6 B2B Prospecting Plays That Work for One-Person Teams

Every solo founder hits the same wall. Prospecting for clients is an inherently team-based activity, but a start-up company often can't afford to hire.

Sales development reps are much better than sales support. Start-ups need to be lean to be effective. Sometimes so much so that it's one person doing the job, and even then it's often one of many responsibilities.

This article explores eight prospecting players that can work for such challenging circumstances.

1. Trigger-Event Outreach

Non-trigger event outreach: watch for key indicators that indicate prospects are looking for new hires and new product launches.

You'll need a feed of company signals, such as job postings or funding reports. By contacting prospects when they need your services the most, you can see results fairly quickly, sometimes within a week. To operate efficiently, it makes sense to work with a tool like GTM AI that can help you to narrow it down.

2. Buyer-Committee Mapping

Even small deals involve a handful of people, so figure out who else is going to weigh in before the first email goes out. You'll need either organisational charts or use LinkedIn to find out company roles. It's slower to start off with, but it can help prevent deals from stalling later.

Founders comparing cold emailing stacks on IndieHackers reach the same conclusion. The tools are less important, and it's more important to know who belongs on the list and why.

3. Problem-Led Emails

You can skip the sales pitch and open with the specific problem that you think this prospect likely has. You'll need to have some kind of real observation confirming this, such as job posts or review complaints.

You can expect to get replies within days. Cold outreach usually fails when you don't have a genuine-seeming reason for retweeting.

4. Founder Video Intros

Section for founder video intros: a short unlisted video that uses the prospect's name. You should see noticeably higher reply rates.

5. Partner Co-Selling

Find one business that sells something different to the same kind of customer you want. Find one non-competing founder selling into the same buyer, and trade some introductions. It takes a few weeks to get going, but a referral from someone the prospect already trusts converts far better than a cold email.

6. Micro-Segmentation

Break prospects into smaller groups of about fifteen to twenty accounts that share something specific, like the same tech stack or the same recent event. You’ll start seeing relevant information immediately, often on the very first attempt.

Prospecting as a One-Person Team

These plays work for small teams because they don't require a huge budget or significant planning. Try some of these out, and see which actually start getting replies.

Start with whichever matches the resources you already have, give it two weeks, and drop what isn't working. A one-person prospecting motion was never going to look like a five-person one. It just needs to be small enough to actually run.

If you’re interested in learning more about other topics, see our other blog posts.