The LED lighting industry is highly competitive. To get ahead in your market, you need a fleshed-out B2B lead generation strategy that captures as many qualified leads as possible. Once you start setting appointments and closing deals with your target prospects, you’ll start seeing your business grow. Seems straightforward, right?
The truth is: Setting appointments with qualified LED leads is a long and arduous process. Not only do you have to narrow down your lead list and get those leads to answer the phone, but you also have to stay in contact until they’re ready to schedule a meeting. On average, it takes over 10 calls and nearly three months for LED leads to set an appointment, and there’s no guarantee that an appointment will lead to a sale. But when an appointment does turn into a substantial deal, your efforts will become 100% worth it.
If you want to ensure success in your LED B2B lead generation program, you need to use proven strategies to set appointments with as many qualified prospects as possible. With a combination of established inbound and outbound marketing strategies, you can transform your sales outcomes and dramatically increase revenue for your business.
Here are seven B2B lead generation strategies that LED companies can use to set more appointments.
1. Know Your Target Audience and Find Ways To Reach Them
You can’t start a B2B lead generation program until you know who you’re trying to target. Every LED company has different goals—some want to close as many deals as possible regardless of revenue; others will only attend appointments with specific leads. Before you start cold calling prospects, you need to determine the criteria that your leads should meet.
Using your guidelines, your sales team can begin compiling a list of potential leads and doing research to identify if they’re worth contacting. For example, if you only want to meet with key decision-makers (KDMs) at companies with over 10,000 square feet of building space, your sales team can use public real estate information and cleansing calls to figure out if a lead fits that parameter. Then, your sales development representatives (SDRs) can either keep the contact on their target list or remove them accordingly.
Once you have a solid list of potential clients, you need to find a way to get in contact with them by cleansing your leads. Calling a random contact at a target company won’t get you anywhere—you need to identify their KDM (usually a facilities manager) and find as much accurate contact information as possible. After you finish the lead cleansing phase, you can start developing relationships with prospects.
2. Approach Your Leads From Multiple Angles
You might have to call a lead 10 times before they even pick up the phone. And some leads won’t pick up the phone if they don’t recognize the number. Why not use multiple contact methods and increase your chances of getting in touch?
Personalized emails and social media messages are excellent lead generation contact methods, and they can bring in opportunities that you would have missed by relying solely on cold calls. Some leads respond best to personalized emails; others exclusively use social media platforms to find service providers. By approaching a lead from multiple angles, you’ll have a better chance of finding their preferred contact method and receiving a positive response.
3. Nurture Your Leads
It’s rare to set an appointment with a prospect during your first phone call or email. Most leads need a few weeks or months to develop a relationship with your SDR before they’ll consider meeting with you. This phase of the sales process is known as lead nurturing, and it’s the most crucial element of a successful sales pipeline.
LED companies often find themselves in contact with KDMs who want to overhaul their lighting strategy but need a few months to review their budget, discuss plans with their leadership team, and find the right LED partner. If they want to secure the deal in a few months, they need to spend that time listening to the KDM’s pain points, sharing information about their company, and developing trust. A few short months of patience and persistence can lead to a six-figure deal that would have otherwise ended up in a competitor’s hands.
4. Use Your Website as a B2B Marketing Tool
In B2B marketing, there are two types of leads: outbound and inbound. Your sales reps generate outbound leads through research, cold calling, nurturing, and appointment setting. Strategic websites and social media strategies generate inbound leads—potential customers who reach out to you directly. Because inbound leads are ready to make a deal and don’t require months of persuasion, they are a valuable addition to your pipeline.
There are a few ways to generate inbound leads, but the biggest lead generator is a website with SEO value. Great websites serve many functions—they act as both a living brochure and a persuasive salesperson. Your LED website should include the following items:
- Company information: Your ideal leads want to work with a company they can trust. By providing company information on your website, you can showcase your experience, express your values, and show potential clients how you stand out from your competitors.
- Product and service information: Keyword-laden product and service pages don’t just outline your expertise; they also show up in search results. By creating rich content with SEO value, you can ensure that potential customers find your site when looking for a new LED partner.
- Blog posts: Want to add credibility to your site and increase traffic? Write blog posts that address common questions or issues and use established SEO principles. By anticipating prospects’ searches and publishing content that answers their questions, you can capture more leads and convert them into clients.
- Call to action (CTA) statements: If you can convince a lead that they need your services and will benefit from contacting you, you’ll generate more leads. CTAs prompt users to dive deeper into your site and ultimately land on a contact page.
Landing pages: Social media and email ads are an effective way to generate leads, and they become even more valuable when they direct users to a compelling landing page. Landing pages are standalone site pages with the sole purpose of convincing a user to get in touch.
5. Take Advantage of Social Media
Many LED business owners have a hard time viewing social media as a serious marketing tool. What they don’t know is that 75% of B2B buyers use social media to make purchasing decisions, which makes social media an integral part of any effective sales strategy. By creating professional social media profiles, posting strategic content, and connecting with leads on the top social media platforms, you can increase brand awareness and bring in more qualified leads.
Social media can play two roles in your sales strategy: a standalone lead generator and a supporting tool for outbound lead generation. If a lead receives a cold call and wants to know more about your business, they might turn to LinkedIn or Facebook. Your profile and posts may convince them to set an appointment with your SDR during their next phone call.
6. Don’t Overlook Marketing Collateral
When LED businesses build a lead generation program, they often focus on big-ticket items like appointment setting programs and websites. While these are great starting points, a well-rounded sales strategy needs supporting materials like product videos, case studies, brochures, pitch decks, and infographics. These marketing collateral pieces will leave a lasting impact on potential clients.
Marketing collateral can fit into many stages of your sales process. Your SDRs can send digital marketing collateral documents to leads during the nurturing phase, which helps sell your products and summarize your offerings. Additionally, during a sales meeting, you can pass out paper brochures or infographics for clients to reference and keep. Video collateral can act as a personalized ad on your website. No matter how you use your marketing collateral, it will make a noticeable impact on your sales efforts.
7. Partner With a Lead Generation Expert
B2B lead generation has the potential to turn your small- or medium-sized LED business into an industry leader, but only if it’s done right. More often than not, DIY lead generation programs are more trouble than they’re worth. If you want guaranteed results without the headache of hiring, training, and onboarding an in-house sales team, an outsourced B2B lead generation program is for you.
Dedicated lead generation companies have the tools, time, and expertise necessary to set consistent appointments with the most qualified leads in your market. They help you gain market share in your area using reliable B2B sales methods, email marketing campaigns, SEO content marketing strategies, and more.
If you’re not convinced that outsourced lead generation is the right choice for your business, consider the cost. Instead of hiring multiple sales associates, investing in software, offering bonuses, and paying for benefits, you can partner with an outsourced lead generation for less than the cost of hiring one full-time salesperson.
Ready To Grow Your LED Business?
There are many ways to grow your sales pipeline and set more qualified appointments for your LED business. At Abstrakt, we combine the above strategies with unmatched expertise to build reliable sales pipelines at an affordable price. Our team members are well-versed in both inbound and outbound marketing, which allows us to create comprehensive and cohesive lead generation programs for our exclusive LED partners. Plus, we’ve been changing the lead generation game for the past decade, and we have the awards to prove it.
If you need some outside help putting the above strategies into practice, the experts at Abstrakt are here to help. Contact us today to learn more about our inbound and outbound LED lead generation solutions.
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