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How to Find Prospects: 6 Different Ways

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The GoCardless content team comprises a group of subject-matter experts in multiple fields from across GoCardless. The authors and reviewers work in the sales, marketing, legal, and finance departments. All have in-depth knowledge and experience in various aspects of payment scheme technology and the operating rules applicable to each. The team holds expertise in the well-established payment schemes such as UK Direct Debit, the European SEPA scheme, and the US ACH scheme, as well as in schemes operating in Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand. See full bio

Last editedMay 20222 min read

The process of managing and nurturing leads is essential for all types of business. Without prospects there can be no leads – and with no leads at the top of the sales funnel, there will be no customers.

Prospects are the key ingredient behind your business success and can be accumulated in multiple ways, from social media to physical or virtual trade shows. In this post, we’ll give you 6 proven ways to find prospects to fill your sales pipeline:

6 ways to find prospects

Networking channels not only offer you a great place to engage with customers, they’re also a place for you to grow your prospect base. By sharing relevant content and sparking conversations, you’ll get to know who’s following your brand.

2. Content

Great content that’s relevant to your target audience encourages people to subscribe to your communications and helps you build a loyal band of prospects that can be nurtured into customers. Blog posts and infographics frequently get shared, turning the poster into an authoritative source of information, and making it more likely people will trust you and want to do business with you.

3. Networking

Networking, whether virtually, or in-person, is an effective way to find prospects. It’s a great way to get the word out about your business and what you do. Exchange details (maybe via a virtual company card), then add these prospect details to your database or CRM. Consider hosting workshops or seminars and allow existing customers to bring their guests. Afterwards, add these guests to your spreadsheets to follow up with later.

4. Referrals

Your existing customers should be your brand ambassadors. If they’ve received great service they’ll be happy to recommend you to others. Word of mouth is one of the most potent business tools, so make sure your customers have plenty of good things to say about you. It’s possible to generate leads through your company website or by collecting reviews from platforms like Google or Trustpilot.

5. Email

Use automated emails to follow up and keep in touch with prospects. Email can be used with social media, by providing links to your Facebook page, for example.

6. Find leads with accounting platform

Many firms are moving towards software as a solution to acquiring prospects and leads. By automating lead collection you can forget about manually entering sales leads and embed a form on your website so you can capture leads 24/7. Many lead collection platforms and CRMs integrate with your accounting platform too, so you can keep all your data in one place.

QuickBooks lead management

QuickBooks is an accounting software that allows companies to take control of their finances in one place. From cash flow to invoicing on the go, to making tax digital, QuickBooks helps small businesses streamline their accounting operations.

QuickBooks also integrates with lead tracking software like Method, so you can manage your leads, and create estimates for them outside of QuickBooks. When a lead becomes a paying customer their info is then automatically synced to QuickBooks.

QuickBooks also features a Lead Centre where companies can track prospects and view and sort prospects, as well as access ‘to do’ lists, contacts and locations.

As your business grows and you’re generating more leads, lead tracking becomes important. If you’re to nurture your leads, and win their business, you need to know where they are in the sales pipeline.QuickBooks lead management can help you not only manage your finances, but make it easier to keep track of your prospects.

We can help

GoCardless is a global payments solution that helps you automate payment collection, cutting down on the amount of financial admin your team needs to deal with. Find out how GoCardless can help you with one-off or recurring payments.