The final quarter of the year is a busy time for most businesses. There are budgets to finish, customers to follow up with, campaigns to plan and goals to reach before the calendar turns.

It is also a good time to take a closer look at your prospecting strategy.

If your sales and marketing teams will be looking for new business in the coming months, now is the time to think about who you want to reach and what information you need to reach them effectively. A well-built business list can give your team a more organized starting point for outreach and help you focus on the companies that fit your target market.

Start With Your Ideal Customer

Before building a business list, define the type of company you want to reach.

Think about the characteristics your best customers have in common. For example:

• What industries do they work in?
• Where are they located?
• How large are their companies?
• What is their estimated sales volume?
• What types of products or services do they typically purchase?
• Which job titles are involved in making purchasing decisions?

The more clearly you can describe your ideal customer, the easier it becomes to build a list around those characteristics.

Use Industry to Narrow Your Audience

Industry is one of the simplest ways to organize a business prospect list.

If your company specializes in products or services for restaurants, contractors, healthcare providers or manufacturers, for example, you may not need to reach every business in your market.

Focusing on specific industries can make it easier to develop relevant messaging and organize your outreach into manageable groups.

Industry classifications such as SIC and NAICS codes can also be useful when creating more specific business audiences.

Consider Geography

Where your prospects are located can be just as important as what they do.

A local service provider may want to focus on businesses within a certain radius, while a company selling nationally may want to identify prospects across multiple states.

Consider whether your Q4 strategy should focus on:

• Your current service area
• Nearby cities or markets
• Specific states
• Selected zip codes
• New geographic markets you plan to enter next year

Expanding your geographic criteria can be one way to find new opportunities without completely changing your ideal customer profile.

Think About Company Size

Two businesses in the same industry may have very different needs depending on their size.

Employee count and estimated sales volume can help you divide a broad business audience into smaller groups. A company that sells enterprise software, for example, may want to focus on larger organizations, while a local service provider may be better suited to smaller businesses.

Building separate segments can also help you adjust your messaging to the type of company you are contacting.

Identify the Right Decision-Makers

Finding the right company is only part of the process. You also need to know who within that company may be involved in a purchasing decision.

Depending on your product or service, you may want to target owners, executives, marketing directors, operations managers, IT professionals or other specific job functions.

A business list that includes executive and job-title information can help your team move beyond a general company name and focus on the people who are most relevant to your outreach.

Don’t Wait Until January to Start Planning

One of the advantages of working on your prospecting strategy in Q4 is that you can use the final months of the year to prepare for the next one.

Instead of waiting until January to decide who you want to reach, consider building your priority audiences now. You can review your existing customer base, identify similar businesses, explore new markets and determine which segments deserve attention in the coming year.

That preparation can make it easier to start the new year with a clear plan.

Build a Business List Around Your Strategy

A useful business list should reflect your actual marketing strategy—not simply provide the largest possible number of names.

Think about the industries, locations, company sizes and job titles that matter most to your business. Then build your audience around those criteria.

DatabaseUSA can help businesses create targeted business lists using characteristics such as industry, geography, employee size, sales volume and executive information.

Q4 is a good time to review what worked this year, identify the markets you want to pursue next and build the prospecting lists that will help you get started.

A little planning now can give your sales and marketing teams a clearer path into the new year.

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