How to Prospect New Business for Industrial Companies

Every good salesperson knows that working on keeping your pipeline full of prospects should be part of your daily to-do list. The more prospects you have, the higher the chance of closing a sale.

Keep in mind that prospects are different from leads. A lead is anyone who expresses interest in your product or service, while a prospect is a qualified lead. Think of them as one level higher than leads.

Prospecting for industrial companies is similar to prospecting for simple sales. The difference though involves paying more attention to who qualifies as a prospect.

With higher price tags and numerous decision-makers, it’s important to conduct your prospecting wisely.

Benefits of Prospecting New Business for Industrial Sales

Prospecting is a must in industrial sales. When done correctly, it leads to new business opportunities, which translates to increased overall sales. Because of these recent sales, you’re also able to continuously grow your network, leading to more leads and prospects.

It’s a valuable cycle that helps you reach your sales goals.

Although it’s also important to nurture existing clients, the necessity of prospecting cannot be emphasized enough. Some technical sales engineers tend to focus on clients close to the end of the sales funnel or their longtime loyal clients. This is all well and good, but prospecting is what keeps your pipeline full and leads to increase sales.

Tips for Prospecting New Business

Know Your Customer

The most important of prospecting new clients is to know who your ideal customer is. Data shows that as much as 50% of prospects are not qualified and don’t actually fit the product or service you are selling.

In other words, a typical technical sales engineer is wasting almost half their time pursuing useless prospects.

If this much time is being wasted, then you may need to go back to the basics of selling – KYC or Know Your Customer. Make sure you have a deep understanding of your customer persona to prospect more effectively.

Want to quickly build a full list of strategic prospects? Master the Sales Process Road Map by learning the best strategies for qualifying leads and closing more deals, faster.

Be an Expert in Your Field

Another tip for finding new prospects is to stay up to date on the latest industry trends. Prospects are not sitting around waiting for salespeople to contact them.

Potential customers are savvier, actively researching, and they know what’s happening in the market. Prospects go online and research trends.

They read blogs and reviews, stay up to date in industry news, and visit different websites, including yours and your competitors.

Salespeople must be on top of what’s happening in their industry. You don’t want to get caught flat-footed if a prospect asks your opinion on the latest market-related news.

You need to put in the time and effort to become an expert in your field.

Share Relevant Content on Social Media

Many companies create and share content that highlights their products, services, features, benefits, and how it compares to competitors.

However, they forget that prospects are looking to solve problems and pain points.

Prospects can find out about the features of your product later. What they want to know is how you can help them. Use platforms such as LinkedIn to share relevant content and showcase the value of your product . Don’t rely on run-of-the-mill content that is meant to sell.

When you share content that your prospect finds valuable and interesting, you instantly catch their attention. This will help you set that meeting and move this prospect to the next sales funnel stage.

Critical Technical Sales Prospecting Skills and Techniques

Do Your Research

Researching is essential to prospecting. Again, it boils down to knowing who your ideal customer is. You need to make sure that the prospects you are working on are truly qualified new leads.

Do they need your product or service? Are you solving a problem or pain point in your prospect’s organization? Are they a key decision-maker in the organization or at least has influence on one?

Once you’ve qualified your prospects, organize and prioritize them and continue from there.

Organize Your Prospects

Not all prospects are equal. Some may match your customer persona precisely, while others may match a few aspects of your ideal customer persona. You can classify prospects as high, medium, and low, depending on how qualified they are.

To determine where they belong, take a look at other aspects. Consider previous interactions with your organization or company or access to a decision-maker. Find out if they were a direct referral or not.

Once you’ve organized them, you need to put more time and effort into regularly reaching out to prospects classified as high. For medium and low prospects, schedule time to connect with them every so often.

Build a Relationship

You’ll hear this over and over again, but sales are all about building relationships. This is one critical prospecting technique that you should always remember. There needs to be genuine trust and rapport between you and your prospect.

Don’t just see your prospect as another deal you need to close. Have a sincere and trusting relationship with your prospect. It will pay off in the end.

Why You Have to Stay Committed to Prospecting

Many technical sales engineers put off prospecting and instead focus on their almost-at-the-finish-line customers. Some work mainly on keeping the relationship with existing clients. But when you stay committed to prospecting, you increase your chances of closing sales.

It can be challenging to constantly look for new qualified prospects. Sometimes you might feel that you’ve already reached out to everyone you possibly can.

Change your perspective. The more prospects you have the more potential sales you have. When you think it becomes more manageable, and you find new motivation to keep ongoing.

Prospecting is an essential part of sales that you can’t take for granted. It’s an essential tool for keeping your pipeline full. With this in mind, you need to set time aside every day to continue prospecting.

Eventually, you’ll start converting your current prospects into future loyal customers. Though it seems challenging now, the results of your hard work will be well worth it.

With over 15 years of experience, we don’t just teach “theory.” We provide actionable lessons so you can see results tomorrow by providing you with all the tools you need to not only significantly increase your personal income but become a top performer at any company. If you are ready to take your technical sales career to the next level or are eager to make a career change, then click here to take the next step towards success with Technical Sales University.