Optimise Sales Prospecting: Get More Out of HubSpot's Tools

Effective sales prospecting is a key part of any good sales process. It ensures that the leads you communicate with are directly or potentially interested in a solution like the one you offer. Despite that, in practice, finding and qualifying good sales opportunities to get deals moving can be just as frustrating. Using HubSpot prospecting puts an end to many of these potential obstacles.

What is prospecting?

Prospecting is the process of developing new business by searching for potential customers or buyers for your products or services. It allows you to connect with and work with potential customers whose needs and interests align with the solution you offer. It also gives you insight into a prospect's pain points, so you know exactly what to do and what not to do.

On top of that, it turns out to be extremely effective. Research by RAIN Group found that more than 7 out of 10 buyers want to hear from salespeople early in the buying process. In fact, 82% of buyers are open to a conversation if the salesperson reaches out early and on their own initiative.

How do you go about it?

But how do you actually start looking for the right customers? Below we have set out five steps that should help you:

1. Research your prospect and their company to assess whether you can offer value.
You cannot prospect effectively if you do not map out your prospects properly. It is by far the most important aspect of prospecting. You cannot offer value to a company if you have no idea what is valuable to them.

2. Prioritise your prospects based on their likelihood of becoming a customer.
It may be obvious, but turning prospects into customers is more realistic for some prospects than others. So if you want to save yourself time and maximise your potential, you need to know where to spend most of your time and effort. That starts with prioritising the right prospects.

3. Prepare a personal conversation for each prospect.
Every prospect is unique, each with their own backgrounds, interests and needs. It is therefore no surprise that none of them wants to be treated as just another name on the list. That is why you need to gather deeper information about your prospects, so you can approach your potential customer effectively, in a personalised and targeted way.

4. Make sure the first point of contact counts. Do this by helping your prospect, not by selling straight away.
Whether you call or email, your (first) point of contact should be tailored to your prospect's company and its goals and preferences. Offer something of value and ask for nothing in return. At this stage, it is not about us, but about them.

5. Look back on your prospecting process and identify what can be improved.
Effectively finding customers means not sticking to the way you have 'always done it'. You need to continuously monitor your process, learn from it and ultimately improve it.

Prospecting with HubSpot

Prospecting within HubSpot is a feature that helps companies identify and approach potential customers in a straightforward way. Using Leadinfo or LinkedIn Sales Navigator, we can recognise prospects/companies visiting your website. This then gives you insights to use within HubSpot's prospecting tool. This allows the sales team to develop a targeted and personalised strategy.

If you also use HubSpot Sales Hub, the prospecting workspace lets you effectively manage your daily tasks in HubSpot from a single location. HubSpot's prospecting tool makes it possible to track in detail how much contact has taken place by email and phone, and with which contacts. In addition, specific tasks can be created and assigned to the right team members. The 'Feed' section provides an overview of all sales activity notifications from the past year. These activities are organised by contact and are specific to the user account you are logged in with when you view the feed. HubSpot's prospecting tool also includes a feature for scheduling online meetings.

You can also use filters to refine your prospect list based on criteria such as company size, location, industry, visit frequency and much more. This can help you prioritise the most promising leads. The prospecting tool can be combined with other HubSpot sales tools, such as email tracking and CRM, to create a solid sales workflow.

HubSpot CRM has a large set of features that can meet all your company's needs, but when it comes to prospecting, the solution stands out for the way it provides detailed company insights. HubSpot CRM automatically enriches new contact, company and deal records with data from a database of more than 20 million companies. All you need is a prospect's business email address.

Getting started with sales prospecting

Prospecting does not have to be a difficult or tedious process. In fact, it can be a positive experience for both your company and the prospects. Experiment with different techniques and tools to see what works best for your team. Then you will certainly start turning more suitable prospects into paying customers.

HubSpot's prospecting feature is a simple but powerful tool that lets you organise and track leads through the sales funnel. By creating dedicated prospect lists and automating follow-up steps, you can focus your sales efforts on high-quality leads that are ready to convert. Using the prospects feature can speed up your sales process and help you generate more revenue.