Mastering Enterprise Sales: A Proven Blueprint for B2B Success

From Identifying Ideal Customers to Nurturing Enterprise Prospects: My Journey to Unlocking Millions in Sales Pipeline

Previous to leading marketing at ArrowStream, I led GTM strategy and execution for B2B companies, including Yogurtistan, mobilike, CreatorDen, Securly, and Omneky. Here is the formula I concocted to generate millions of dollars in sales pipeline, specifically from enterprise prospects:

1. Identify ICP and Segment it Into Personas

During the pandemic, the food service industry went through turbulent times, and the reliance on the software I was selling became even more vital. With market conditions changing, consumers becoming more price-sensitive to eating out, and the evolution of the automobile industry going green meant that consumers were poised to spend more time recharging their car batteries at gas stations, strategically positioning Convenience Stores to service a new wave of consumers who were looking for alternatives to QSRs (Quick-Service Restaurants). I noticed that many Convenience Store chains had a similar issue with their supply chain, making them a potential vertical to expand the TAM. Look at the TAM and identify the buyer personas by examining the contacts needed to influence these accounts. Start with the decision maker and list the contacts (pick 3–5) based on job titles you need to influence within the corporate hierarchy of these companies, giving you a bottom-up look at the account. Next, identify the contacts you want to enrich in Salesforce and add them to the nurturing program.

2. Identify Accounts and Contact Information

You can start simple, as simple as making a google search and finding the top 10 companies in the market, mining the web for 2–3 people's contact information within those accounts, and making a list. Give that list to the sales rep overlooking this new market, and have the rep reach out individually while adding a personal touch to the content. Then create an email template for sales reps to utilize when doing outreach. I have seen the highest success when gifting is used as the hook to get the representatives at the prospect accounts to respond. I've used merchandising such as a water bottle ($50 value), which has proven successful. You can do this process manually, but once you hit some scale, I recommend adopting a Swag Management Platform such as Printfection and gliding into a more sophisticated platform upon more market adoption, which will require a higher frequency of gifting merchandise. Now, a platform like Sendoso can fully integrate with Salesforce and automate processes within the gifting initiative.

3. Evaluate Market Opportunity

Usually, you will have responses within a day or two. Regroup with the sales rep to see if any prospects provide their information and arrange for the merchandise to be shipped accordingly. Keep track of the responses coming from the prospects via the sales reps; once there is a positive response, add the account in Salesforce and assign the lead to the corresponding sales rep.

4. Increase Account Depth

With this newly acquired confidence, work with a data enrichment vendor to carve out a list of 1000 accounts within the market and increase the account depth by having data on 5–10 contacts at each account. BambooBox has a cost-effective solution that can work with you on data enrichment and implementing an ABM program. While they are relatively early stage, the program requires lots of back and forth to work effectively, and they were responsive and efficient in my experience of working with them. After extracting the new data, upload it to Salesforce (you can use this to make lists and sharpen audience targeting for advertising campaigns, and also it will be easier to track as leads start coming in through the website fill forms) and then sync it with Hubspot so that the new list is accessible to add when developing email campaigns.

5. Publish Content

Once you've qualified the market and started to go after it, it's time to pump out content relevant to prospects within your new TAM. Create a monthly blog calendar, push content weekly through your blog, and then post it on LinkedIn. Go the extra mile to differentiate your content with custom illustrations that illustrate the story and reinforce the unique brand positioning. Strengthen the narrative and improve your storytelling impact with market research and additional graphs and charts.

6. Syndicate Content

Identify websites, groups, and communities and compile them in a spreadsheet. Add a tag to the spreadsheet to segment based on the audience, which we will use to inform the messaging for the caption when reposting on that 3rd party channel. Whenever you post content on your website, syndicate it across all your owned social media channels, and promote it on the top of your website with a strip and link to the webpage. Then share a link to the webpage with a personalized caption based on the audience of each of the 3rd party communities. Track weekly progress to view the marketing activity's impact on improving content discoverability and increasing website traffic.

7. Build a Custom Landing Page

Before launching a new campaign, build a landing page with personalized messaging specific to the buyer personas within the new TAM. The 'above-the-fold' area will be the prime real estate you need to personalize based on the title and tagline that resonates most with your new TAM. Make sure to include a testimonial section with relevant customers and showcase logos of publications the brand has appeared on to boost social proof. Qualitative metrics to highlight company success, such as the number of customers, will be helpful too.

8. Run Advertising on LinkedIn

Create a new LinkedIn Ad campaign and leverage your new TAM file for audience targeting. Use your relevant blog content as the Ad content and link the URL destination. Track ad impressions, ad clicks, website blog subscribers, and lead generation form fills coming from the campaign. Don’t forget to add a CTA (Call-To-Action) at the bottom of the blog post that directs the visitor to the demo page.

9. Run a Sequenced Email Campaign

When sending your follow-up email to prospects through a subscriber newsletter, customer product update email, or webinar promo, upload the new TAM list within Hubspot for email automation. Now the email will is sent to your new TAM.

10. Make Lists of Prospects For Sales Reps

Integrate your ABM provider to your Salesforce database and connect Hubspot to track prospect engagement. Segment the new TAM, assign new accounts to sales reps (geography is one way of parsing the market and allocating accounts), and analyze data to track positive indicators of buyer interest across prospect search intent and engagement data.

11. Analyze Buyer Interest

Meet with sales reps weekly to go through accounts and identify ones showing buyer interest and which ones we can engage with to pull down the funnel. Discuss the optimal outreach method and content with sales reps based on the lead stage. Arm sales reps with any marketing collateral they can leverage for personalized outreach.

12. Create Case Studies

Build relationships with key contacts at five customer accounts in the new vertical and transmit the quotes you requested for the joint press release into content for your Testimonial module on the landing page. After you have performance metrics to work off of, you can create full-fledged case studies that showcase the problem you solved, the specific solution offered, and the overall impact you had on the business.

13. Circulate Press Releases

Include a clause in your contract that allows you to include the customer's logo and name in marketing collateral. Whenever you sign a new customer, write a press release and have the sales rep that brought that customer in reach out to ask for a quote and get approval from the customer's marketing and legal teams. Once you get the approval, create an image with logos and post the press release on your company blog. Share the press release link posted on your website on LinkedIn and internally with the team while ensuring the traffic is directed to your website. Circulate the press release using a platform like Newswire, and upload your company logo. Amplify the LinkedIn post with ads; upload the list of your new TAM for audience targeting and use the blog post URL, which leads to the destination of the press release on your website.

14. Use Case Studies for Advertising Collateral

Once you have a handful of customers, create case studies, post them on your website, create cover images to share on social media with a creative caption, and promote with advertising on LinkedIn. I recommend using a tool like Canva, a free graphic design tool, to create social media posts, presentations, posters, videos, logos, and more. Convert the LinkedIn post of the case study into an Ad and amplify its reach with paid advertising while using your new TAM list for audience targeting. Once the new TAM's prospects see these ads, they click on them and go to the case study page on your website. Ensure the page is optimized with relevant images and messaging for the new TAM and has a CTA with a lead gen form fill.

15. Arm Sales Reps With Content

Implement a platform like Qwilr to arm your sales reps with case studies and other digital assets specific to various buyer personas within your new TAM. Segment each buyer's journey into stages and upload assets that would be most relevant for the sales reps to include based on the account stage. Activate the sales rep to use the content library effectively while working on personalizing messaging based on the audience segment of the buyer persona within the new TAM.

16. Coordinate Events and Gift Attendees

Now that you've carved out a chunk of this new TAM supplement your digital marketing efforts with boots-on-the-ground field events. Leverage your sales reps to put on roadshows, deepening customer ties while building relationships with prospects. Tier your merchandising so that based on the seniority of the prospect or customer, you'll have a corresponding gift. Use happy hours and gift baskets to attract prospects, create community, and strengthen customer ties.

16. Coordinate Webinars

Organize industry-relevant webinars as a means to engage with your new TAM. Webinars offer a unique platform to share insights, demonstrate expertise, and directly interact with prospects. Select topics that are both pertinent and intriguing to your target audience. Involve industry experts, ideally from your customer base, as guest speakers to add credibility. Use your email campaigns and social media channels to promote these webinars. After the event, make sure to send a follow-up email with a recording of the webinar and additional resources. This helps keep the conversation going and nurtures leads further down the sales funnel.

17. Target Prospects with Ads to Increase Webinar Registrants

Utilize firmographic data to tailor and target your advertisements to the specific personas identified within your new TAM. This data includes industry type, company size, job title, revenue, geographic location, and other corporate attributes. By leveraging this information, you can create highly targeted ad campaigns on platforms like LinkedIn, Google Ads, or industry-specific websites. These campaigns should focus on raising awareness about your upcoming webinars. Craft ads that highlight the value and relevance of the webinar content to your target personas. This strategy ensures that your webinar promotions reach the most appropriate and potentially interested audience, thereby increasing attendance rates and enhancing the quality of leads generated.

18. Identify Accounts Showcasing High Intent

Utilize tools like ClearBit or DemandBase to track account engagement and identify which accounts are showing high intent. These platforms help in understanding which topics your prospects are interested in and how they are interacting with your content and website. This data allows you to prioritize accounts that are more likely to convert, enabling a more focused and efficient approach to your sales and marketing efforts.

19. Sales Uses Account Intent Intelligence to Personalize Communication

Equip your sales team with insights gathered from the account intent data. This enables them to tailor their conversations and outreach messages to align with the specific interests and pain points of each prospect. Personalized communication significantly increases the chances of engagement and conversion, as it demonstrates an understanding of the prospect’s unique needs and challenges.

20. Monitor and Adjust Strategies Based on Performance Metrics

Regularly review the performance of all your strategies — from content syndication and email campaigns to webinars and field events. Analyze metrics such as engagement rates, lead conversion rates, and ROI. Use this data to refine and adjust your strategies, ensuring continuous improvement and alignment with your target market’s evolving needs and preferences. This step is crucial for sustaining long-term growth and success in your targeted enterprise prospects.

Final Thoughts

While there is no “one size fits all” model, this blueprint works best for B2B Sales-led SaaS companies with a relatively small TAM (<10K accounts) solving a company-wide problem. For more on generating demand from enterprise prospects, check out this step-by-step guide.