Find New B2B Customers: Channels That Work, Pros and Cons
Referrals work for a while, then they don't. Here are the channels for finding new B2B customers in Sweden, and when you need outbound prospecting.
Find new B2B customers: which channels are there, really?
You find new customers in B2B through referrals, partners, existing customers, content and search engines, advertising, and outbound prospecting. Your network costs the least but doesn't grow on demand. When it stalls, outbound prospecting is the channel where you decide who gets contacted and when, which makes it the one you can turn into something predictable.
So there is no secret channel. There are a handful that work in different ways, and the difference lies in how much you can steer them. Here they are, with what is usually good and bad about each.
Network and referrals: best until they run out
Most Swedish B2B companies built their first customers this way. Someone knows someone, a former colleague changes jobs and brings an inquiry along. The contact is warm, the trust is already there, and the sales cycle is often shorter than usual.
The problem is that you don't control the pace. You can't build a quarterly plan on "we'll probably hear from someone". And referrals come from the customers you already have, so they reflect who you already reach. If you want into a new industry or a new country, your network rarely helps.
It's seldom that the network is bad. It is too small to carry growth on its own, and that usually only shows when someone in management asks why the pipeline is empty in January.
Existing customers and partners
The most overlooked source is often the customer base you already have. More services for the same customer, new departments, renewals. The cost per deal is low here and trust is high, but the ceiling is clear: there are only so many customers to grow within.
Partnerships with companies that sell something that complements yours, without competing, work like referrals but with more doors. An agency, a systems vendor or an advisor meets your customers before you do. The downside is time. A partnership takes months to get working and requires both sides to have something to gain. Many end up as an agreement on paper and nothing more.
Content, search and advertising
Writing guides, running webinars or being visible on LinkedIn builds trust over time. Someone who searches for a problem you solve finds you, and the inquiry comes from someone who is already interested. That is the advantage.
The downside is patience. Content pays off late, and for a company with a narrow target group, say a few hundred potential buyers in Sweden, the search volume is often too small to sustain it. Paid advertising brings traffic faster, but you pay for every click whether or not the person clicking can buy. If your buyer is a purchasing manager at a mid-sized industrial company, you get many visitors who were never relevant.
These are good channels as a complement. As the only source of new business, they work best when you sell to many buyers and the purchase is simple.
Find new B2B customers when your network isn't enough: outbound prospecting
Outbound prospecting means you contact the right people before they contact you. Email is a common route, often combined with LinkedIn or phone. The difference from the other channels is simple: you choose which companies and which roles, and you control when it starts.
That is why it suits companies that know who their ideal customer is but don't reach them. You decide industry, size, region and who makes the decision, and then build a small, carefully controlled list. The quality of the list matters more than anything else. And since a B2B purchase often involves several people, you pick one first role to contact, preferably the one who feels the problem most clearly, and expect others to be pulled in along the way.
Many people are skeptical, and rightly so. Mass mailings to thousands of addresses with the same text lead to spam filters, irritated recipients and a damaged reputation. What works is the opposite: few emails per day, a message written for that particular recipient's situation, and a short sequence rather than a nagging stream. This is what the work looks like in practice:
- Define the ideal customer: industry, size, region and decision maker.
- Build the list by hand and check every contact.
- Write several versions of the email per segment and test them against each other.
- Send from a separate, warmed-up domain with limited volume, so your main domain isn't put at risk.
- Read and answer every reply, including the refusals, and book meetings with the people who fit.
How the email itself is written is covered in our guide to cold email in B2B. If your emails don't even show up in the recipient's inbox, deliverability is where you should start: the reasons emails end up in the spam folder are collected in a separate text.
Doing it yourself or handing it over
If you do it yourself, you get full control and learn the market up close. The price is time: someone has to build lists, keep domains in good shape, write, follow up and book, every week, without interruption. That last part is what usually goes wrong. The sending starts with energy, a big deal comes along, and after a few weeks nobody has read the replies.
Handing over all or part of the work makes sense when you lack that time or want to try the channel without hiring. Then it matters to understand what you actually get. Ask how the target group is defined, who approves the copy, which domain it is sent from and who answers the replies. We describe this further in the article on outsourcing appointment setting. If you want to see how we set up the work ourselves, it is on the page How ModoLeads works.
One thing separates serious setups from the rest: they report meetings with the right people, not the number of emails sent. Activity is easy to show off. Meetings with decision makers are what pays the invoice.
How to choose a channel
No mix is right for everyone, but the rule of thumb is simple. Start with what you already have, then add one channel at a time.
| Channel | Do you control the pace? | Works best when |
|---|---|---|
| Network and referrals | No | You already have satisfied customers |
| Existing customers | Partly | You have more services to offer |
| Partners | Partly | Someone meets your customers before you do |
| Content and search | No, and it takes time | Many people actively search for the solution |
| Advertising | Yes, but you pay per click | The market is broad and the purchase is simple |
| Outbound prospecting | Yes | The target group is clear but hard to reach |
A common mistake is giving a new channel too little time. Outbound prospecting isn't judged after a week. You need time to test messages, see which segments respond and fix what doesn't work. Plan for a few months and decide in advance what counts as a successful outcome, for example the number of booked meetings with the right role. We describe what this looks like in more detail in the text on lead generation in B2B.
Make a list of the twenty companies you would most like as customers and write down who at each of them would make the decision. If you can do that in an afternoon, you already have the basis for your first controlled list. If you can't, you know where the work should start.
Frequently asked questions
Which channel is best for finding new customers in B2B?
No single channel is best. Referrals give you warm contacts but can't be steered, while outbound prospecting gives you control over who is reached. Most companies need a combination.
When is it time for outbound prospecting?
When referrals no longer bring in enough inquiries and you know who your ideal customer is but don't reach them. Then it makes sense to start contacting the right decision makers yourself, on a small scale and with carefully chosen recipients.
How long does it take before outbound prospecting delivers results?
Expect a few months, not weeks. Domains need to be warmed up, messages tested and the list adjusted before you see what works. Decide in advance what counts as a successful outcome.