Posts Tagged prospecting

One of the biggest challenges for B2b sales and marketing professionals is finding qualified buyers for their products and services.  Small businesses don’t often have the resources of larger corporations that have entire departments and software systems dedicated to lead generation and market research.

The good news is that as companies place increasing emphasis on their online presence, small business owners can take advantage of this wealth of information.

Here are 4 places for finding insight into that company you know can use your product or service.

Target company’s website – the company website will give you an idea of the tone of the company. It is young and hip or classic and reserved? Find the bio pages of executives and board members. Which ones are decision makers and influencers you’ll need to target? Where are they from? What’s their background?

LinkedIn – once you get a feel for the key players in the target organization, continue your market research on LinkedIn. Search by person and by company name. Are any of your connections connected to key people at the company?  Also, research each individual and gather more information on their previous work experience. They may even list a personal website or blog, giving you more insight into what makes them tick.

White papers, reports, and presentation- many companies will develop original research and reports about their products and their industry.  Search their website and on SlideShare to find out what their offering and how they’re doing it.

Annual reports – if your target company is public, have a look at their financial situation to understand how the budget. This will provide you with insight into broad spending and budgeting strategy that will reveal what the company thinks is strategically important.