Services offering sales management teams leads range from buying segmented lists of email contacts to advanced tools that identify prospects based on social media profiles, saving both sales prospecting time and effort. We looked at dozens of sources for leads and narrowed it down to the six best, based on price, general features, ease of…
About the Author
Jess Pingrey
Jess Pingrey is a sales expert and staff writer with Fit Small Business. She served on the founding team of a successful business-to-business (B2B) startup and has used a wide range of sales and marketing tools over the course of her 13-year career. Jess uses her industry knowledge and conducts countless hours of research to deliver the best answers to your questions about sales-related topics.
How to Write a Business Proposal in 7 Steps + Free Template
A business proposal is a document used in sales management to offer specific goods or services to leads at a defined cost. They are typically used by B2B companies to win new business and can be either solicited or unsolicited. Effective business proposals have an executive summary, key project details, and require a client signature….
11 Great Sales Contest Ideas to Motivate Your Team
A sales contest leverages competition and rewards to motivate sales teams while incentivizing the habits you want your reps to adopt, such as making a certain number of cold calls or closing a certain percentage of deals. We’ve included 11 sales contest ideas you can use for inspiration and explain how they can be used…
How to Effectively Score Quality Sales Leads
Lead scoring is a sales management strategy that helps to identify prospects most likely to make a purchasing decision using a combination of factors that measure level of interest and quality of fit. This then allows sales managers to sort leads from hottest to coldest so that they can better prioritize follow-up activities. While you…
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) vs Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)
A marketing qualified lead (MQL) is a potential customer who matches specific minimum requirements based on your ideal customer profile. These potential customers are typically sourced from marketing efforts such as ad campaigns and email marketing campaigns. MQLs are typically one of the first stages in a multistage sales pipeline process, often tracked using a…
How to Use the BANT Method to Find the Most Qualified Leads
BANT is a lead qualification process many small businesses use to determine how to rank and score leads in order to decide which ones to focus on. It involves using questions to understand a prospect’s (B)udget, (A)uthority to make buying decisions, a (N)eed for your solution, and the (T)imeline for making a decision. What Is…
9 Effective Introduction Business Email Templates
An introduction email is a message you send to a prospect with the purpose of introducing yourself and eliciting a specific action, such as scheduling a meeting or call. We’ve included nine business templates salespeople can send to ensure that their specific message is communicated effectively and increases the chance of a response. Business Introduction…
17 Ways to Generate B2B Sales Leads for Your Business
Sales leads are potential future customers often referred to as customer prospects. B2B sales leads enter at the start of the sales process and are crucial to maintaining a healthy sales pipeline. Let’s take a look at some of the most effective ways to generate sales leads for your small business. 1. Purchase Business Contact…
How to Create a Customer Profile (+ Free Template)
A customer profile is a description of a customer based on their demographics, backgrounds, hobbies, and interests. Businesses that offer ongoing services, as well as subscription-based and product-based businesses, should use customer profiles. They help bolster your marketing efforts by determining the best messaging, offers, products, and services to deliver to attract your ideal client….
How to Improve Sales Targeting With Customer Profiles & CRMs
Sales targeting is a management strategy that helps you prioritize efforts around the deals most likely to result in sales. However, for it to work, you must first be able to identify your top leads. Customer profiles and customer relationship management software (CRM) are great tools to help you recognize leads with the most potential,…
7 Ways COVID-19 Has Changed the B2B Sales Industry
It’s no secret that COVID-19 has changed the way we do business worldwide, and the B2B sales industry is certainly no exception. Sales leaders have been forced to change the way they sell their products and services by going virtual internally with team members and with customers and prospects. Furthermore, it looks like the new…
How to Engage Prospects With Cold Emails
A cold email is an unsolicited message you send to someone you don’t know as a way to generate sales leads. It is used as a tool to reach out to prospects and bring them into your sales process. Writing an effective cold email means creating a personal connection, briefly stating your purpose, and moving…