Although the full implications of the COVID-19 are far from certain, it is already clear that its economic consequences are terrible. COVID-19 has impeccably impacted lead generation for B2B businesses. Let’s discuss the impact it has led on various B2B industries and ways to boost lead generation during this epidemic. When this crisis subsides, instead of returning to the normal way of doing things, businesses should make an effort not to miss this valuable learning opportunity. 

How COVID 19 outbreak has impacted the lead generation for various b2b businesses:

As per Accenture’s 2020 survey, out of 8,300 companies, only 10% exhibit firm resilience. This proves that the majority of the businesses aren’t equipped to ease their systems’ vulnerabilities during this unmatchable situation. Businesses are discarding their plan of action for the year 2020 as they are enforced to reset their goals and at least survive through the crisis. They are steering through the situation by cutting the budget, recalculating their predictions, and revising their strategies. As per another survey conducted by B2B Marketing Zone, a site, a newsletter for B2B marketers, and Webbiquity LLC, a digital marketing consultancy, in late March 2020, 65% businesses plan to reallocate some or most of their live event budgets to online events, such as webinars. This will lead to increased lead generation through digital mediums. Let’s see how COVID-19 outbreak has impacted the following industries: 

• Recruitment: Recruitment is one of the key sectors affected by the pandemic. There has been massive unemployment and a notable reduction in working hours. As a result, most of the recruitment roles have been put on a halt. Those recruiting for the travel sector will perhaps be the hardest hit. UI, Virgin Atlantic, and EasyJet have all declared recruitment freezes due to abrupt reductions in bookings. Travel and tourism are being cut down, both for business and pleasure. There is no work with the companies leading to the failure of effective lead generation. But, some businesses whose services are experiencing a rush in demand include companies in tech and finTech, business restructuring, delivery and logistics, or businesses enabling and supporting remote working are successfully generating leads.
• Finance: Some entities apply property rights for joint ventures that influence investing. They may need to evaluate the effect of their widespread investments and determine whether there is an indication of impairment. Revenue recognition standards need to be examined more precisely because of the effect on the creditworthiness of clients. Financial services are sending marketing messages to clients to assist them and stay connected however, they are failing to assist their client with financial needs during this crisis. To generate leads financial organizations should talk about values instead of the benefits to the consumers. For instance, instead of informing clients to use digital banking, agencies should deliver extremely personalized messages about assisting to make a remote deposit, if a client fails to make their mortgage payment or if they need a small business loan.
  Further, many organizations may be forced to close some business sites, restructure, sell or dispose of a group of assets. Cash flows have been affected by the ongoing virus, meaning organizations may resort to altering loan agreements and financial contracts. All this will further indifference their leads and forcefully disrupt their regular lead generation process.
• Software: Most of the companies in the software industry plan to reduce the budget for marketing their products and services. Reason being the influence of COVID- 19 on messaging, product direction, and brand positioning. Software businesses are reacting to the economic recession. Many companies are focusing more on their necessities and priorities than luxuries. Organizations are not allocating funds for cash flow and software marketing because of which they are failing to generate leads. This may help them with adequate revenue to generate leads once we surpass this phase.

How to generate leads during and post the COVID-19 outbreak?

Due to the pandemic, every organization is facing challenges to generate leads. It has become the need of the hour to revise strategies and reallocate resources in the right direction and use online tools for lead generation. It is the perfect time to realize that the digital world is the most efficient option to remain operational during and post COVID-19 outbreak. The best solution would be to hire a B2B lead generation agency like FunnL that has an experienced, accessible remote work setup and incorporate the latest digital technologies to keep up your business continuity.

Some of the effective approaches agencies should use are:

• Inside sales campaigns: Inside sales campaigns are the campaigns where sales take place through emails, phones, and all other digital means. This is the best time to make use of this campaign. Sitting at home you can identify, nurture, and convert leads into clients. FunnL ace these campaigns leading to sales qualified meetings.
• Personalized email marketing: Personalized emails are the most effective marketing tool to generate leads and share your latest news, products, and services with your target audience. You can add a personal touch to the mails to stay connected with your leads. Email marketing will help you generate leads without meeting the prospective clients and informing them about your services.
• OnlineVirtual meetings: Social distancing is the new normal you can stay connected virtually. Virtual meetings are time and cost-efficient without having to compromise on the quality of the call. This will help strengthen your relationship with clients. You can even drop a message to ask them about their health and safety schedule your video meetings through various digital tools like skype or zoom and continue with your work. Even when F2F meetings are not possible, you can still work on forging new relationships online.

You can learn more about Lead generation strategies to implement during and post COVID-19, here.

If you can recall the failure of the dotcom bubble, which happened in 2000, it led to an economic recession. As an impact, stocks and companies sank. Back then, there were no alternatives to fight the situation. In 2020, COVID-19 bought a similar recession. Using learnings from the 2000 crisis, the majority of companies have identified FunnL as the most reliable solution for their B2B sales qualified meeting needs. FunnL remained unaffected during COVID-19, due to it’s easy and attentively planned strategies. FunnL provides an all-in-one inside sales platform which is based on technologies like virtual meetings, email marketing, and inside sales campaigns.