Fumbling in the dark as a salesperson or sales manager is not a pleasant feeling. In a working day full of budget pressure, time pressure and performance targets, you need a plan. A good plan.
Smart prospecting can stop you from spending your sales time, or your sales team, in the wrong places. Here you can read more about how to go about building a B2B prospect base you can influence and work over time.
This is the second of two blog posts. The first post covered the first 5 levels of how a sales organization can mature in its prospecting work.
Our methodology has 9 levels in all. The last 4 levels take you to a professional, learning sales organization. The foundation comes from having been through levels 1-5.
Read Data for Action: Prospecting - Part 1/2 here.
Framework
The main points of the framework describe what we want to achieve:
- Identify and register
Level 1: You have several customers, each with a unique identifier, in one system. - Add data
Level 2: You have the right information about your drivers of growth. - Analyze and assess risk
Level 3: You can work out which companies you ought to approach that are not in your customer base today.
Level 4: You have the right internal data on what your customers buy, how often and when. History and behavior for your customers is available, and you can put a number on the value of the opportunity.
Level 5: You can give customers and prospects a score for how mutually attractive you are to each other. That reveals the level of service and priority each customer should have.
Monitor and alert
Now let's look at what you can do to work your prospects over time. This is the most demanding part of the methodology, but it can also have the greatest effect.
Level 6
You have made it possible to pick up triggers about the customer or prospect, and changes that affect the timing of your approach.
In the jungle of data we go through every single day there are triggers that it is important you spot and act on right away.
Imagine, for example, that one of your prospects has just won a large public contract that lets you come in as a subcontractor. Or that they are suddenly growing fast in headcount. If you rent out premises, sell software or telephony services, that may be exactly what matters most to you.
News may also appear in local papers or in publications you don't normally read. Some may sit behind paywalls, but they can contain important information.
There may be changes on the board or in the ownership structure that make your services highly relevant.
This overview shows examples of events that can be worth monitoring. Here the consulting firm Arkwright is used as an example. The overview shows the most relevant of any news, ongoing court cases in which the company is a party, Doffin alerts (for public contracts awarded above 1,3 million kroner) and announcements from Brønnøysund.
By connecting your prospect list to a solution that can track relevant events, you will be far more relevant when you get in touch.
Level 7
You can identify systems, people and roles connected to the company and reach them with targeted marketing and sales activities.
Systems can be a business system, often referred to as ERP and CRM, or a specialized system for logistics. Systems that are business critical. If you have a service that is easily compatible with such a system, that is usually a plus. The company already has an infrastructure in place to handle what you want to sell.
Another way of looking at systems is as both formal and informal structures and connections. A group structure is a formal structure, and it gives you an overview of ownership and connections.
The image shows an extract from Arkwright's group structure.
The extract from Arkwright shows interesting data about where the company belongs. If you have customers that are already part of the same group, that can be a major advantage. Other companies in the group will probably be easier to sell to than complete strangers, because you can point to concrete areas they know well. It also gives you trust from day one, which normally takes a long time to build.
Informal structures can be strong partnerships or organizations that matter to the company you want to get into.
In large, complex sales processes, power mapping is also an advantage. It means identifying the people you need to deal with in order to get a decision.
These can be decision-makers whose title says they are important, but there are often other influencers who are harder to map. Roles such as CEO and board members are easy to find in public registers, but for other roles LinkedIn, Google, the company's own website or Facebook can be good tools.
The image shows an example of how you can set up a power map.
The term B2P (business to person) comes up more and more often. That is probably no coincidence. Those who are good at it get faster and better sales processes.
Level 8
You can measure behavior. What they read, watch, download and when they do it.
There is a whole range of systems and tools for this. Among the most popular for B2B sales right now is Hubspot, which you are often pointed to in connection with inbound marketing. Hubspot helps you see which companies read and download the content you create and distribute.
To get the most out of the system, it can be wise to get advice from someone who knows it and has been through implementation projects before. Markedspartner is one of Norway's leading experts on Hubspot and content marketing. They can advise you across the entire customer journey.
This is Hubspot:
The image is taken from the explanation of Hubspot on the Markedspartner website.
Always remember GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and information about what you track on your website. Even if you sell to companies, it is people you are dealing with. Consent applies here too.
Google Analytics and other analytics tools can also give you an indication of what visitors to your website read, when they do it, and how they move through your content universe in general.
Level 9
You can pull all the information together in a dashboard or a system and manage on that basis.
If you can gather data from several systems and get a complete view of the quality of your prospects, you have come a long way. A very long way.
BI (business intelligence) systems can usually visualize data from several sources or from a data warehouse.
One approach to displaying and using data from several sources for a complete overview can look like this:
The image is taken from Alteryx.com.
The result can be presented as a dashboard in, for example, Excel, Power BI or whichever system you prefer.
In our methodology this is the 9th and final level, and it means you are a fully mature sales organization. All that remains is to sell. Of course it isn't quite that simple, but you at least have an outstanding starting point.
What do I do now?
If you would like to talk through how to get started, or you are already under way and feel stuck, we are happy to help. Get in touch with us for advice on how you, in your own sales day-to-day or together with your sales team, can work smarter.
