Prospecting can be time-intensive, and time is something most busy broadcast sales professionals don’t have in excess. The good news is that modern sales prospecting tools do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. If you want to be more productive and efficient in winning more business, these resources are worth checking out.
There are different stages in your prospecting plan, and you’ll need various tools for each. Here are some of the highest reviewed tools to help you at every stage.
Building Prospect Lists
The first task is building your list. These tools can help.
Quora is a free site that acts as a Q&A forum. You can search by any topic to see if there are prospects asking about broadcast advertising in your region. The site has strict moderation parameters, so there’s not much junk, and you can respond to questions or send messages to potential advertisers.
It’s a very non-sales way to make a connection. They have questions; you have answers, so it could be an easy, no-cost way to add a prospect.
MatterMark is a directory and database built for salespeople. You can search and filter by geography, size, industry and niche to find prospects that could be your next advertisers. You can start with a 14-day trial, and paid plans start at $49/month.
Apollo has directories for people and companies that offer a variety of filters depending on your criteria. You can also add it as a Chrome extension and then gather contact information while in LinkedIn. There is a free version, but the paid options have more features.
Qualifying Prospects
Now, it’s time to determine if that list is a good fit for you and worth pursuing further.
Owler is a free alternative to Dun & Bradstreet. It offers information on companies, from overviews to revenue to competitors. You can track a variety of companies with strategic news alerts that work like a feed.
There is a free basic plan. After that, subscriptions start at $99 annually.
Monitor the web and social media for mentions of a company or individual you have on your list. It also works with keywords if you want to monitor by industry. Mention offers a clear picture of what’s happening with a company, so you can determine if it’s a worthy prospect.
The platform does offer a free version, with plans for as little as $29/month.
Finding Contact Details
Once you have defined a list, it’s time to fill in the details.
Simply enter the name of the person you want to contact and their company into Norbert. The system automatically pulls up the email. It has additional features with a Gmail plugin for scheduling emails or automating follow-ups. The first 50 emails are free. After that, plans start at $49/month.
Hunter works as a Google Chrome extension, finding all the associated emails of a domain. Additionally, the tech offers you a “score” of how likely the person is to reply, and you can find titles, phone numbers and social media profiles. They also offer some great templates that can make your intro email engaging and relevant.
You’ll get the first 100 emails at no charge. You can then pay as little as $39/month.
FindThatLead is similar to Hunter, specially built for B2B salespeople. You type in the domain, and it provides the associated emails. It’s free up to 150 credits. Pricing options begin at $49/month.
MailTester works a little differently. You use it by inputting an email address, and the system then tells you if it’s valid. It’s a tool that helps you “guess” email addresses. It will also help you identify if an old email address is still accurate, because people change jobs and names all the time.
You can pay as you go or subscribe on a monthly or annual basis.
Communication Tools
Finally, you’ll want to leverage these resources to connect, engage and book the meeting.
Doodle is a calendar tool that allows the invitee to note which times work best. As the organizer, you then choose what works for you. This puts the power in the prospect’s hands.
At only $6.95/month for one user, it’s a very budget-friendly app.
Rebump automates your email follow-up, so you can pace out the communications in the best way to receive a response. The emails look just as if you’re sending them from your email without all the time it would take to do this manually.
You can try it for free and then get unlimited messages for $5/month billed annually.
Bloobirds is an end-to-end prospecting platform. It helps you strategically communicate with prospects based on buyer persona information, target markets, and the unique situation. The solution delivers real-time insights and makes you more productive.
Pricing depends on the number of users, structure and features.
More Prospecting Tools to Explore
In addition to the solutions above, you’ll want to check out our on-demand webinar Research Rocks! How to Use Cool Tools for Selling Smarter in 2021. In it, you’ll find highlights on some of these tools and many more. It’s a must-watch for any broadcast sales professional.
