visitors. For example, create a white paper and place it on your site so your visitors can download it in exchange for their contact details, and then you can integrate the contact details provided into your prospect database. Additionally, you can use different types of content, not just white papers. You have a large number of choices between blog articles, videos, reports, podcasts, newsletters… the key is to know how to use them to gain customers!

3 – Choose the right prospecting tool: 

There are numerous possibilities on the web to find, contact and establish a relationship with your potential customers. You can search and find many leads that match your target. You can save them in your database, but as soon as their number becomes larger and larger, you will no longer be able to manage them manually. This is why it is important to adopt a powerful tool to help you better manage, feed, automate and monitor your prospecting campaigns.   

The objective is to simplify your B2B prospecting by transforming your simple visitors into qualified prospects. The Magileads platform has a complete technological base that allows sales teams to successfully carry out their prospecting campaigns. Once you have access to the platform, you will be able to easily target your profiles by accessing the dynamic database of 20 million B2B contacts that the tool offers. If you are interested, you can already check out our online demo →

How to make the most of your small database? 

You don't need thousands of contacts to get good results, it has to be done well. It's better to have a few prospects who are more likely to convert than to have a very large number of them, but who will never become customers. You will only waste time and money without any return on investment. Also, the success of your prospecting depends on the following steps:

• Targeting: good targeting will allow you to know your prospects well. This will allow you to have essential information about them, but also to identify their possible needs which you will then transform into a sales opportunity. Targeting guarantees your business that your offer will have a place in the market.
• Personalization: it is imperative to personalize your prospecting if you want to stand out. A good prospecting strategy requires a personalized commercial approach. This technique will allow you to work on your brand image, make a good impression, gain the trust of your prospects and above all show that your company is credible.
• Monitoring: good prospecting monitoring will allow you to measure the performance of your campaigns. With reliable data, you will be able to identify areas for improvement and weaknesses that you need to correct to increase your acquisition rate. This will also serve as a basis for seeing if the changes you make have a real impact on the objectives to be achieved.

There are adequate tools that allow you to get the most out of your database. Among them is Magileads, which is an all-in-one platform that allows you to simplify your prospecting through automation. The tool allows you to achieve better targeting of your prospects, good personalization and optimal monitoring of your prospecting campaigns.

What you need to know about the prospecting plan before you start

What is a commercial prospecting plan?

A prospecting plan is the set of steps implemented by a professional in order to acquire new customers. It is an action plan trying to understand the “why” and the “how” of prospecting. More precisely, it is a list of tips for properly targeting prospects. The more structured and established the plan, the more effective it will be. The company can then set several objectives to create an extensive network of future customers.

The objectives of prospecting

Any action requires the definition of a goal. In the case of prospecting, it is a SMART objective that we advise you to set up:

• Specific: the objectives must be as specific as possible.
• Measurable: the objectives must be quantifiable and quantified.
• Achievable and Realizable: you must take into account the resources given to your team, the number of employees and the legal working time.
• Temporally defined: the company must organize itself well in terms of time, whether in its planning to take time for prospecting or in the time it will grant for each prospect.

How to choose your targets?

Prospecting objectives require a precise target. For example, the company may decide to prospect to keep its current customers and build their loyalty, to contact professionals or individuals or to target prospects in a geographic area . The key is to analyze people to prospect at the appropriate time.

The company can also decide to address a more general target such as an age group defining its prospects or a well-defined margin of turnover for a company to contact.

To carry out a thoughtful prospecting plan, you must therefore have a prospects file which will be populated with the necessary information. This file must be updated regularly.

Who is the ideal prospect?

Profiling ideal clients is an essential step in knowing where to find prospects and how to approach them. The company must then know how to qualify its prospects, by segmenting its file by type or by needs. Prospects with high potential should be prioritized. To recognize them, it is necessary to continually enrich the prospecting file as exchanges occur on the Internet.

At the same time, the company must identify key decision-makers using the BANT method : Budget , Authority , Delivery and Timing . You should not waste a lot of time with prospects without budget or decision-making capacity or with needs in the too distant future.

What are the steps to follow for effective commercial prospecting?

A prospecting plan is generally made up of a large number of activities: emails, networking, calls, organization of trade shows. All of these actions require preparation , especially if the company wants its contacts to be automatically entered into the CRM .

In this case, the various campaigns identified as potentially generating requests must be organized over the year.

Preparing your contact database

Having a contact database is essential for your business, because it includes all the information you have on your prospects (identity, contact details, socio-professional category, interests, etc.). This information, provided it is relevant, leads to the success of your prospecting actions. Therefore, for commercial prospecting , you must prepare your contact base beforehand. In this step, targeting is even more important, because it allows you to define the market segments you want to reach.

The success of your prospecting depends on your targeting and your level of knowledge of your prospects. You must therefore define the targeting criteria, ask the right questions and audit your database. Basic criteria such as turnover or sector of activity are no longer sufficient these days. On the other hand, using this type of criteria allows you to start off on a good basis. It is still necessary to refine your targeting as much as possible. If, for example, your market is rather large, it would be wise to segment it within your prospect database.

Targeting prioritize your actions on high-potential prospects. Plus, you'll spend less time identifying them. Know that there is a way to quickly obtain a base of qualified contacts. The prospecting process, such as defining criteria for qualifying high-potential prospects, can be automated. You won't find a better way to gain business efficiency and generate a better return on investment.

Magileads can help you better target your profiles thanks to a dynamic database of 20 million B2B contacts, discover our online demo →

Setting up a script

The script is a form of conversational guide that can also serve as a guideline for carrying out an action. It constitutes the mandatory elements that salespeople must present in their arguments . It is indeed essential to define the arguments that will convince the targets.

The company must then adapt its message depending on where its prospect is in the sales funnel . The arguments to deploy are different depending on the prospect. You have to find the specific need of the person, whether it is a cold prospect to capture or a hot prospect to convert.

To achieve this, the script to be included in the prospecting plan must include the commercial arguments to be made to each type of profile.

Choose prospecting channels

There are different B2B sales prospecting channels. We have selected 4 for you. You can use them together or separately.

1 – Emailing

B2B prospecting emails rank first. Emailing is one of the most effective B2B prospecting channels. In France, out of 100 B2B prospecting emails sent: 62% are opened, 17% receive a response and 7.5% obtain a positive response for a meeting (Source: Meetyourmarket).

B2B companies that practice marketing can grow their business faster. They can increase their number of incoming prospects , improve the qualification of their leads, increase their conversion rates and therefore develop considerable turnover. If you want to discover the emailing techniques discover our complete guide →

2 – Cold calling

Telephone prospecting is still profitable whether in B2B or B2C. Even if cold calling constitutes an unprofitable ROI (only 1% average conversion rate), this channel will nevertheless allow you to boost your sales. But on condition that you master the essential techniques . Address the right people, be transparent and use an appropriate speech based more on advice than on the desire to sell at all costs. It all depends on your sales approach!

3 – Warm calling:

Unlike cold calling, warm calling consists of contacting the prospect after an initial approach to the latter with your company. This B2B prospecting method is based on your ability to offer the best solution to your prospect. Warm calling gives the interlocutor the feeling of not being canvassed, but rather listened to and understood.

According to the marketing definition : “Most often used in a B2B context, the expression warm calling refers to the fact of calling by telephone a prospect with whom a more or less significant interaction has already been initiated.”

4 – Social selling: 

Social selling is the art of using social networks to find prospects. This practice consists of interacting with them to better understand them and better support them. This is an effective way to build trust with potential customers . Make sure your brand is their first choice when they are ready to buy.

To put it simply, social selling consists of using social networks to develop communication strategies . These enable networking , something the most astute sales professionals have always made a priority.

If your company has a Facebook page, a LinkedIn or a professional account on Twitter, know that you have already taken a big step towards the world of Social Selling.

Performance monitoring and analysis 

After all these steps, it is now necessary to record the prospects' responses to adjust them along the way. Indeed, analyzing the results of the campaign is essential to know if the prospecting is effective. Indeed, if the objectives have been achieved. Otherwise, this will allow you to pinpoint the tools and methods to improve.

To know these results, the company must determine relevant indicators. There is software with an analytical system with a dashboard. For example, INES and CRM help to gain visibility and make the right decisions.

When it comes to monitoring, salespeople have many missions. Allowing them to follow their prospecting could make their task easier. To do this, the company can set up prospecting pipelines, create opportunities and record reports. Basically, the entrepreneur must have the ability to manage his colleagues well. A prospecting plan is only effective if the entire team feels involved, well trained and motivated.

Using an automation tool is also a considerable advantage for managing the performance of your prospecting campaigns. For example, in the context of lead scoring, there is a platform that can help you. It allows you to manage the acquisition and scoring of leads automatically .

The Magileads platform offers all the levers to succeed in your commercial prospecting. The ideal tool to automate your prospecting campaigns and increase their ROI . It allows better targeting, enrichment of your databases, animation scenarios and scoring of your prospects. If you would like to know more about the features of our platform.

Preparing for customer meetings 

Salespeople spent a lot of time developing a tentative relationship with certain prospects. It is then necessary to help them prepare effectively for their meetings, particularly presentations and anticipating objections.

A commercial prospecting plan is a list of different concrete commercial actions. These actions enable teams to achieve their business goals. You must therefore define a quality commercial prospecting plan. The most important step is of course to set concrete goals . But you also need to empower the sales team to succeed. The rest is just the result of teamwork .

Every business opportunity begins with commercial prospecting. With Magileads, distribute your message on the most effective BtoB channels in just a few clicks.