marketingskills/skills/prospecting/references/b2b-prospecting.md

B2B Prospecting Reference

For when the user sells to non-SaaS B2B — services, agencies, manufacturers, mid-market and enterprise companies, professional services firms.

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ICP Signals That Matter (B2B branch)

Firmographic signals

• Industry / vertical — NAICS or SIC codes if precision matters
• Company size — headcount band, revenue band, location count
• Geography — relevant for time zones, regulations, on-site requirements
• Business model — service vs product vs distribution; B2B vs B2B2C
• Ownership — independent, PE-backed, public, family-owned — affects buying motion

Buying signals

• Trigger events: new C-level hire, recent acquisition or divestiture, IPO/funding, opening a new location, recent rebrand, expansion announcement
• Vendor signals: posting RFPs publicly, switching costs in last quarterly report, contract renewal windows
• Operational signals: recent layoffs (cost pressure) or rapid hiring (capacity pressure)
• News mentions: launching new initiative, entering new market, regulatory change forcing action
• PR / press: anything that signals "this company is changing right now"

Decay signals

• Multiple bankruptcies or PE-stripped operations
• Negative growth + cost-cutting headlines
• Ownership stagnation (small family-owned, no growth incentive)
• Buyer turnover (3+ Marketing Directors in 2 years)

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Discovery Sources (B2B branch)

Tier 1 — primary discovery

• Apollo: best general B2B firmographic + contact discovery
• ZoomInfo: enterprise B2B + intent signals (mid-market+)
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator: industry + role + signal search; the gold standard for decision-maker mapping (manual)
• Clay: when you need custom waterfall lookups (e.g., enrich Apollo records with Hunter + Clearbit)

Tier 2 — industry-specific directories

• Crunchbase / Pitchbook: funded businesses
• D&B Hoovers: large traditional B2B firmographics
• State / national business registries: for verified incorporation data
• Industry association membership rosters: trade groups often publish member lists
• Trade show exhibitor lists: signals active participation in a vertical
• Procurement databases (Procore for construction, e.g.): vertical-specific signals

Tier 3 — trigger event monitoring

• Google Alerts / Feedly: trigger keywords ("acquired," "hires," "expansion," "raises," "announces")
• PR Newswire / Business Wire: company-controlled announcements
• SEC filings (public companies): material change disclosures
• State filings: new entity formation, dissolution

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Qualification Checklist (B2B branch)

• Industry / vertical matches ICP (use a recognized classification if possible)
• Company size within range (employees or revenue)
• Geography fits
• At least one trigger event in last 90–180 days
• Decision-maker role exists (CEO, COO, VP Operations, Director of X — match buyer profile)
• Email contact verifiable (named role > info@ catchall)
• Source URLs captured for firmographic claims
• No disqualifiers (closed, acquired-paused, multi-bankrupt, off-ICP)

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Output Columns (B2B branch)

Recommended CSV columns:

score,company,domain,industry,naics_code,size_band,revenue_band,country,city,trigger_event,trigger_date,contact_name,contact_title,contact_email,email_status,linkedin_url,source_urls,why_prospect,confidence,verified_date,notes

For chat table, condense to: Score | Company | Industry | Size | Trigger | Contact | Email status | Confidence.

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Top Outreach Targets Selection (B2B)

Prioritize for the top 3–5 hot leads:

1. Trigger event recency — 30 days beats 6 months
2. Trigger event specificity — new CMO hire in your buyer's role beats "company in the news"
3. Decision-maker access — named contact with verified email + LinkedIn beats role-only
4. Vertical fit precision — exact NAICS match beats "adjacent industry"

Each top target rationale names the trigger and decision-maker: "Hired new VP of Marketing 14 days ago; verified email; mid-market manufacturer matching ICP."

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Common Mistakes (B2B)

1. Treating B2B like SaaS — funding rounds matter less; PE ownership and acquisition activity matter more.
2. Trying to verify private company revenue precisely — most public databases approximate. Use size bands, not point estimates.
3. Ignoring procurement complexity at enterprise scale — your prospect contact list may not include the actual approver.
4. Cold-emailing executive assistants — they're not the buyer and they will flag your outreach as spam.
5. Source URL hygiene — without source lineage, you can't defend a contact under GDPR DSAR or CAN-SPAM challenge.
6. Stopping at one source — Apollo can be 60% accurate on small businesses. Cross-verify with LinkedIn or the business website.