Rudy Viard has spent years helping service providers, agencies, consultants and trainers with their lead generation through webmarketing-conseil.fr. In this exclusive extract from the B2B Mag of April 2026, he shares his unfiltered vision of commercial prospecting in the AI era.
Where Does Prospecting Get Stuck Today?
For Rudy, five major issues are holding sales teams back in 2026. And the first may be the most insidious.
1. Confusion Over Channel Choice
"For as long as I have been doing marketing, the companies I work with often fall victim to shiny object syndrome", explains Rudy. Inbound marketing, LinkedIn prospecting, growth hacking, cold email, AI agents... each new trend attracts leaders who jump from strategy to strategy without achieving results.
His conviction: there is no single way to find clients. Channel choice depends on the market, the company and the personality of the leader.
2. Reluctance to Get into the Field
"We have got used to thinking we can do everything from a computer rather than engaging in conversation in the real world", observes Rudy. Networking, physical and telephone prospecting remain the strategies that yield the best results because they create a more direct connection.
The closer you are to the human, the easier it is to build trust — and therefore to move closer to the sale.
3. Lack of Sales Process
To be effective, you need a minimum grounding in sales techniques and, above all, consistency. If you constantly change strategy or cannot accept 'no's and objections, it is impossible to optimise your processes.
4. Misaligned Offer
Top-notch sales skills will never compensate for an offer that is misaligned between the target, the client problem, the presentation and the pricing. But this is corrected by confronting the market.
5. The Volume Problem
"We have enough clients", "We work through word of mouth" — Rudy hears these phrases regularly. Until the main client walks away or the "cheap" acquisition channel dries up. Getting back on track then takes six months.
AI Amplifies the Fundamentals
Should you go full throttle on volume, or be more targeted? Rudy's answer is clear:
"I think AI makes the fundamentals even more true."
Sharp targeting, a compelling offer, an original positioning, a clear and incisive message, good timing, regular cadence, follow-ups... In an ocean of messages and notifications, only those that truly speak to you cut through.
And the quality of "hand-stitched" messages must not come at the expense of volume. Rudy is direct: "Many of my clients will spend 3 days preparing a newsletter sent to 280 recipients. You have to push hard."
The more you increase cadence, the more data you collect to improve and optimise.
ClicSight: Volume with a Qualitative Approach
What struck Rudy about ClicSight? "ClicSight adds another string to my bow since it supports manual prospecting while assisting it with AI and data."
He identifies two key use cases:
His pragmatic advice: "You do not necessarily need too much message personalisation, but a subtle reminder to the recipient that you know who you are talking to makes all the difference between a read and a spam filter."
Who Is Rudy Viard?
Founder of webmarketing-conseil.fr, Rudy helps service providers, agencies, consulting firms, consultants, coaches and trainers with their traffic, prospect and client generation by activating the right levers and AI agents to unblock, accelerate and scale their business.
Read the Full Interview
This article is an extract from the interview published in the B2B Mag of April 2026. To discover the full conversation with Rudy Viard and other exclusive content on B2B prospecting, download the April 2026 B2B Mag for free.
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