6 Helpful Sites to Research a Prospect Before a B2B Sales Call

Step one in successful “warm” calling: research prospects before your sales call.

Most salespeople have a few places they go to look up a prospect before a B2B sales call. We all recognize the need to research lest we have that sinking “I’m totally unprepared” feeling right before the sales call.

We wanted to take a moment and show you a good list of sites where you can go to research your prospect.

You probably don’t have time to check every one of these suggestions before your calls, but the idea is to give you a range of options.

LinkedIn

This had to be the first one mentioned. If you’re reading this and you don’t use LinkedIn to research your prospects, I’m not sure which rock you’ve been living under. If you can only choose one, this should be it. Why? Because you get their whole bio at a glance.

Pay close attention to:

• Their job experience and what their specific areas of expertise are, what their daily job is and what are they responsible for?
• Shared connections, these make great conversation-starters
• Groups and other interests, shared commonalities can also help endear yourself to the prospect
• Recent activity, are they actively posting and what do they like to post?

Twitter

While Twitter profiles are not as common as LinkedIn profiles, if they have Twitter, you can get a good feel for the prospects’ interests, personal and professional. Use a site like Snapbird to search tweets for mentions of your company, competitors, or similar products.

See who is mentioning them and which conversations they get involved in by using a site like Snapbird to search tweets for mentions of your company, competitors, or similar products.

Google News

See if there have been any recent news articles related to your prospect that might be a conversation-starter or, even better, may be pertinent to your transaction with them. A good substitute for Google News is the press release and news section on their website.

Blogs

Use their social media to read what your buyer’s been reading and especially what they’ve been writing. If they have their own blog, read the first few posts. Comment on them before your call for more name recognition and digital goodwill.

Google Search

Look up both the prospect company and the individual on Google. Look up the prospect name and company together. There will be plenty to look at to snatch some quick info before your call. See that? They just ran a marathon. Hey, you’re a runner too!

Crunchbase

A site we love for doing quick research on prospects is Crunchbase. You can look up companies or people. It comes complete with company details, recent news, top executives, a nifty little timeline feature and a bunch more information at a glance. They also have a paid Pro subscription, but the free version is powerful in and of itself.

Be sure to come back new week for step two in successful “warm” calling, tailoring your value proposition to the prospect.

Source: http://salesstaff.com/blog/6-sites-research-b2b-prospects/

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