Finding new customers really works differently than it did a few years ago. There is no one method that works for that. What I do know is that research-based sales is a method that ensures that you as a customer participate in creating opportunities for company sales.

I will suffice below to give an example. Also, I make a promise to share other methodologies that have demonstrably led to new business in the coming period. Because again, the number one priority of CEOs or directors is growth. Growth is not just growth in revenue or profit, it goes beyond that. You attract new customers only when you are relevant to customer, employee, society and the environment.

Some time ago, I completely fell for it myself. Not everyone is competitive or always wants to win. What is true is that a person or individual likes to compare themselves to others. Am I doing better, smarter, faster or different! Of course, there are exceptions. Usually you want to compare yourself and most of all you want to hear that you are doing better than the rest. This is exactly why I believe in the power of gamification. But that aside.

Marketing & sales benchmark research

Some time ago, I was asked by The Blue Hour to participate in a survey. This survey was about sales and marketing. It asked questions that were sometimes open-ended and sometimes closed. The open questions were overtly SPIN in their wording. What are the main challenges? What have you already tried to overcome these challenges? What resources have you already used? What score do you give on a scale of 1 to 10?
Participating in the survey took at least 15 minutes. In return, I would receive the outcome of the survey. This would also show what my score would be compared to the benchmark. With some self-assurance, I was not afraid of scoring lower than the average of the other participants. For imaging purposes: this survey was mainly about sales and marketing. Think of statements about the quality of leads, the quality of follow-up, the conversion of sales-qualified leads, the cooperation between sales and marketing, the methods of creating leads that were or were not successful. By answering all these questions honestly, you provide so much confidential information that you give so much information with which he or she will very quickly find hooks to engage with you on this.
After my participation in the study, I received a call from the researcher. He wanted to come and explain the results. Of course I was open to that. After all, I wanted to know whether my score was better than the others who had participated in the study. After all, you want to be the best. At least, I do.

Research-based sales

One of the problems back then was that we had too few qualified leads, they were not followed up enough and the conversion to order was too low. Of course, this research agency representative had a solution for that. Namely: why don't you set up your own research towards your clients so that you know where the client's generic challenges are. With that, you are going to be able to help the customer remove the challenges. What I briefly described above is called research-based sales. Based on the above, I think this is another way to engage with potential customers on the content axis. Of course, this works very well until everyone starts using research-based sales. I personally wouldn't want to participate in multiple surveys on a daily basis either.
Finally, a couple of data points: experience showed us that in 52% of the participants who had participated in the study, an opportunity arose. Either 1 in 2 participants had a concrete problem that could be solved. The conversion rate of this method is many times higher than going old-fashioned with the phone book and making haphazard calls. Everyone agrees on that. Research-based sales is a method I will advise every organisation and person to apply.
New business is increasingly complex. Different thinking and close cooperation with marketing are crucial here. If after reading this article you want to know what research-based sales means and how you could benefit from it, don't hesitate to comment in the comments. This is definitely going to lead to qualified opportunities that you can develop further yourself.
Source: Bas ter Heurne