It is important to perform research and learn everything you can about a prospect before reaching out to them. The more you are able to tailor your presentation to their needs, the better chance you have at gaining their business. Here we explore some key elements to include in your research.

Target Market

Many companies offer solutions to multiple industries, verticals and micro-verticals. Being able to tailor your messaging to a particular niche will allow you to focus on specific pain points. This allows your outreach to be more personalized and effective.

Physical Location

Certain products and messaging will resonate with a particular region better than others.  Segmenting by location allows you to personalize your outreach as well as which products you offer to this segment. This type of segmentation also allows you to better cultivate your delivery times.

Age Of Prospect

While many topics of conversation transcend age, there can be differences in their preferred methods of communication. While younger generations may be more receptive to building relationships through social media, more experienced folks may be more likely to prefer email and telephone outreach.

Job Role

Job titles have become a bit ambiguous these days so researching what an individual contact’s role is can be much more effective when developing your segments. Particularly when using an account-based marketing approach, you will be reaching out to different levels of contacts. Some may be decision makers, evaluators or influencers and all will require a different approach.

Budget

Pitching products or services to a company that has no conceivable way to afford them does not make much sense. Most companies offer multiple solutions and knowing which ones are a good fit for a particular group of companies will help you to market to them more efficiently.

Company Size

The size of a company often dictates their budget and their need for a particular product or service. You may also have solutions or packages that fit a particular company size. In these cases, segmenting by company size makes a lot of sense.

Partners

Taking a look into which companies your target has partnered with will give you additional leverage when presenting to them. Knowing that you’ve worked closely with similar businesses and familiar companies will provide some level of comfort and trust to your prospects.

Relevant Experience

If you’re targeting a company in a particular industry or vertical, you’ll want to research the experience you have within that particular niche and be ready to highlight it in your presentation.  It will be perceived that success within a similar industry will translate to success with your prospect.