13 prospecting methods, and how to pick the two that fit you
There are 13 prospecting methods in this post, and you should use two of them. Maybe three if you're hungry. The mistake nearly everyone makes is treating a list like this as a checklist, spreading a bit of effort across every channel and getting a bit of nothing back. If you would rather start from what you already have, here are lead gen ideas sorted by starting position.
I've run growth for a few startups and now do the outbound for LiveDocument myself, so I've tried most of these, some of them badly. This is the list I wish someone had given me, with a plain view on what each one is good for. If you want the wider picture first, my posts on the sales prospecting process and strategic prospecting cover the thinking around it.
The warm methods, where to start
1. Referrals
Someone who already trusts you introduces you to someone who might buy. Still the highest-converting source in most businesses I've seen, and the one people ask for least. Ask specifically ("who do you know who's just hired their first salesperson?") rather than generally ("know anyone who needs us?"). For the habits that keep these methods running in a busy week, see prospecting tips.
2. Your own network
Old colleagues, past clients, people who moved jobs. Not a referral, just a reason to say hello to someone who'd recognise your name. Go through LinkedIn connections and your old inbox first. It's boring and it works.
3. Past customers and expansion
Existing customers are prospects for the next thing. A happy account with a new team, a new site or a new budget line is a better target than a stranger. Most companies under-prospect their own customer list.
4. Closed-lost revival
A deal you lost eight months ago is a different deal today. Their budget, their boss or their problem may have changed. A short note ("things have moved on at our end, worth a fresh look?") gets more replies than you'd expect, because there's already context.
The cold methods, where volume lives
5. Cold email
Short, written for one person, asking for something small. It scales better than anything else on this list and it's also the easiest to do badly. If your opener could go to a thousand people, it reads like it went to a thousand people.
6. Cold calling
Yes, still. It's uncomfortable, which is why fewer people do it, which is why it works for the ones who do. A call lets you handle an objection in real time, which an email never can. I'd pair it with an email the same day rather than choose between them.
7. LinkedIn outreach
Connection notes and direct messages to people you've researched. Works best when you've engaged with something they posted first, so the message isn't the first time they see your name. It works worst as a templated pitch sent the second someone accepts.
8. Direct mail
A physical card or small package to a short list of accounts you really want. Expensive per touch, but almost nobody else is doing it, and a handwritten note gets opened. Only worth it for high-value targets.
The signal-led methods, where timing lives
9. Trigger events
A new hire, a funding announcement, a new office, a product launch. Anything that tells you someone's situation just changed. You aren't prospecting the company, you're prospecting the moment. A company that just hired its first marketing manager needs a different conversation from one that's had ten for years.
10. Community and forum prospecting
Slack groups, subreddits, industry forums, WhatsApp communities. The rule is to be useful for a few weeks before you mention anything you sell. People can smell a drive-by pitch. Done properly, it turns strangers into people who message you first.
The leverage methods, where you borrow trust
12. Events and networking
Conferences, meetups, webinars you speak at or attend. Good for a small number of deep conversations rather than a big list. I'd choose one event a quarter that your exact buyer attends over five that roughly fit.
13. Partnerships
Someone who sells to your buyer but doesn't compete with you can introduce you again and again. An accountant and a bookkeeper. A web agency and an SEO freelancer. It takes a while to set up and then quietly feeds you.
How to pick your two
Don't choose on what sounds modern. Choose on three things.
First, where your buyer actually pays attention. Lawyers answer calls and ignore Instagram. Founders do the opposite. Second, your deal size. A small, quick sale can't justify direct mail, and a large one shouldn't depend only on cold email. Third, what you'll still be doing on your worst week. A method you drop in a busy fortnight isn't a method.
My own default is one warm method and one cold method. Referrals or network for the conversations that close, cold email for the volume that fills the top. Add one signal-led method once those two are running. That's three at most, and it's enough.
Then write it down on one page. A prospecting plan doesn't need more than who, where, how many and when. Before you spend a minute on any of it, make sure you know who your ideal prospect actually is, because every method above falls apart aimed at the wrong person.
Make the methods stick
Methods only work if you run them every week. Pick a number you can hit on a bad day, block the same slot each morning and track it somewhere simple. A prospect tracker template is plenty until you're drowning in names, and a proper prospecting workflow turns it into something you do on a Tuesday rather than something you plan.
What happens after someone says yes
Every method here ends in the same place: a prospect says "sure, send me something". A proposal, a deck, a pricing PDF. And then you wait, with no idea whether they opened it, read the pricing page or forwarded it to someone.
I spent years in that silence, which is why I built LiveDocument. You record a short video walkthrough over the PDF or image, share it as one link, and see which pages they spent time on. It doesn't find prospects for you and it isn't a CRM. It just tells you whether the thing you sent got read. There's more on how I use it at the sales use case page.
FAQ
What are the main prospecting methods?
The main prospecting methods are referrals, network outreach, cold email, cold calling, LinkedIn outreach, trigger-event monitoring, community engagement, content, events and partnerships. They split roughly into warm methods (people know you), cold methods (they don't) and signal-led methods (you act when something changes).
Which prospecting method works best?
Referrals tend to convert best, and cold email scales best. Which one is right for you depends on your buyer and your deal size. I'd start with one warm and one cold method and judge them after a month.
How many prospecting methods should I use at once?
Two to three. More than that and you spread your effort too thin to learn what's working. Run two properly, then add a third once they're routine.
Is cold calling still an effective prospecting method?
For many B2B sales, yes, mostly because fewer people do it now. It works best paired with an email the same day, and for buyers who actually pick up the phone.
I send a lot of things into the void for a living, so if that feeling is familiar, LiveDocument is at livedocument.com.
About the Author
Cameron JamesCameron is the founder of LiveDocument. He writes about sharing documents, PDFs, decks and contracts, and why pairing a video walkthrough with a document beats sending it cold.