Technology Tips for Prospecting
Effective prospecting utilizing technology is a skill that sales professionals must practice in order to find and uncover new business opportunities. It may seem overwhelming and time consuming with all the clutter on the Internet. However, the use of the Internet and Social Media makes prospecting much easier if you have a plan and understand how to utilize the technology effectively. As a supplement to the prospecting tools introduced in our Sales Productivity workshop, we’ve compiled an on-going list of the most current and resourceful search engines and web sites.
The following list is maintained and updated by our technology specialists, also known as ‘master diggers’ on the MCA team. This list will get you started in your search for information. If you have a resourceful site that’s not listed, tell us about it! Email info@masterconnection.com. If you need further assistance, contact us or call (949) 589-6137.
Hints: Establish an objective each time you utilize the Internet and Social Media sites for research. Select a starting and ending time. Type in what you're searching for by using quotes. Remember when using the Internet for prospecting, it's similar to using a directory. Once you've collected the data, you'll need to create your initial sales call strategy. As introduced in our Sales Productivity workshop, there are four-steps to uncovering new business opportunities:
Telemarketing (Internet prospecting)
Prospecting (Internet prospecting)
The Initial Sales Call (the probing process)
Presenting Solutions (the presentation process)
ASSOCIATION SITES
AUTOMOBILE
BIOTECH PHARMACEUTICAL SITES
www.biomedreasearches.com Middle East medical industry information and directory
www.biomedreasearches.com Middle East medical industry information and directory
www.ams4cme.com American Medical Seminars
www.drugs.com/conferences/2013/ Medicine
www.meetings4docs.com Medical Specialties
www.cmeplanner.com Physicians' travel and meeting guide
www.worldpharmanews.com Global pharmaceutical news
CONSTRUCTION
Corporate Resources
finance.yahoo.com Site aggregates news and headlines for global public companies including their financial data
Caterer.com For job seeking
online.wsj.com/home-page# Global business news
www.bloomberg.com Global business and market news
www.ceoexpress.com The executive's internet
www.fastcompany.com Good to read for corporate market to keep up on what's happening, emerging markets.
www.forbes.com Global business news
www.google.com/finance Site aggregates news and headlines for global public companies including their financial data
www.hoovers.com Easy to research corporations. Includes some international but not as much as US. Can subscribe for maximum results, get company tree, contact information, build prospecting lists.
www.manta.com Company profiles & information.
www.marketwatch.com Market briefs daily from 10 bureaus in North America, Europe and Asia
www.money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/ CNN Business News
www.zoominfo.com Note: U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia Only
Directories
www.anywho.com Find people, places and businesses in the USA
www.thatsthem.com Find people for free
www.europages.com European business search and directory
www.superpages.com Easiest directory to use for prospecting. Search for market segments (SMERF or Corporate) by location. Search for building directories by address or street name.
https://www.whitepages.com Quick source for a phone number.
www.yellowpages.com Phone number search.
ENTERTAINMENT SITES
www.hollywoodreporter.com/business Movie industry
www.pollstar.com Worldwide concerts
www.variety.com/Home/ Movie industry
www.tourconnection.com/Home/ Movie industry
EVENTS AND TRAINING SITES
www.allconferences.com Global conference directory & event planning solutions listing for training seminars in the USA
www.conferencealerts.com Global list of academic conferences
www.eventogo.com Global event and training listings
www.trainingregistry.com Training registry for the USA
EventBrite.com To search for events in your area and who is hosting them
www.10times.com - Download the App! Find global tradeshows & conferences
FOOD & BEVERAGE
www.nrn.com - National Restaurant News
Government Websites/Embassies/Non-Profit
embassy.goabroad.com Embassy search by country
www.charitynavigator.org Non-profit resources in the USA
www.councilofnonprofits.org Network of non-profits
www.embassy-worldwide.com Embassy search by country
www.idealist.org Connects people in non-profits
HOSPITALITY/TRAVEL INDUSTRY SPECIFIC
www.eventective.com - list your venue
https://giggster.com - book film and event locals from local hosts. Venues/Hotels can list on here too.
HOTEL READER BOARD SERVICES
Insurance Sites
www.insuranceinsider.com Global insurance news
www.limra.com Global insurance industry association
www.reactionsnet.com Global insurance market news
INTERNATIONAL
www.luxury-insider.com Asia Online travel magazine
www.merx.com Canadian public tenders
www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com Country reports and business intelligence
Law Firms
www.americanbar.org/aba.html American Bar Association
www.hg.org Global legal resources and law firms by country
MARKETING
www.bizbash.com Marketing North American event services and venues.
Meetings
MILITARY/SMERF SITES
News
OIL & GAS
POPULAR SEARCH ENGINES
lookahead.surfwax.com Dynamic search Navigation
www.beaucoup.com 2,000+ Search Engines, Indices and Directories
www.dogpile.com Dogpile returns all the best results from leading search engines including Google, Yahoo!, Bing and Yandex
www.ussearch.com People search engine. Will provide email addresses for a fee.
www.whowhere.com People/phone number search engine.
www.yippy.com Meta Search engine.
www.theofficialboard.com The Official Board.
www.dnb.com D&B.
www.vault.com Vault Career Intelligence.
REAL ESTATE
RELIGIOUS SITES
RESOURCE SITES
SOCIAL MEDIA
@myHablo/Twitter
https://foursquare.com/city-guide Share experiences and recommendations
www.pinterest.com Virtual pinboard
www.xing.com Professional networking site in Europe
SPORTS SITES
www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily.aspx Global sports business news
www.sportspromedia.com Global sports news site
TECHNOLOGY SITES
www.informationweek.com Business technology news
www.itbusinessedge.com Technology industry news
www.technewsworld.com World technolgy news
VERIFY NAMES, Emails, ADDRESSES AND PHONE NUMBERS
WEDDING SITES
www.destinationweddingmag.com Destination weddings and honeymoons
www.engagesummits.com Luxury wedding business summit