Industrial Sales Leads Research (Part Three): Discovering the Latest News on Your Prospects

3 MIN. READ

Welcome to Part Three of our series on industrial sales research, in which we're digging into some key strategies for researching prospects before the big call. Last week, we covered the essentials of identifying and researching key decision makers. Today, we're focusing on how to leverage the latest news on your propsects. 

Knowing the latest information on a manufacturing company can help make introductions a seamless affair. As a salesperson, you should be educated on your prospects and able to speak comfortably about any current events that may affect their operations.

The more you know about their business, the more confidence they will have in your ability to help them reach more customers.

Avoiding Bad Introductions

Imagine you’re at a conference with hundreds of representatives from manufacturing companies. Recognizing a name tag, you introduce yourself and say congratulations on the new product line.

They look at you somewhat puzzled and state that they did not start a new product line but instead were just acquired.

Misfires like these can immediately put a crimp in plans to strike up a casual conversation that could lead to a business relationship.

If you had found the latest news before the conference, that introduction would have gone much differently.

Searching Redefined

You can look for this information yourself by using various search engines to track the pulse of the manufacturing industry. Unfortunately, constantly changing search engine algorithms can make this time consuming and frustrating.

Looking for specific items is actually harder now that search engines try to determine what you may mean rather than what you are asking for.

Alternatively, you look up the social media belonging to companies of interest, but we all know the rabbit hole that can result from browsing the likes of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

It may take many hours of scrolling to find the information you need.

IndustrySelect offers a solution created with your specific needs in mind. Rather than search for the data you need, our solution delivers it to your fingertips with just a click. Each company profile contains the latest news for that company, so you can quickly read through their headlines before picking up the phone. 

Company profiles also give you data that goes far beyond commonly found information. Our researchers dig deep to find out things that individuals in your field need to know in order to be competitive. The result is the most efficient, streamlined business information system for marketing and sales. See a sample profile here. 

An IndustrySelect prodile includes a spectrum of information on each company, including contact info, average revenue, facility size and number of employees, product and service information, business classifications, SIC and NAICS codes and more. 

Making Contact

Contacting critical individuals is often a challenge. Due to privacy concerns, there will rarely be publicly listed emails and phone numbers for specific individuals within a company.

At best, you would get a general information address, or increasingly more common, a fillable form.

IndustrySelect provides the name, title, function and direct email for all critical personnel in the company profile.

This gives you the chance to engage on a personal level without dealing with the gatekeepers that normally restrict access. An additional perk for subscribers is the ability to bulk or individually export this data to a spreadsheet or PDF.

Conclusion

Knowing the latest headlines  involving either a prospect's industry or their company can help spur conversation and build rapport between you and your prospect. Knowing the latest news and demonstrates to a prospect that you care about their interests and are capable of doing necessary legwork. 

Having a broad overview of factors that they and their competitors are facing along with breakthroughs in technology, business mergers and acquisitions, and related items can help you understand your prospects' needs, challenges, and goal for the future.

Keeping up with your prospects is easy with IndustrySelect. Try a free demo today!