B2B doesn’t have to be strictly limited to one company looking to do business with another. Sometimes it can be a lot smaller than it implies. It could even be just an individual professional (such as a financial planner) looking to do something major for a small business owner. The subject matters discussed are still strictly B2B in nature (e.g. planning for things like taxes, insurance, risk management).
And as such, you as an individual shouldn’t be afraid to use B2B-oriented methods and start looking for your own B2B leads. Your skills are very specialized and only a business, even just a small one, can really make good use of it. However, valuable as they are, you need to really be careful in finding out who needs them the most.
Getting information isn’t easy and certain openings may not present themselves even on the classified ads. To fully expand your horizons, you need to cover all areas of getting in touch with possible prospects.
Of course, getting such a wide coverage might be too much for a single person. The methods just by themselves will tax any individual: cold calling, personalizing email, scouring directories. You’ll also have to take care in determining if you’re talking to the person who’s in the right position to hire you. Are you also aware that they don’t like people who talk too much about themselves? This means you might even have to gather more than just contact data to impress your targets. And by the time it’s your turn to tell these people who you are, you might be better off setting up a small meeting for it.
It’s all right to feel unprepared to conduct a lead generation campaign by yourself. Why? Well it’s not like you really have to.
The thing you need to remember is that you should place your value only on the information. You’re looking for people who could use the advanced skills of a financial planner but these are likely to be rather high on the corporate ladder. All you really need is to get these people interested in you. If you have to set up financial appointments, then do it! If you really insist on being afraid, then be more afraid of what happens if you don’t try to make opportunities for yourself.
You won’t get work. You won’t get paid. You don’t really need to keep going just to guess where that road is going to take you.
With that established, you just have to find a cost-efficient way to gather the information you need. There are plenty of cost-efficient ways to get an appointment setter without necessarily turning your office or home into a makeshift call center. If you use outsourced telemarketing, then you’ll have all the information you’ll need.
The point is you need work but your work needs the approval of an entire business organization. You won’t get it unless you really do your homework and get as much information as you can. The more leads you have, the more opportunities you’ll get to finally start working.
