B2B lead generation involves building a potential business customer base. Sales for these types of prospects are generally much more complex and time consuming, so the availability and analysis of information is an essential factor, which can make a difference and increase the chances of success.
There is an element that occupies a fundamental place in both marketing strategies and sales processes: the lead. That term is used to refer to the potential customer. Thus, the more business contacts you have, the more sales you can close.
Therefore, it is not difficult to understand the importance of lead generation for a company. In fact, this was proven in a study by the Content Marketing Institute .The survey revealed that generating leads is the most important goal for 85% of the B2B marketers interviewed.
It turns out that selling to companies is not as simple as selling to the final consumer. On the contrary, closing deals with them is complex and time-consuming. But that process can be optimized even before the sales team takes action.
It all depends on a good job in B2B lead generation, as well as the qualification of those contacts. Do you want to improve this process? So keep reading!
Next, you will find the following topics:
- What are B2B leads?
- How to generate B2B leads?
- How to improve B2B lead generation?
What are B2B leads?
Leads B2B (business to business) are the potential clients of companies that you have in your database. That includes contact information, such as email and phone, for the people making the purchasing decision within those organizations.
We can even make a parallel with what happens in the B2C market (business to consumer). Companies strive to get visitors to enter their contact information so that they can feed them with information and messages that lead them to get closer to the brand.
Often times, that nutrition is done through email marketing. When those people are ready to buy, sales work comes into play, with the aim of leading the lead to make the purchase.
When it comes to B2B leads, your business only needs this: a potential customer base who can make the buying decision. The point is that, if the potential customer is a business, things are not as simple as they usually are with the B2C audience.
For starters, business-oriented solutions are usually very specific. Therefore, your product or service may be suitable for a not too large number of companies, which limits the number of potential customers.
As soon as you find companies that may be interested in your solution, other difficulties or points to clarify begin to arise.
For example, who is going to make that purchase decision? Will this person depend on the approval of a committee? What would be the best time to use the close of sales?
As you can see, selling to the B2B public involves different aspects and can be quite complex, especially if the process is deficient from the beginning.
If you provide your sales team with potential clients or leads that have good conversion potential, the work will have a better chance of success, promoting a good ROI from ventarketing (sales + marketing).
In fact, if you want to know more about the techniques you can implement to reduce the gap between Marketing and Sales teams, we invite you to download this complete eBook on the subject:
How to generate B2B leads?
Since B2B lead generation is so important, how do you achieve it? There is not just one way; that’s why you should evaluate what works best for your company.
But we can already say that inbound Marketing can most likely help you build a solid potential customer base.
Let’s look at three ways to generate B2B leads:
Active prospecting
One way to generate B2B leads is to actively prospect them. Some companies even make a big mistake in that step: they buy email lists. But that strategy is bad for several reasons.
To begin with, it is illegal, since your company cannot obtain and store a person’s data without their consent. In fact, that was a crime even before the arrival of digital privacy laws that have been applied in Latin American countries.
As if it were not enough, who guarantees that the contacts on that list will be interested in your solution? In addition to making it difficult for the sales team to work, you may still be reported for sending spam. It would damage the reputation of your company, right?
To prospect, you must first consider who your organization wants to sell to. What would be the ideal company profile?
This implies defining, for example, its size, average turnover and its area of activity. You can even analyze the customers that your company already has to draw a profile of those that give good profitability.
Also, you should think about why that ideal client might be interested in the solution you offer. Can your company offer any differential compared to your competitors?
In cases where salespeople go to potential customers, it is good that they have some support material, such as folders and catalogs.
If the process is to be carried out in the online environment, a well-crafted presentation can help a lot in email contacts.
Use the internet to search for companies. Social media is a good place to do that kind of research, especially LinkedIn.
Trade association websites can also offer useful information. Organize that data in a spreadsheet and use it to contact those companies.
During the conversation, you must remember that the benefits are more important than the features.
Instead of focusing on informing the technical specifications of the solution, the sales team should highlight how the product or service can solve the problems that that company has.
Events (edit)
If your company is going to participate in a fair, invite customers who are already in your base and who are in the region of the event.
Use email marketing to send this invitation and control who clicked the CTA (call to action) in the message. That way, you can send additional information and even invite the potential client to schedule a conversation with a consultant.
During the event, make open tablets or computers available on specific landing pages. The aim is to get interested people to request more information and receive the necessary attention at another time.
This strategy can be especially useful if your company cannot bring a large number of salespeople or consultants to the event.
Also, keep in mind that many of the people who attend the event will not be ready to close a deal.
So consider offering a free eBook or course when you request their contact details. In addition to a gift like that, pleasing the lead also helps guide them through the sales funnel.
When the event is over, create a nutrition flow to start managing all those contacts through the pakistan surgical mask buying process.
Of course, this must take into account the complexities of the B2B audience, which may require calls at times.
Inbound Marketing
As we already mentioned, Inbound Marketing is a great way to increase your lead base.
A study by Demand Metrics showed that thanks to this methodology it is possible to generate three times more leads than with Outbound Marketing, and at the same time it costs 62% less. Amazing!
Additionally, of marketers using content to generate leads, 53% said they were successful with the strategy. See this in the image below.
Therefore, in a B2B lead generation strategy, Inbound Marketing cannot be left out. Ultimately, the content can attract people who make purchasing decisions within companies.
In a Digital Marketing strategy, eBooks are materials to generate leads, since the visitor needs to enter their contact information to access the content. But there are other ways to obtain this information.
That invitation can also be made through a CTA in the sidebar, in the blog header or through a pop-up.
Another strategy is to use a plugin for WordPress to display a message when the visitor moves the cursor to the address bar to go. In that box, you can offer an eBook or a subscription to the newsletter.
Those are some ways to use your blog to generate leads. But how can you qualify those B2B leads so that the sales team has a better chance of success? We will talk about that below.
How to improve B2B lead generation?
Let’s see which key tips it is necessary to follow so that the generated leads have a good conversion potential:
Define a Buyer Persona
You may already have in mind the profile of the company your business wants to sell to. But it is essential to take into account the characteristics of the person who will decide to buy.
You mapped the size, location, and billing of the ideal customer, but what about the person who decides? What is it graduated in? How old are you? Where you live? What channels do you use to communicate and obtain information? What difficulties do you have at work?
Gather that information and organize it, something you can do in the Fantastic People Generator.
Keep your editorial calendar organized
At this stage, take into account what your pain is and offer content that shows how to solve those problems. Often times, there is a pain, but no one notices it within the company.
Therefore, you must show what the problem is and make it clear how it is affecting the activities of the company. At some point, the decision maker will understand that there is a solution and will consider it.
That means checking the keywords that the person usually uses in search engines. It is also necessary to define an editorial calendar and plan the content in a way that can guide the person in the purchase journey, which, in the B2B market, is longer and more laborious.
Include rich materials that require contact details in your planning. That is usually the case with eBooks.
The person provides their name and email – and perhaps their position and some company information – to access the material. Every time that happens, you get a hint.
Manage lead nurturing
Before the sales approach, it is necessary to nurture the lead so that they realize the pains they face and, mainly, the solutions that your company offers.
One way to do that is the nutrition flow, which is a series of emails that aim to guide the person through the sales funnel.
Given the complexity of B2B purchases, after the sales team contacts the lead, it is important to follow up by email and phone to avoid chilling the potential customer.
Use technology
A CRM integrated with your marketing channels can help you segment leads. That is essential to identifying who is ready to be approached by the sales team.
What about those who are not ready to buy? This does not mean that they should be discarded. Plan campaigns to continue feeding those leads, until they reach the point where they are willing to close a purchase.
Apply the NTBA method
Previously, the BANT method was used to qualify leads. Over time, it adapted to be more effective, resulting in a reversal of the criteria involved. NTBA refers to:
- N (needs): understand the customer’s needs and see if your solution can really satisfy that need;
- T (time frame): evaluates if the implementation time of the solution is adequate for the lead;
- B (budget): checks if the potential customer’s budget is sufficient to finance the solution;
- A (authority): see if the person with whom you are making the contact is the decision maker in the company or if it will be necessary to speak with someone else.
B2B lead generation presents challenges that can be overcome with good planning.
Since it is not recommended to gather contacts indiscriminately, it is essential to build that base strategically. That will increase the quality of the marketing work and improve the efficiency of the sales team.
