SUCCESSFULLY REACH B2B PROSPECTS IN THE NEW NORMAL

• November 23, 2022
• sb2b
• no comments

Marketing teams need a plan to successfully reach B2B prospects in this locked down new normal. Much of the business world has experienced upheaval as a result of Coronavirus (COVID-19). The Marketing & Sales team at your company more than likely has had to pivot, scrap or make entirely new plans. Everyone is hoping for a return to normalcy. The reality is that the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions seems to be a push pull struggle. Companies need to adapt to the new normal of potential lockdowns.

Marc Lipsitch, DPhil, Professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamic says: “despite hopes that summer will bring continued relief from the spread of the virus, fall will be very much like the spring and the usual pattern of coronaviruses is likely to continue with new transmission peaking in November and cases peaking in December.”

This begs the question: What should your Marketing & Sales teams be doing right now to successfully reach B2B prospects during the remainder of 2020 and beyond?

Established customers and pipeline prospects

The assumption is that your team has already built out the profiles with all of the necessary contact information to successfully reach B2B prospects. Review your prospect database to make sure that you have full contact information. Include all the necessary information for anyone that might be required to work from home. Make sure you have email addresses, work numbers, cell numbers, and most importantly, home addresses. Home addresses are something that you probably would have never captured in the past. You may need home addresses for the new normal. By ensuring that you have all the contact information, you will easily be able to communicate. Plus, you will be able to mail your customers and prospects sales kits, samples, and other important promotional material without any delay.

New customers and prospects

But what do you do when you are trying to successfully reach B2B prospects to acquire new customers? With the potential of future lock downs, how will you reach these prospects when you are ready to call on them? Email inboxes are flooded and messages get ignored or sent to spam. Most people who move to work from home carry their work number with them or use their cell phone These are both good potential data connection points for telemarketing. Direct mail is easy and effective, but where do you send it? Now is the time to acquire a prospect database.

Work on building out the contact information, so that you will have the necessary information when you are ready for it. Consider acquiring a database list and having third-party data verification done (both online and telephone verification). Then start your sales cycle a little early by sending out communications via the normal business phone, business address, and email channels. Offer some sort of incentive for them to engage with your brand. Use the incentive collection form to capture the additional “home” information that you will need down the road for the new normal.

While the addition of a home address may seem intrusive. Position the ask in terms of staying connected in this new environment. Offer them something of value in return, make it worth their while. Be sensitive to their needs and always be ready to step back.