The Complete Guide to B2B Sales Prospecting
How to outreach cold prospects in B2B : cold call, cold email, cold messages on LinkedIn
9/5/20267 min read
In this guide, I'll show you how to generate B2B sales opportunities using the three main outbound prospecting channels:
LinkedIn
Cold email
Cold calling
This guide is relevant whether you're a freelancer looking for new projects, an agency owner, an IT services company, or a SaaS founder looking to acquire new customers in a predictable way over the long term or through a focused prospecting sprint.
I'll also explain how to close these meetings more effectively.
Essentially, I'm giving you a free condensed version of my paid online training, which goes into much greater detail. (Click on Outbound Academy in the website menu to check it out.)
Personally, I've been working in business development for five years and have been self-employed for two. I've generated thousands of B2B meetings for myself and my clients.
This week alone, I've booked more than 30 meetings through cold calling.
I also regularly book meetings through cold email and LinkedIn, although these require completely different approaches.
What works with cold email won't necessarily work on LinkedIn or cold calling, and vice versa.
In this guide, I'll explain how to use each of these channels to generate sales opportunities, regardless of what you're selling (agency services, IT solutions, SaaS, etc.).
So stick around and read until the end.
We'll start with the easiest and most accessible channel and work our way up to the most challenging.
LinkedIn Prospecting
In theory, LinkedIn is the most accessible form of prospecting. Even highly introverted and shy people who struggle with the pressure of sales can use LinkedIn to generate opportunities.
On LinkedIn, your activity is limited by the platform itself: you can send around 150 new connection requests per week, with a maximum of approximately 200.
Of those weekly invitations, only 20–30% will typically be accepted. That's actually a pretty good result, because when someone accepts your connection request, a window of opportunity opens up.
It's a bit like getting a match on a dating app.
However, this is where most people get it wrong: they then set up huge sequences of generic, automated messages.
Why doesn't this work? Just take a step back and think about how you feel when someone prospects you that way.
Your first reaction is probably:
"This is an automated message. They didn't actually send it specifically for me."
As a result, you don't even bother reading it.
It's exactly the same as getting a match on a dating app like Tinder or Bumble. If you immediately send an automated sequence of three messages spread over a week, asking the person out on a date right away, it's unlikely to work.
Keep this principle in mind: LinkedIn is a high-intent channel. The person has accepted your connection request despite knowing who you are and what you offer.
Here's what I recommend:
Simply send a greeting to people who accept your connection request. Then, engage in a natural conversation with those who reply.
No automation.
In my training, I go into much more detail about how to identify the best people to connect with on LinkedIn in your market, what can be automated, where automation should stop, and how to use intent signals when building your prospect lists to maximize your chances of booking meetings.
I also explain how to carry out the subsequent prospecting process manually.
With LinkedIn, you can theoretically generate 1–4 B2B meetings per week if you master the channel. However, because the platform imposes strict limits, you'll often hit a ceiling around that level.
Be careful with automation platforms, as they are technically prohibited by LinkedIn's rules. There is a small risk of getting your account banned, although that risk is relatively low.
Cold Email Prospecting
Anyone can send emails. It's not particularly intrusive.
Admittedly, this means collecting professional email addresses from people who haven't necessarily opted in to receive your messages. However, B2B cold emailing is perfectly legal when you're promoting something relevant to the recipient's professional role or company.
Cold email generally requires more volume than LinkedIn. You often need to send at least 100 emails to generate one meeting, provided those emails are highly personalized and well-written.
It's therefore a more challenging channel to master, especially if you don't have enough time to write 100–200 highly personalized emails per day.
Here's an example of a personalized cold email structure:
Subject: [Relevant subject line]
Hi [First Name],
Great to connect. I noticed that you've [personalized observation]. Would you be interested in [value proposition]?
We work with [relevant social proof], helping them achieve [specific results].
Would you be open to discussing this for 15–20 minutes sometime this week?
Best regards,
Louis Bonnefond
Depending on your industry, it can be useful to address potential objections directly in the email and give prospects compelling reasons to jump on a call with you.
Another way to improve your reply rate is to target prospects based on specific buying signals. Depending on your offer, certain signals can be particularly valuable.
For example, imagine you're a marketing agency looking to win new enterprise clients.
It could be particularly interesting to target CMOs who have recently joined a company. They may be looking to review the company's current marketing setup, and they might not yet have such a strong relationship with the existing agency.
You could also target companies that are currently hiring marketing professionals.
In my training, I also show you which tools are best for identifying these signals and collecting large volumes of professional email addresses at a low cost.
I also explain how to automate email personalization using n8n workflows, although I should warn you that this is quite complex, even with the groundwork I've already done for you.
A successful automated cold email sequence can potentially generate one meeting per day in your market without any manual work, apart from the initial preparation of the campaign.
Cold Calling
Cold calling is the most challenging prospecting channel, but it can also generate the greatest returns when you master it.
There are several different cold calling methods, and they can produce very different results.
The biggest differences usually lie in the opening lines, meaning what you say during the first few seconds of the call.
Personally, my favorite approach is the tailored permission-based opener. It sounds quite technical, but the concept is simple.
The idea is to ask the prospect for permission to deliver your pitch, after briefly explaining why what you're offering might be relevant to them.
For example:
"I'm calling because we work with some companies in your industry, including CTOs at B2B startups such as PayFit and Skello. Would you mind if I took 30 seconds to explain what we do?"
This type of permission-based opener works particularly well when your targeting is accurate.
Another example:
"I'm calling because I noticed you've recently started a new position as CTO at [Company Name]. We work with several other CTOs in similar situations. Would you be open to hearing a little more about it for 30 seconds?"
Depending on your target audience and the personas you're calling, you may also need to prioritize certain calling times. Otherwise, you'll end up reaching people who are constantly busy or stuck in meetings.
Once you've got their attention, your pitch should briefly and clearly explain your social proof, what you do, and the value you provide.
Then, propose a 15–20-minute meeting.
Sometimes, you also need to give them a compelling reason to accept the meeting. For example, you could offer to understand how they currently handle a particular business challenge so you can provide tailored insights into where you might be able to help.
In my training, I go into much more detail about how to identify the right companies to target and which types of pitches to use depending on your offer, so you can maximize your chances of booking meetings.
Sometimes, it takes quite a bit of testing and iteration to identify the market segment (industry, company size, and persona) that responds best to cold calling.
Once you've found it, you can sometimes generate an incredible number of meetings per day, potentially reaching as many as 10.
I also explain which tools are the most effective and affordable for finding phone numbers and identifying the right prospects, how to refine your targeting based on the objections you encounter, how to organize your calling sessions for the best results, and how to handle different types of objections.
Closing B2B Meetings: Turning Meetings Into Paying Customers
There's no point generating meetings if you can't close them.
The average B2B closing rate is around 15%. This means you'll typically need at least seven meetings to close one customer.
So, if you want to acquire one new customer per week, you should aim for approximately eight meetings per week.
If you're not closing deals, there are generally three possible explanations:
You're targeting the wrong market segment, where the need isn't strong enough.
Your offer isn't attractive enough in its current form.
You don't know how to close effectively.
There are two particularly important things to understand if you want to improve your closing rate.
1. Always agree on a clear next step at the end of the first call.
"Just get back to me by email" is a lost opportunity in 99% of cases.
Instead, always propose a follow-up meeting to review things together, perhaps one week later.
If the prospect isn't willing to schedule a follow-up meeting, you can generally assume the opportunity is dead and focus your attention on other prospects.
2. Ask questions.
This can sometimes be difficult, but you shouldn't do too much talking.
Your main objective is to ask questions and dig deeper into the prospect's needs.
Beyond these basic principles, it's difficult to give universal advice because everything depends so heavily on your industry.
The key is to ask the right questions and make suggestions that demonstrate your expertise while encouraging the prospect to reveal important information about their internal organization.
This will help you identify where you can bring the most value and, more importantly, what is currently causing them the most pain.
Give every prospect the same level of attention and focus on bringing their problems to the surface.
If you're generating eight meetings per week, theoretically, you should be able to acquire one new customer per week.
Send me an email at louis@outbound-machine.com