What is B2B Lead Generation?
Thursday, 9 September 2021 | 5 minutes
“LEAD GENERATION IS THE MAIN ARTERY OF THE SALES PROCESS. IT IS NECESSARY TO PUT FOCUS INTO IT TO START SCALING SALES.”
Brooke Harper, Tenfold,
What is a lead
To understand lead generation, we need to understand what exactly a lead is, how they come to be and whether or not anyone is considered a lead. A lead is anyone who expresses their interest in your company’s products or services. How leads express their interest affects the type of lead they are. For now, we will only be looking at two types of B2B leads: Marketing−Qualified leads and Sales−Qualified leads.
What does it mean to be a Marketing-Qualified lead?
Marketing−Qualified leads (or MQLs) are the leads who are very likely to become paying customers. They typically show an interest in what your business has to offer them through engaging with your marketing efforts. In other words, these are people who deliberately interact with your business.
Typically this interaction or engagement looks like the following:
- This lead visited your website multiple times within a short period
- The lead has filled out your online forms
- They have downloaded resources or content of your website
- They scheduled a time for a brief meeting regarding the services you have to offer
So to make a long story short, MQLs are those leads who have an active approach in finding out more about your company.
A key point that you need to remember, however, is that an MQL is not a guarantee of a sale.
What if the lead is ready to move to the next stage in the sales funnel?
Once leads have demonstrated a genuine interest in doing business with you and they are ready to take the next steps, we classify them as Sales−Qualified leads and send the lead over to the sales teams who will connect with the leads and try to close the deals. It is important to remember that leads who are ready to have the conversation are more likely to turn into clients as opposed to those who are still in the early stages of the sales funnel.
Okay, but what is Lead Generation?
So now that we know what a lead is and we understand that there is more than just one type of lead, we can look at how do you generate leads for B2B’s and what exactly lead generation is.
To put it simply, Lead Generation is the process of identifying, attracting, and screening qualified leads with the ultimate goal to create a consistent and predictable pipeline of leads who are highly likely to be turned into sales. When implemented with data−driven decision−making, it will bring new customers and revenue into the business, allowing for growth. Various lead generation strategies can be implemented to turn convert prospects into people who are interested in your company. Let’s have a look at a few.
Going old school with the offline strategy
The traditional marketing world mostly consisted of word of mouth, attending a conference, and making cold calls (to name a few). While some of these practices are still implemented today, they only result in a small share of the company leads as most businesses use more advanced and expensive strategies to generates leads.
Discounts and free trials
For small businesses especially, offering free trials or discounts on products and services are amazing ways to get leads and convert them into customers. Let’s be honest: who doesn’t like free stuff?!
It also gives curious but hesitant visitors an incentive to delve further into your company website.
Social Media is not only for distraction purposes
With 17 million active social media accounts in Australia alone and almost 55% of all internet users being on social media, using social media to generate leads will work in your favor. Studies have shown that businesses grew by 24% by using social media for lead generation and with social media marketing costs being reduced for 45% of businesses, now is the ideal time to set up your social media account for your business. With Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn offers “Lead Generation” Ads, collecting direct leads has never been a more simple process.
What are the benefits of B2B Lead Generation?
Lead generation plays an important role in all businesses and quality leads result in various benefits.
Information collection
Through lead generation, you have the opportunity to collect important information regarding the lead which will in return assist you to tailor your services and products towards the interests and needs of the lead.
Cost-effective
It’s no secret that advertising can cost you an arm and a leg, but it is a key part of building the success of your business because there’s no use running a business if nobody knows about it. We know we have to spend money to make money, but we also want to keep all of our limbs! In comes lead generation. Lead generation is a cost−effective and convenient marketing strategy that produces better results in the long run. There are various ways to go about this and a few options include going through a Lead Generation agency where you can buy your leads. Just be careful because sometimes this option may result in negative consequences.
Audience targeting
Why go through all the effort to advertise your products in the US when it is only available in Melbourne? Not only are you losing money unnecessarily but you are also putting your time and effort towards an audience that is less likely to turn into customers. With all the information collection you can target your desired customers at different demographic locations.
Generates awareness
As businesses, we strive for our reputation and products to be well known by all and to be the go− to business in our specific market to suit the needs of the clients. In short, the more people know about you, the more sales you will generate, the greater your profit will be and the faster your business will grow. Lead generation creates this awareness by informing potential customers within your targeted market about all the bells and whistles of your products and services and it creates a scope for “word of mouth”.
Although it may seem intimidating to understand at first, lead generation is a convenient and cost− effective way to get new customers and generate more sales.
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