Leads are the foundation of your B2B lead generation strategy. Without leads, business growth is nearly impossible, and you could be putting your company’s revenue in jeopardy.
There are three leads you and your sales team should understand when building your B2B lead generation efforts:
Cold Leads
Cold leads are a set of companies and potential key decision makers (KDMs) in the B2B appointment setting pipeline that you haven’t connected with yet. Cold leads can also be individuals in the sales pipeline who have expressed no interest in your company’s product or service.
Although they may have expressed they have no interest in learning more about your company, they remain in the sales pipeline and are routinely nurtured throughout the year. They stay in the sales pipeline in case they change their mind or if there’s a new KDM at the prospective company to get in contact with who may be interested in learning more about your company.
During the cold lead phase, the prospect can either be qualified or not qualified. Since there’s little to no information about the company, your appointment setters aren’t sure if they are qualified for your company’s product or service.
Warm Leads
Warm leads develop from cold leads. After your sales team engages with a KDM from your sales pipeline, they transition into a warm lead if they express interest.
Although warm leads express interest, there may be reasons beyond their control that cause them to hesitate to meet with your company at the moment. More often than not, warm leads are reluctant to meet with your company due to the time of year they evaluate their budget or contracts, or the project timing isn’t right to make headway toward your company’s product or service.
Warm leads can be generated through many ways, including but not limited to:
- Directly talking with KDMs on the phone
- Following your company’s social media platforms
- Filling out contact forms on your company’s site
- Inputting their email address for a company newsletter or email marketing campaign
Warm leads are interested in learning more about your company; they pass the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey, and they are in the consideration stage. Compared to cold leads, warm leads are much more likely to become potential customers because they are open to looking for more partnership opportunities.
These leads require careful nurturing so you don’t overwhelm them and risk turning them off from your company. On the other hand, giving them too much space risks the potential partnership falling through the cracks. It’s crucial for your sales team to actively listen when talking with the KDMs because they will let your sales professionals know when would be an appropriate time frame to call them back.
Ideally, warm leads should be qualified so they meet your company’s criteria for partnership. However—when practicing B2B appointment setting—if there’s a company with an immediate need for your product or service but doesn’t meet your company’s general criteria, it’s up to you to decide if you want to continue pursuing their business.
Qualified Leads
Qualified leads—also known as “hot leads”—are the ideal leads for your B2B lead generation efforts. These are high-quality opportunities because they are a part of your target audience and are most likely to set appointments with your company.
There are two phases of qualified leads:
Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL)— These are leads on the verge of becoming customers based on their criteria.
Sales Qualified Leads (SQL)— These are leads that are ready to become a part of the buying stage of the buyer’s journey. They are prepared to make financial moves, but they are deciding what company they’d like to partner with.
In order to decide how “good” a lead is, there are several areas to be considered:
- Budget: Does the lead currently have the finances to invest in your product or service?
- Timeline: When does the lead intend on purchasing your product or service?
- Need: Is the product or service your company offers an urgent need or an interest in learning more?
- Authority: Does the prospective KDM have the ability to make financial decisions?
- Qualification: Does your company’s product or service fit the criteria of what the prospect is looking for?
Ways To Generate Qualified B2B Sales Leads
Traditionally, there are two routes a company can take to generate B2B sales leads:
B2B Appointment Setting Services
B2B appointment setting is a cost-effective, strategic process that guarantees qualified appointments for your business. Through this process, your trusted B2B lead generation company builds a sales pipeline that ensures more qualified prospects enter each stage of the sales cycle rather than stopping at the awareness or consideration phase.
B2B appointment setting services promote predictable business growth at a sustainable and attainable level. Often, after a company is told “no” when asking to develop a partnership, the company forgets about the prospect and never follows up in the future. With B2B appointment setting services, highly trained sales professionals continue to follow up throughout the year with the prospective company in case there’s a need for your company’s product or service. The follow-up process in B2B sales is key to a company’s success with B2B appointment setting.
B2B Marketing Services
B2B marketing services can be used to expand your sales efforts and boost digital brand awareness. Inbound marketing efforts enable you to identify and reach your target audience and bring quality leads to your website and social media platforms.
Proper website development and SEO best practices enable your company to increase lead conversion rates and transform visitors into customers. This content marketing strategy allows your company to optimize landing pages and blog posts which helps targeted users find your online content easier.
Often, businesses don’t understand how to use social media marketing to their best advantage. Although LinkedIn is traditionally known as a professional networking tool, it’s a great platform to reach KDMs and nurture a potential partnership.
Looking To Optimize Your B2B Lead Generation Strategy?
Abstrakt Marketing Group is a leading B2B lead generation company that’s helped industries across the board grow their business. We offer exclusive partnerships to companies looking to maximize their B2B sales efforts, eliminating conflict of interest and competition between clients in the prospective region.
Our ability to predict growth and build robust sales pipelines has helped our partners boost revenue and bring more brand awareness to their business. Discover the Abstrakt difference and start generating consistent, quality leads today.
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