How Do We Find the Right B2B Customers in a New Market?

More data doesn’t mean better targets

Who could buy our product? is one of the first questions when entering a new market. AI helps answer this faster than ever. But a company that matches your industry, location and size criteria isn’t automatically a good prospect.

Before adding a company to a target list, I want to know: What makes this company a best-fit target customer? What problem could we solve for them? And is there a realistic reason for them to consider a new supplier or solution?

Four steps to your target list

01Start with the application, not the database

Before searching for companies, define the strongest applications for your product.

If you manufacture a component, for example, ask: Where is this component already used? Which industries have similar technical requirements? Where does it offer an advantage in cost, quality, performance or availability?

This gives you a much stronger starting point than simply searching for “manufacturing companies in Germany.”

02Look for reasons a company might buy

Industry, location and size help narrow the market. Then look deeper. Is the company expanding? Investing in new production capacity or technology? Launching new products? Opening or modernizing production facilities? Exhibiting at relevant trade fairs? Could your solution improve an existing manufacturing process? Is there already an established supplier or partner?

These signals don’t prove buying intent, but they help us decide where to invest our sales effort.

This is particularly important in Germany, where 99.3% of companies are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), according to the German Federal Statistical Office. Many attractive B2B targets are highly specialized Mittelstand (small and medium-sized) companies. They may not be the largest names in a database, but they can be important technology leaders, suppliers and purchasing organizations within their niches.

03Find the people involved in the decision

Finding the right company is only half the job. For an industrial component, engineering may first need to confirm technical suitability. Purchasing will evaluate price, supply conditions and risk. Production or quality may also become involved. In strategic projects, management can enter the discussion as well.

So instead of asking only “Who is the buyer?”, ask yourself: Who has the problem? Who evaluates the solution? Who influences the specification? And who ultimately approves the purchase?

04Test your assumptions with real conversations

At some point, research has to become sales. Start talking to a selected group of target companies and listen carefully. Are they interested in the application? Are you reaching the right person? Do they already have a satisfactory solution? Are similar needs appearing across several conversations?

From my experience, this is also where companies need realistic expectations. Developing a new B2B market in Germany and the DACH region takes time. It often requires months of consistent work, approaching the right companies, learning from conversations, refining the target profile and building trust before the first opportunities develop.

This is especially true for technical products with several decision-makers and longer purchasing processes. A few weeks of outreach are rarely enough to judge whether a market has real potential.

Market research creates the hypothesis, whilst customer conversations, over time, tell you whether it is right.

Where AI fits and where it doesn’t

At PBS Sales, we already use AI-supported data-mining and sales agents as part of our business development approach. Trained and guided by our senior Sales & Business Development experts, these agents help us research and qualify target companies and enable highly personalized outreach at a significantly higher volume than manual prospecting alone.

This early adoption of AI is part of a broader focus on innovation in international sales and business development. In 2026, this approach was recognized when our founder Werner Poiger received the IUCAB International Agent of the Year “George Hayward Award.”

The important point is that AI does not replace experienced business development. It extends its reach. Our senior experts define and evaluate the right target customers, while AI helps us identify and approach more relevant companies efficiently. The resulting conversations are then handled by experienced Key Account Managers who have the industry knowledge and credibility to engage with decision-makers on complex products and solutions.

In one recent project, this combination generated six initial meetings with decision-makers at predefined target accounts within two months. I recently discussed how we are using AI in business development and the results we are seeing in practice in a short video on the PBS Sales LinkedIn page.

To conclude, AI can definitely help us identify more possibilities. But it is the experience of our Key Account Managers that helps us decide which ones truly deserve sales attention.

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