Finding the Right Prospects for a B2B Sale

Last week, I received a call from a guy who wanted to know if I would be interested in buying two horses. While I live in the suburbs of Pittsburgh and we do have a few rural farms in the county, I'm sure my neighbors wouldn't appreciate a couple horses running around our backyard! The seller told me he needed to sell his horses and was calling people in Pine Township to see if there was any interest. I told him I was not a prospect.

While the seller only wasted about two minutes for me, there are quite a few people who live in Pine Township, Pennsylvania. I can only imagine the amount of time this seller was spending to call people with no interest in his horses. After all, just because you want to sell something doesn't mean there is anyone who will buy it.

Targeting the correct prospects for your products will increase your success rate. When I was in college I sold books door to door during the summer. They were reference books to help kids do better in class and improve reading. Note: this was pre-internet. Whenever I left one house, I would ask if the next couple of houses had kids. I did not want to waste time going to a home without children. This means every conversation enabled me to further refine my efforts.

Today, focusing on the right prospects is very important. Your time is valuable and the people you are contacting are constantly being solicited in person, by phone, via email and through social media, not to mention the myriad of other advertising vehicles. Pin-pointing your efforts and targeting the most receptive buyers is critical.

Here is my advice to you.

Identify Unmet Needs

Define who will need your product or service based on the problem it solves or the desire it meets. Those people or companies form your prospect list. While it may take longer to create a list this way, the names on it will be much more meaningful and worth contacting: think quality over quantity.