A Story From the Front Lines of B2B Lead Generation: Construction #2

Great news for the construction industry: prospects are buying virtually. If you’re used to talking to prospects face-to-face, that’s great, you can continue doing so. However, B2B appointment setting in the construction industry isn’t what it used to be. For decades, construction companies have been having face-to-face meetings; nowadays, prospects are willing to have conversations virtually. A story from the frontlines is going to bring some encouraging news to construction companies everywhere.

When it comes to virtual B2B sales pitches, construction companies shouldn’t count themselves out. Prospects are willing to have a buying conversation virtually. We have a story to prove this, and it’s a big one. Here’s how a construction company closed a multi-million dollar deal from an appointment that was scheduled off of a Zoom sales pitch.

Strategic Prospecting to Find the Right Targets

Yes, more prospects across all industries are willing to have buying conversations virtually. But you have to find the right prospects in order to have those conversations. Any good B2B appointment setting program involves strategic prospecting to find the right targets. A good lead generation program has one dedicated person who solely focuses on prospecting. Ideally, you should have an entire sales development team to prospect, scrub lists, and qualify leads. To successfully generate new opportunities, companies need to find the right prospects, use tools to gather information about those prospects, and build relationships with prospects.

With the right prospecting strategy in place, our construction client was able to secure a multi-million dollar deal with a large retail chain in the Midwest. The lead generation activity that was going on allowed the client to find the contact info for a huge retail company and build a relationship with them—wouldn’t it be nice to have this kind of activity going on every day? With appointment setting services, you can.

Hear what the Sales Manager on the account had to say about working with this construction client:

“This is a client that has very specific expectations, but also a client that says he will win the business when we put him in front of the right people, and boy was he right!”

This construction client was confident in saying that if we put the right opportunities in front of him, he would close those deals. This, again, reiterates the importance of finding the right prospects in your company’s target market. A B2B lead generation campaign can either be an absolute waste of time and money, or it can be an unbelievable money maker that creates an ROI far and beyond what you ever imagined possible. The choice is yours—you have to have a killer sales process (know how you’re different from your competition) and be doing all the right things from a lead generation standpoint. When a lead is passed from an appointment setter into a good sales process, it’s the difference between throwing your ball to your kid and throwing a ball to a major league baseball player. Who do you want catching the throw?

Excellent Sales Skills and Consistent Lead Generation Efforts

Another important component of this lead generation program (and any lead generation program) is consistent efforts from a skilled sales team. It’s critical that you stay in contact with prospects and build a relationship with all qualified leads. Your lead generation efforts should be consistent, but you should also be mixing things up and using different types of communication. A combination of calls, emails, voicemails, etc. will generate the best results.

It’s important to note, however, that you can’t just go through the motions and expect great results. A talented team of B2B sales representatives is also important if you want to generate interest for your products or services. In this case for our construction client, the prospect called us back at one point. This doesn’t happen unless the prospect is interested, and this has a lot to do with the sales rep’s efforts. This was the result of an excellent voicemail. 

Do you have the salespeople on your team to generate enough buzz or interest for your products or services simply from a voicemail? The best B2B sales reps have the skills to:

• Communicate clearly and effectively. A great B2B sales rep has the natural ability to make prospects believe in the value of what they’re selling. They can summarize their purpose for calling and the value of what they have to offer in a quick voicemail.

• Stay organized and record data. Great B2B sales reps record information about every conversation they have in a customer relationship management (CRM) tool. This helps them not only to create stronger relationships with potential clients, but it ensures they’re reaching out to prospects at the right time with the right messaging.

• Ask the right questions. It’s one thing to know your company well, but a great B2B salesperson knows the right questions to ask. They know how to move the conversation along. In this case, the B2B sales rep asked the construction client questions about upcoming projects, square footage of new additions, what kind of work they would need done, etc. Asking questions like this differentiates you from the competition and helps you increase top of mind awareness.

Ultimately, excellent sales skills and consistent lead generation efforts will help any appointment setting program to be successful.

Carrying the Conversation From One KDM to the Next

In an appointment setting program, the key decision-maker (KDM) can change. In fact, it happens pretty often. It’s not very likely that the first contact you speak with at every company is going to be the decision maker for the service you’re trying to sell. It certainly wasn’t for our construction client. The KDM actually changed several times before we were able to find the right contact who could move the conversation to a buying decision.

It’s important to have appointment setters who can carry the conversation from one KDM to the next, especially since it’s very common for the KDM to change. In this case, the appointment setter was easily capable of carrying the conversation from one KDM to the next. This is a result of great documentation from previous conversations. Having one dedicated resource (B2B sales rep) also helped. It’s important when things change in an appointment setting program, whether it be the KDM or something else, that your B2B sales representatives are adaptable and don’t allow it to slow down their efforts.

A Solid B2B Sales Presentation

To successfully close a deal virtually, you need a great B2B sales presentation. Sure, more prospects are willing and capable of having buying conversations virtually, but they still have expectations. Without a great sales presentation, they won’t retain as much information. The prospect will inevitably get bored, distracted, and not follow the sales pitch as well.

If you’re new to pitching virtually, follow these simple guidelines when creating a presentation:

• Know your target audience and their needs
• Hit on key points, but don’t clutter with text; include these slides:
  • Presentation overview
  • Company history/who we are
  • Problem/how you offer a solution
  • Value adds/unique differentiators
  • Why Us?
  • Products/Services
  • Meet the team
  • Pricing information
  • Conclusion and next steps
• Use case studies and statistics to build credibility
• Practice your sales pitch, don’t memorize
• Learn how to ask questions and create conversation
• Clearly define next steps; have a plan for following up