Building a targeted prospecting list is essential for anyone in sales. In order to properly get the competitive advantage in sales today, you need to really understand who you are selling to, who influences their decision, and what channels do they live on.
If you understand how people like to communicate then you are one step ahead of everyone else in sales. Buyers need a good experience from the start of the sale, during the sale, and after the sale.
Building a targeted prospecting list is the key to understanding each one of your buyers on an individual level so you can give them the experience they deserve. In this post, you will learn how to build a targeted list and start the process of creating the communication workflow.
The Scenario
You are targeting marketing managers at midsize companies to begin a conversation over a new online tool you’d like to sell to them. In this example, you are targeting UK and US companies. Naturally, you will have your own scenario, so make sure you fully understand who your prospect is before you even think about building a targeted prospecting list.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
There are two ways to begin your search. You can do an immediate search here:
Or Use Lead Builder, which we will use for the sake of this post:
As above, I have selected US and UK as this is my geo-target. At this point, the result has returned 13,000 + results so you can afford to drill down to give you a better chance of success. For that reason, I have chosen ‘2nd connections’, giving me the potential to use my network for introductions (when we get to that stage).
I’ve chosen the marketing and advertising industry and selected a staff count that might deem the company to be ‘mid-sized’
You can drill down further but on this occasion, I won’t. These are the other options you are presented with:
The result has provided over 13,000 names. Thankfully, Sales Navigator provides further options to drill down and give us a more manageable (and targeted) number.
And scroll to the right again, for these options:
Changed jobs – Think about this option as the new incumbent may be looking to make their mark and be open to new technology, giving you an added chance.
TeamLink intro – TeamLink is an add-on whereby LinkedIn can show you who within your company has links to your prospect. Those type of introductions can be very strong
Mentioned in the news – This is useful as it gives you a talking point (a reason to strike up a conversation).
Posted on LinkedIn in the last 30 days – This again gives you a reason to strike up a conversation. Further to that, it also tells you your client is active on the platform. I generally always select this option.
Shared experiences – This is quite common and could / should come into effect once you have drilled down on the above.
Leads that follow your company on LinkedIn – This is very strong as it means they know of your company already. What you may find is that the result has pulled up staff from your own company so remember to sift those out first.
In the above instance, I am going to select those who have posted on LinkedIn in the last 30 days. In addition to that, I am going to add a new filter. I will add VP to their position so I can be assured of some form of decision making power. (I could have added this at an earlier point, however, given the large volume of results, I can afford to add this at a later stage).
By taking this step, I have now narrowed my selection down to 369 prospects. A very healthy number indeed.
LeadIQ
The next step is to begin using LeadIQ. Set yourself up with an account and get the chrome extension. chrome is a must for any modern day salesperson! Help yourself to 28 of the best extensions for salespeople.
Once you’ve set-up the extension head over to your sales navigator, click on the LeadIQ extension on your chrome browser. This will subsequently open up a second screen with those results. From that list, you can decide which prospects you would like to save/work on.
You can have separate folders in LeadIQ so you could further segment your prospects. For this exercise, I have filed them in ‘Aspirational’.
Continue this exercise until you are satisfied you have the quality and quantity of leads you are looking for.
Do remember to ‘Save as Lead’ in LinkedIn Sales Navigator if you’d like to keep tabs on your prospects ongoing activity on the platform.
The big kicker here is the email validation piece. LeadIQ ensures that you are only pulling in clean and validated emails into your prospecting list. The cleaner your prospecting data… The more success you will have and the more efficient you will become.
The next step is to open the folder in LeadIQ so you can see your leads and begin moving them to Salesforce.
You can see the Salesforce Option on the top bar. You simply click against the lead and this pops the info into the CRM system for you to begin working! Simple.
Prior to this, you will want to amend LeadIQ settings so that Salesforce collects the data that is pertinent to you and your campaign.
Segmenting Out Buyers Based On Channel
At this point, you have created a targeted prospecting list. Where most salespeople go wrong is they don’t spend the time to understand where these buyers live. Are they active on LinkedIn? Twitter? Do they publish content? If they have no social footprint then it’s probably smart to put these in your traditional bucket.
The traditional prospecting bucket should be focused on calls and emails as this is where they communicate. If they have a social footprint, high engagement, and create content put these in your social prospecting bucket. Put a process together to start getting visible, valuable, and connected.
At the end of the day, it’s all about the communication experience you give your buyers. If you can figure out a value vs ask strategy on the channel they want to communicate then you will win over time.
The best salespeople build their process around the buyer and the 1-1 experience. Not the other way around. Now, go get em!
