What are the key takeaways from this The Sales Evangelist episode?

Key insights include: **LinkedIn Sales Navigator Triggers:** Search for prospects new to their positions and actively posting on LinkedIn to identify decision-makers during transition periods when they're most receptive to new solutions and building vendor relationships for their role.; **Data Platform Combination:** Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator for accurate job titles and company information, then cross-reference with Apollo, Lucia, or Lemlist to obtain verified phone numbers and email addresses, since LinkedIn typically shows outdated personal email addresses.; **Referral Gap Opportunity:** Only 11% of salespeople request referrals despite 90% of customers reporting willingness to provide them. Ask current customers and even cold prospects who decline your offer to connect you with peers in their industry associations.

What did In B discuss on The Sales Evangelist?

Donald Kelly presents six practical methods for B2B sales professionals to identify and connect with potential client companies, ranging from LinkedIn Sales Navigator features to leveraging personal contacts and industry partnerships. Key topics include: **LinkedIn Sales Navigator Triggers:** Search for prospects new to their positions and actively posting on LinkedIn to identify decision-makers during transition periods when they're most receptive to new solutions and building vendor relationships for their role.; **Data Platform Combination:** Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator for accurate job titles and company information, then cross-reference with Apollo, Lucia, or Lemlist to obtain verified phone numbers and email addresses, since LinkedIn typically shows outdated personal email addresses..

How long is this episode of The Sales Evangelist?

This episode is 22 minutes long. SignalCast provides an AI-generated summary so you can get the key insights in about 3 minutes.

The Sales Evangelist

How to Find Companies to Work With In B2B Sales? | Donald Kelly - 1943

October 20, 2025

22 min episode · 2 min read

In B

Episode

22 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Career Growth, Relationships, Sales & Revenue

AI-Generated Summary

Published Dec 25, 2025

Key Takeaways

✓LinkedIn Sales Navigator Triggers: Search for prospects new to their positions and actively posting on LinkedIn to identify decision-makers during transition periods when they're most receptive to new solutions and building vendor relationships for their role.
✓Data Platform Combination: Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator for accurate job titles and company information, then cross-reference with Apollo, Lucia, or Lemlist to obtain verified phone numbers and email addresses, since LinkedIn typically shows outdated personal email addresses.
✓Referral Gap Opportunity: Only 11% of salespeople request referrals despite 90% of customers reporting willingness to provide them. Ask current customers and even cold prospects who decline your offer to connect you with peers in their industry associations.
✓Contact Database Mining: Review your phone contacts and email accounts using tools like Connect the Dots to identify strong connections based on communication frequency. These warm contacts have higher response rates and can introduce you to qualified prospects within their networks.

What It Covers

Donald Kelly presents six practical methods for B2B sales professionals to identify and connect with potential client companies, ranging from LinkedIn Sales Navigator features to leveraging personal contacts and industry partnerships.

Key Questions Answered

•LinkedIn Sales Navigator Triggers: Search for prospects new to their positions and actively posting on LinkedIn to identify decision-makers during transition periods when they're most receptive to new solutions and building vendor relationships for their role.
•Data Platform Combination: Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator for accurate job titles and company information, then cross-reference with Apollo, Lucia, or Lemlist to obtain verified phone numbers and email addresses, since LinkedIn typically shows outdated personal email addresses.
•Referral Gap Opportunity: Only 11% of salespeople request referrals despite 90% of customers reporting willingness to provide them. Ask current customers and even cold prospects who decline your offer to connect you with peers in their industry associations.
•Contact Database Mining: Review your phone contacts and email accounts using tools like Connect the Dots to identify strong connections based on communication frequency. These warm contacts have higher response rates and can introduce you to qualified prospects within their networks.

Notable Moment

Kelly reveals that salespeople can successfully obtain referrals from prospects who reject their pitch, sharing how an IT director who declined his services connected him with multiple school district technology leaders from his professional network.

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Episode Transcript

This episode is brought to you in part by the following TSE sponsors. HubSpot makes impossible growth impossibly easy for their customers. And here's a perfect example. Morehouse College needed to reach new students with fresh, engaging content. But with a massive 900 page website, even the tiniest update took thirty minutes to publish. Breeze, HubSpot collections of AI tools, help them write and optimize their content in a fraction of the time. The result, 30% more page views, and visitors now spend 27 more time on their website. Ready for impossible growth like this? Visit hubspot.com. This episode is brought to you in part by Blue Mango Studios. Imagine using a podcast as a lead generation source, not only attracting your ideal customer, but entertaining them and getting qualified leads. To find out more, go to bluemangostudios.com. If you're struggling to close deals, you need to try LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Get a sixty day free trial all on the house. Go to linkedin.com/tse. Again, linkedin.com for a sixty day free trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator. How do I find companies to work with in b to b sales? We're gonna answer this exact question and give you the best advice that top sellers are doing and some things you probably should stop doing. Check it out. Hey. Hey. Hey, everyone. Welcome to another great episode of the Sales Evangelist podcast. I'm your host, Donald c Kelly, the sales evangelist. And I'm so excited for another great episode. I'm so excited to be here with you today. On this episode, we're gonna tackle beat this question has come up. How do I find companies to work with in b two b sales? Now, if this is your first time listening to our podcast, our episodes fall under one of two categories. One, it's around giving you ideas how to build pipeline or two, how to accelerate deals through the pipeline. Today, we're focusing on that building pipeline concept, and this is around finding the right companies. I'm gonna give you what some of the best companies and best salespeople are working with I've worked with are doing things that are working for me. And hopefully these can be able to help you right away if you apply them because, yeah, the concept and ideas could be great, but if you're not applying them, it ain't gonna work. So what I would like for you to do, hit me up on LinkedIn, Donald c Kelly, or drop in the comments here and just tell me which one of these you're gonna try today. Absolute first one, big shout out to my friends over at LinkedIn, is LinkedIn Sales Navigator, not because they sponsor a podcast, but simply because it worked. I've been using LinkedIn for years way before I've started working with them. But here's why I like LinkedIn. It's because of Sales Navigator. So let me show you exactly. In Sales Navigator, if you're trying to find companies I mean, …

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Books, tools, and gear mentioned in this episode

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Tools

LinkedIn Sales NavigatorRecommended
by LinkedIn
“Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator for accurate job titles and company information, then cross-reference with Apollo, Lucia, or Lemlist to obtain verified phone numbers and email addresses.”
LuciaRecommended
“Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator for accurate job titles and company information, then cross-reference with Apollo, Lucia, or Lemlist to obtain verified phone numbers and email addresses.”
LemlistRecommended
“Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator for accurate job titles and company information, then cross-reference with Apollo, Lucia, or Lemlist to obtain verified phone numbers and email addresses.”
Connect the DotsRecommended
“Review your phone contacts and email accounts using tools like Connect the Dots to identify strong connections based on communication frequency.”
ApolloRecommended
“Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator for accurate job titles and company information, then cross-reference with Apollo, Lucia, or Lemlist to obtain verified phone numbers and email addresses.”