The excess of online and continually increasing competition complicates the process of identifying, tracking, and engaging with potential clients. However, things aren’t as disheartening as they might seem at first sight. With proper B2B lead generation strategies, one can survive the challenges, fill the sales pipeline with the quality leads, and receive solid conversions more effectively.
Why is generating leads challenging for B2B companies?
The answer is simple – lead generation is important and challenging to perform. However, one can’t simply overlook this strategy because of its challenges. A business has to generate leads consistently if it wishes to stay ahead of the competition. Here are the three reasons why it becomes challenging for B2B companies-
1- The cost
Most of the B2B companies think that lead generation consumes a lot of money. But, to be honest, yes the assumption is right to a certain extent. To generate a good number of sales leads, the company needs to spend money in a particular area, be it the phone call or paid adverts. According to Madison Logic, you may have to spend an average of $35 per contact to reach marketing people. Furthermore, in the medicinal services, the standard cost is $65 per lead.
2- The time and effort
If you think that lead generation gives the desired outcome in a single shot, then it is not correct. It takes time and effort to generate quality leads for the business. On average, it consumes at least 30 minutes to research the company, another 30 minutes to write a follow-up, and over eight dials to get to a prospect. And in case your lead is not a good fit for your firm, all this time and effort will be of waste.
3- The emotions
While it’s true that time and money are essential in lead generation, it’s also true that emotion plays an equally important role. Consider getting rejected by your prospects over a phone call. It’s hard for even a successful business representative to handle this rejection.
Sometimes, an experienced B2B professional may understand that some leads are not suitable for their business after interacting with them multiple times. This realization hurts their emotions, as well.
Common Mistakes People Make with B2B Lead Generation
Now that you are aware of the fact that the lead generation is quite tricky and the procedure of converting them sometimes seems more like luck than anything. Apart from this, there are some more barriers to lead generation that can hurt your revenue growth. B2B companies do a lot of B2B lead generation mistakes, which pulls themselves down the race. So, without any delay, let us face them, find the reasons behind them, and learn how to overcome them.
1- Following up too slowly
Experienced B2B companies easily fall into making this mistake. It’s understandable because ten years ago it was fine to respond to a lead in 2 or 3 days and take a week to prepare a quote. So sales reps who have been in their roles for a while are operating with the mindset that waiting a few days on a lead is fine. But those days are gone, and younger companies bring a more responsive approach to handling leads.
Solution
The data consistently shows that companies who follow up within 5 minutes of receiving a lead are the most successful. Companies that complete a 5-minute response time for leads have achieved:
- 6X revenue growth in 12 months
- 9X shorter sales cycle
- 500% growth in the team.
74% of buyers choose to work with the sales rep who is the first to add value. So if you have something to say, and you say it first, you’re 3 times more likely than the next sales rep to win the business.
2- Not enough brand credibility
B2B companies need to understand the balance between lead generation and brand activities. Because B2B is a trusted purchase, it’s easy to scare off leads if your company is too aggressive in lead generation and doesn’t have enough brand presence to back it up. A B2B company that is unknown in its market and has a limited track record always has a hard time growing quickly. No B2B buyer wants to be the first to try a company (and fail), so buyers wait to see some credibility before they’ll buy.
Solution
B2B connections are often long-term and therefore, gaining customer trust and a positive reputation is essential for marketers. With this in mind, try connecting your lead generation procedure with brand-building activities. Too much lead generation without any brand-building technologies will result in a loss of money and time. The following are a few moves B2B experts must make to set up a reliable reputation in the market:
- Prioritize building business relationships. An email updating the user on products or services, or even a 5-minute call can keep the relationship strong and build a level of admiration, appreciation, and commitment.
- Be available to customers on every possible platform. They need to know that you are accessible whenever a problem arises.
- Establish a sense of trust with other B2B companies around you. With this method, business owners and decision-makers will be drawn to your organization.
3- Friction in the sales process
Have you ever had an interaction with a company where you explained your situation to a salesperson, only to be delivered to another salesperson and have to explain the whole situation again? Probably, because this has become common in the last few years. It’s called ‘friction’ in the sales process, and it’s been happening quite often lately, because in the name of efficiency – many companies have segmented their sales process into various stages with different people handling the different stages. One person to screen you, another person to handle the sales process, and potentially a third to negotiate the specifics of your contract.
This is efficient for the seller, but it’s inefficient for buyers. And that’s bad in B2B because high-value B2B buyers don’t expect to be tossed from salesperson to salesperson like a baton on a race track.
Solution
There are two ways to fix this lead generation mistake:-
The first is to put an experienced salesperson in charge of each lead and work that lead from beginning to close. Companies who have low-volume and high-value leads, and a rapid screening process that allows salespeople to quickly score and free with leads that do not meet company criteria, can do this.
The second way to fix this lead generation mistake is training and communication between multi-person sales teams. Many tech companies successfully combine 2-person sales teams, with one junior and one senior salesperson. If the company has a rigorous sales process, strong sales management, low staff turnover, and excellent communication processes, this works.
4- Sending Potential Leads to a Generic Page
You might have spent hours crafting a perfect ad or well-designed campaign message, but it doesn’t help your business if you direct potential leads to a web page with little interest for them. As per MECLABS recent survey report, over 44% of clicks generated by B2B companies directed users to the homepage rather than any particular landing page, this problem results in the increased bounce rate.
Homepages are usually confusing for new visitors as most of them consist of an array of navigations for services and content, most of which are unhelpful to a specific ad or campaign. Displaying the same standard content rather than presenting specific solutions to real problems is the quickest way to lose your leads to your competitors.
Solution
Start designing a specific landing page for different products or services. Make sure these pages are optimized with simple messages and the right call to action (CTA).
Ensure you have the following things done right:
- The web page where the customer lands after clicking on the CTA must have all the necessary information about the company.
- It should have a tailored offer for a particular target group.
- A contact form or phone number to speak to someone for more details should be placed in the right position.
5- Not delivering value with every interaction
Have you ever received an email from a salesperson that reads something like, ‘Hi! I’m just following up to check-in and see how your decision process is going?” They are the worst. And yet many salespeople default to them because they’ve failed to confirm a follow-up process for a specific point in time to discuss a specific action or event. These kinds of emails put salespeople in an order-taker position rather than a trusted-adviser position. And they give the receiver no reason whatsoever to respond, other than a courtesy – which is in short supply in the modern work world.
Solution
The way to avoid ‘check-in’ emails is to set a next step that will be originated by the salesperson at a specific point in time. That way, the communication is expected by the receiver, and they’ve completely confirmed they’ll respond to it.
It’s also important for salespeople to add value during every interaction they have with buyers. One way to do this is by having a ‘Top Ten Resources’ list for the sales team. When communicating with prospects, they can choose the most relevant resource to send to each prospect and send it as part of their communication.
Lead generation is too high a priority for B2B industries. It represents a significant chunk of their marketing budget for it to underperform. Unfortunately, the challenges are plenty in this area, but the companies can meet them head-on by following the best practices shown above. With this approach, you’ll watch the number of quality leads soar up and reap the rewards of high conversions.
Looking to get started on your lead generation strategy? Contact FunnL, a platform that helps to bring business intelligence to all the key executives, sales, and business development and start boosting your lead generation today.
