Target the next generation of B2B sales 🤘🏽

Hey there 👋🏻,

Welcome back to the second episode of my monthly newsletter: 'build together'. To quickly warm you up, I am Ludo, co-founder and CEO of Leadbay, with the aim of empowering the next generation of B2B sales champions through technology. Alongside my co-founder Milan Stankovic, PhD, a small tech team, and a community of 200 B2B sales reps, we started working on the future of Sales last August. We quickly arrived at our initial hypothesis, which I shared in my first newsletter, 'Manifesto.' Throughout September, we learned a lot about our target market. I will brief you here on the direction we've chosen and invite you to participate.

The next generation of sales professionals is tech-native, bold, nerdy, intrepid, daring, brave, and even sometimes lazy. They were born after 1980, encompassing both millennials and Gen Z. They were born on the cusp of new technology but are now encountering old-school B2B sales organizations and exhausted tools.

Our niche: The next generation of B2B sales

• Personae: The next generation of B2B sales

2,000,000 Next-Gen (Millennials & Gen Z) B2B Sales professionals are using ChatGPT every day. Tomorrow, they will transition to an AI tailored specifically for B2B Sales: Leadbay.

We are encountering a new generation raised with AI, poised to adopt AI-native tools in the future.

• Target size: B2B sales targeting 50-500 companies size

As shared in my previous post 'Leadbay Manifesto,' there is no dataset available for the mid-market to properly leverage AI. By "properly," I mean that current SalesPerf tools use LLM to provide some textual imagination and fantasy but do not prioritize or qualify leads effectively.

B2B sales targeting companies with 50-500 employees have a vast Target Addressable Market (TAM). So, first, we are building the most complete, connected, and normalized database of B2B leads. Then, we have developed a proprietary AI algorithm that enables B2B sales reps to generate - with a strong predictive power - lists of highly qualified B2B leads.

• Tech stack: Using hubspot, salesforce, Outreach, SalesLoft… or nothing

Our target market primarily uses HubSpot and Salesforce as CRM systems, and Outreach and SalesLoft as pipeline activation tools. Most mid-market companies are not using any specific tools. All B2B sales reps have their methods for success, and all B2B sales organizations have their tools for structuring the sales funnel. However, all of them are searching for B2B leads that are ready to buy. Leadbay will provide it and plug into any sales stack.

• Driven by the biggest sales-led industries including B2B software, Professional services and Manufacturing

B2B software sales teams are naturally the most curious about Leadbay. They are the most tech-savvy and eager to embrace innovation.

Professional services (like insurance) and manufacturing were the first industries in history to work in B2B sales. They are the ones investing heavily in quantitative sales techniques such as physical sales, telemarketing, and mass advertising. They are currently facing macroeconomic changes with an increasingly distributed market. Furthermore, 38% of their salesforce is now part of the next generation of B2B sales, eager to use new methods and high-performing tools for success.

• Community-led growth: bring virality to B2B

What if a B2B company could achieve the same level of virality as a social app?

I have been engaged in discussions with several community leaders over the past few days. They possess experience in leading community strategies at companies such as Asana; or more consumer-focused companies like Snapchat.

Community strategies vary significantly, and I have not yet encountered a B2B company employing the same sales techniques as B2C social apps.

It begins with the business model and extends to the network effect, which includes referral entry points and mutual support in achieving each other goals.

New era of Sales

B2B sales in the mid-market is changing. Times are harsh. The market is becoming increasingly fragmented, with numerous small and medium businesses as potential customers. A new generation of sales professionals is emerging, eager to leverage AI to optimize their time. Both old-world and new-world players have left us with an untapped market where the challenges involve gaining access to data, fostering a sense of community and reduce repetitive tasks with AI.