The best B2B products to cold call for
In B2B prospection, the higher the ACV, the more cold calling will be worth it
4/15/20264 min read
The Best B2B Software Categories for Cold Calling
B2B prospecting can outperform marketing when you're selling products or services with a sufficiently high average deal value.
When your average deal size is at least €6,000–€8,000, the number of relevant prospects is often relatively limited, and marketing loses its competitive advantage.
Marketing can work extremely well when you're targeting a very broad market (at least tens of thousands of companies), but its impact becomes more limited in smaller, more concentrated markets.
For example, even an excellent Meta Ads campaign might generate a conversion rate of 0.5%. If your market consists of 10,000 companies, that could theoretically generate up to 50 meetings.
However, with Meta Ads, you generally can't control targeting with the same level of precision. You'll therefore generate plenty of meetings with completely irrelevant people: students, competitors, unemployed people, and so on.
If you manage to generate 20 qualified meetings with the right decision-makers from a market of 10,000 companies, that would already be a very good result. In fact, it would be close to the best possible outcome under ideal conditions, with an excellent advertising campaign.
With good email prospecting, you could potentially generate up to 100–200 meetings under ideal conditions, and specifically with the right people, since you control the targeting.
And with cold calling, you could generate considerably more meetings than that, potentially up to 1,000 or 2,000, again under ideal conditions and with precise targeting.
Learning how to cold call is therefore, in absolute terms, one of the most powerful ways for a serious founder to generate business opportunities.
Here are some examples of SaaS categories where B2B prospecting is practically the only viable acquisition strategy, given their high average deal values and the resulting limitations on market size: often fewer than 10,000 potential companies.
Some SaaS Categories Have Enormous Annual Contract Values
Certain SaaS categories regularly command very high prices. They target large corporations, mid-sized companies, and sometimes larger SMEs.
When prospecting these types of businesses, I regularly book between 1 and 4 meetings per day through cold calling.
Here are the main SaaS categories with high average deal values.
Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)
These software solutions help procurement teams, from larger SMEs to enterprise accounts, manage their relationships with suppliers and sometimes distributors.
Average contract value: €30k–€120k per year.
These solutions compete with expensive ERP modules, which aren't necessarily particularly effective.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
CRMs help sales teams in small businesses, SMEs and large corporations manage their relationships with prospects and customers more effectively.
CRMs can target even very small businesses, but they can generate significantly more revenue in enterprise accounts.
Average contract value: €5k–€200k+ per year.
This is an extremely competitive market, so you need to differentiate yourself through prospecting. One way to do that is by adopting a specific cold-calling technique.
See here how to build an effective B2B cold-calling pitch.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
ERPs are at the core of a company's information system, covering procurement, finance, inventory, operations, and much more.
They're generally managed by CFOs, CIOs and Operations Directors.
Sourcing and closing deals can be extremely difficult, but when you land a customer, the contract value can be enormous.
Average contract value: €20k–€500k+ per year.
See here for more information on how to score your addressable market and prioritize the most relevant companies for your product.
Sales Enablement
Everything designed to help salespeople perform better.
This category is particularly developed in the US, with companies such as Gong.
These solutions primarily target VPs of Sales and Heads of Sales, from scaleups to large corporations.
Average contract value: €10k–€120k+.
Spend Management (S2P, P2P)
These solutions manage company-wide spending and are typically used by CFOs and Procurement Directors, from SMEs to large corporations.
Average contract value: €20k–€300k+ per year.
Data Analytics
These tools, sometimes offered through freemium models (Tableau, Power BI, etc.), analyze company data to help businesses manage and optimize their operations.
Enterprise licenses can command particularly high contract values.
Typical decision-makers include CTOs, Heads of Analytics, Business Intelligence Directors, and similar profiles, generally in companies with at least 30 employees.
Average contract value: €5k–€100k+ per year.
Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS)
These systems manage employee-related processes, including payroll, holidays, onboarding, and HR document management.
HR Directors are among the hardest personas to reach through cold calling because they almost never answer their phones.
To reach them effectively, you'll need to use specialized prospecting tools.
Average contract value: €10k–€150k+.
Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM)
These solutions manage the entire contract lifecycle, including drafting legally compliant contracts (for new customers, for example), signing, renewals, and centralizing all company contracts.
Typical decision-makers include CFOs, Legal Directors (where applicable), and sometimes Procurement Directors.
Their customers can range from very small businesses to large corporations, and pricing reflects this wide range.
Average contract value: €2k–€400k+ per year.
Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)
These software solutions manage warehouse operations and the flow of goods.
They primarily target COOs and Logistics Directors in companies with at least 50 employees.
Average contract value: €20k–€250k+ per year.
Transport Management Systems (TMS)
These solutions optimize freight transportation, including delivery planning, carrier selection, and logistics operations.
They're primarily used by manufacturing and distribution companies with at least 50 employees.
Typical decision-makers include Logistics Directors and COOs.
Average contract value: €15k–€250k+ per year.
Conclusion: Some SaaS Categories Have High Contract Values, Making Them Particularly Well-Suited to Outbound
All these SaaS categories can command enormous contract values. Some providers will rarely close deals below €20k per year, even for their smallest customers.
This makes these markets particularly attractive for outbound prospecting in terms of ROI.
However, prospecting is a highly technical discipline, and its complexity is widely underestimated.
Most sales teams don't know how to build a good prospecting list, even though this is the first and arguably most important step in the entire sales process.
If you're interested in helping your sales team improve its performance, or even outsourcing your prospecting to an experienced specialist, feel free to book a meeting with me below.