B2B lead generation is about identifying prospects interested in your products or services and converting them into qualified leads. The post discusses 2 lead generation methods for B2B that help you generate quality leads in abundance.
Reputed lead generators like The Global Associates use tried-and-tested B2B lead generation methods to identify prospects interested in your offerings and convert them into quality leads in 2023. These experienced B2B lead generation vendors work with the objective of building your company’s credibility by engaging with people who would likely find value in using your products or services for more revenue generation.
Different stages of the sales process:
The sales process moves through different stages through which you can ensure faster growth of your organization by managing each stage efficiently:
- reaching out to the prospective buyers
- Nurturing and qualifying leads
- Making and presenting proposals
- Getting appointments from the desired decision makers for your sales team to engage them in meaningful discussions.
- Turning the lead into a closed deal is the final stage.
B2B lead generation companies use potent tools and methods to make their program more effective to create quality B2B sales leads.
2 Lead Generation Methods can be categorized as:
1. Inbound Lead Generation
2. Outbound Lead Generation.
Following are the two types of B2B sales leads you are looking for:
1. Marketing-qualified leads (MQLs)
These are targeted leads expected to become paid customers with little effort. Lead generation team identifies these on the basis of their engagement with the marketing team One can use the following ways for identifying MQLs
- People who frequently visit product pages on your website
- Prospects willing to fill a form (or forms) on your website
- People who try to download specific content on the website
- Visitors coming forward to attend your organization’s event or webinar
2. Sales-qualified leads (SQLs)
These are MQLs having progressed through the sales funnel and considered to be ready for engagement. A lead must show clear intent to become a paid customer in order to be considered as ready for engagement. You can identify them in following ways-
- Prospects who have telephonic conversation with your representatives
- People doing email communication with your representatives showing their intent to use your product or service
- Prospects requesting to know more about your offerings
- Prospects requesting a demo of your product/ service
You can classify B2B leads based on how they are generated
- Inbound leads, and
- Outbound leads
You devise B2B lead generation methods targeting these two types of leads:
Let us discuss here the similarities and differences between B2B inbound lead generation and outbound B2B lead generation, their comparative benefits, and how lead generation services can strategize to use them individually or in combination for making their lead generation effort more result-oriented.
Main differences between inbound and outbound lead generation:
- Inbound lead generation, also called ‘pull marketing’, encourages customers to approach you for more information. they are required to request for demos or take purchasing decisions. Basically, the objective of this method is to pull leads to your website.
- Outbound lead generation, also called ‘push marketing’, mandates proactively reaching out to the prospects. You use different channels like advertising, emails, phone calls, etc. to reach out to them. Your objective is to project your brand among the customers.
- Inbound lead generation is also called ‘the permission marketing’ since you ask for prospect’s permission to interact with them. However, outbound lead generation is called ‘the interruption marketing’ since you focus on reaching out directly to the customers, sometimes causing them inconvenience.
Inbound lead generation:
Main characteristics:
- Inbound lead generation works with the objective of educating the prospects about your offerings
- It encourages the customers to stay in touch proactively with your representatives
- You offer unique, relevant content to the customer
- You seek permission from the customers for interacting with them
Outbound lead generation:
Main characteristics:
- Outbound lead generation performs with the objective of proactively trying to sell your product or service to the customer
- Outbound lead generation is basically a one-way communication with the customer
- It can be expensive since you target specific individuals. There’s a need to allot a fixed budget for investing money in channels like advertising etc. for good results
- Regular messages must be sent to get customer’s attention, which often causes interruption
Powerful inbound lead generation methods:
The advantage of inbound lead generation process is that it allows the customer to choose time and place of an interaction. Inbound leads usually have higher success rate and shorter sales cycles. B2B lead generation companies can adopt the following techniques for exceptional results:
- Search engine optimization SEO
- Content marketing
- Email marketing
Social media channels like LinkedIn etc
Outbound lead generation methods:
Lead generation services can adopt the following outbound marketing techniques:
- Contact syndication on identified influential platforms
- Strategic use of social media
- Traditional techniques like cold calling and cold emailing
- Paid advertising and campaign marketing
The common objective of both inbound and outbound lead generation marketing is to generate quality leads for your business. It’s necessary for Lead generation companies to understand and segment prospects and leads within their target audience. These methods can accordingly be used individually or in combination to achieve the organization’s targets.
About The Global Associates (TGA):
The Global Associates offers expert, affordable B2B lead generation and B2B demand generation solutions. You can ensure increased productivity of your sales team and sustainable revenue generation working with us. Our team of experienced sales and marketing professionals uses a strategic 360º approach which relies on Account Based Marketing (ABM). The Global Associates arms you with the right strategy, technology and operations to engage well with your target audience! We offer specialized services like: Automated Drip Emails, scalable and technologically advanced platform for marketing automation, direct Email marketing, hyper-personalized Emails to maximize impact, LinkedIn outreach, and conversational marketing.
B2B lead generation companies can make their effort more effective and result-oriented by using inbound and outbound lead generation methods based on the company’s type of offerings and target audience. You can strategically combine the two to successfully generate quality leads on a regular basis.
