With all the different lead generation companies in the world, it can be overwhelming to choose the right one that fits your business’s short- and long-term goals.
Not every outsourced lead generation company is created equal because different strategies work better for other businesses. For example, a lead generation strategy that works for a small business may not be as effective for a large corporate enterprise and vice versa. Therefore, you must select a lead generation company that yields the best results for your growing business.
Before you sign on with an outsourced lead generation company, it’s essential to consider the following:
- Their lead generation service offerings
- Their sales and marketing processes
- The longevity of their industry experience
- Who would be involved in your account
- How they measure client success
- The types of sales tools they use
Once you understand these sales and marketing components, you can choose the best lead generation company for your business growth.
Ask About Their Lead Generation Services
As you look at different outsourced sales and marketing firms, it’s important to consider their lead generation service offerings.
Choosing a company that offers a wide range of business growth services gives you more options on how you want to generate leads for your sales pipeline. These services include:
- Outbound sales development: This business growth strategy involves sales team members who actively reach out to potential buyers through cold calling and emailing. The end goal of outbound sales development services is to set sales appointments with decision-makers who are at the end of the buying cycle.
- Inbound marketing: This lead generation strategy uses digital marketing practices like search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing to bring potential buyers to your company’s digital platform (AKA, your company website). To become a lead, decision-makers must enter their contact information so sales development representatives can reach out and aim to secure a sale.
- Marketing collateral design: While marketing collateral design itself isn’t a lead generation strategy, it’s a content marketing practice that accelerates a lead’s time in the sales funnel. Marketing collateral includes a wide range of eye-catching sales assets, including company brochures, infographics, case studies, and more.
Many lead generation companies prioritize one business growth strategy over another. A common mistake that growing businesses make when choosing a lead generation company for their business is investing their time and money with several different providers.
Using different companies for sales and marketing efforts risks misalignment of your business growth efforts. If you want to build and maintain a predictable sales pipeline for the long haul, it’s essential to invest in a lead generation company that offers a wide range of services so outsourced sales and marketing teams can seamlessly prospect and nurture high-quality leads.
Learn About Their Sales and Marketing Processes
Every lead generation company has its own method of generating leads for a client’s sales pipeline. Before selecting a company to partner with, it’s vital that you have a firm understanding of their ongoing sales and marketing processes.
Understanding a lead generation company’s sales and marketing processes ensures that their business growth efforts align with your everyday operations and company values. If you don’t feel comfortable with their processes, it may be worth considering other lead generation company options.
When it comes to having a successful outbound sales development program, many outsourced sales teams follow this sales process:
- Create an ideal customer profile
- Implement strategic prospecting
- Qualify leads based on ideal customer criteria
- Nurture relationships with leads who aren’t ready to buy
- Set sales appointments with high-quality leads
On the other hand, when it comes to having an inbound marketing strategy that yields long-term results, outsourced marketing teams often follow this process:
- A marketing manager speaks with you about what you want to highlight on your website
- Digital strategists find relevant keywords to add to website copy
- Copywriters develop content based on these keywords and the intent of the piece
- Once the content is approved, copywriters upload the blog or page to your website
Consider Their Industry Experience
Partnering with an experienced lead generation company is essential because it shows that their services yield significant results for clients. Before signing on with a lead generation provider, consider how long they’ve been in the sales and marketing industry and ask them how they’ve been able to gain and retain clients and employees over the years.
While having a long-standing lead generation provider is essential, so is understanding the types of clients they work with and where they see the most success. For instance, a lead generation company may find significant success with HVAC companies but lack proof when it comes to lead generation for the IT industry.
Before signing on with a lead generation company, consider asking the following questions:
- How many years have you been in business?
- What types of industries do you work with?
- What industries do you see the most success with?
- What does your client retention rate look like?
- Why have clients discontinued their program?
Question Who Would Be Involved in Your Account
Lead generation isn’t a one-person operation—it requires a team of sales and marketing experts to get the job done right and yield long-term results. Each outsourced team looks different depending on your preferred business growth strategy. Let’s break it down for you.
Outsourced Outbound Sales Development Team
- Sales development representatives (SDRs)
- Email marketing specialists
- Content creators
- Data and operations analysts
- Client success managers
- Sales managers
Outsourced Inbound Marketing Experts
- Marketing managers
- Digital strategists
- SEO copywriters
- Copy editors
- Web designers and developers
- Graphic designers
Outsourced Marketing Collateral Specialists
- Graphic designers
- Video producers
- Collateral copywriters
- Copy editors
- Project managers
Examine How They Measure Success
Choosing the best lead generation company for your business growth is no easy task. When selecting an outsourced sales and marketing firm, it’s important to consider how they measure success and how it aligns with your business’s short- and long-term goals.
For instance, when it comes to outbound sales development services, lead generation companies measure success by the following metrics:
- Number of sales appointments set
- Number of decision-makers identified
- Number of dials made or sales emails sent
- Average ROI per industry
Similar to outbound lead gen, inbound marketing also uses metrics to measure its success. These metrics include, but are not limited to:
- Number of keywords on your company website
- Increased percentage of web traffic generated
- Number of inbound leads generated
- Site health percentage
Since success looks different for every company, it’s crucial to collaborate with a lead generation provider that aligns with your goals. This ensures that both companies are on the same page with what to expect from the lead gen program.
Explore the Sales Tools They Use
The best lead generation companies use various sales tools and technologies to streamline sales and marketing processes. If you don’t use sales technology to your advantage, you risk having an unsustainable sales pipeline.
Sales tools and technologies enable growing businesses to find the right prospects and effectively follow up with them so they can reach the end of the sales cycle. Here are some of the leading sales tools outsourced sales and marketing firms use to maximize their processes:
- Customer relationship management (CRM) software: A CRM is more than a customer relationship management software—it’s an essential tool for lead generation. With a CRM, sales reps can follow up with the right leads at the right time. Additionally, using a CRM for lead generation allows data analysts to measure the program’s effectiveness in real time with dashboards and reporting capabilities.
- Reliable data enrichment tools for prospecting: Many small businesses rely on referrals to generate new business opportunities. However, with data enrichment technology, SDR teams can productively compile a list of potential buyers and their qualifiers to ensure that each lead a sales rep chases meets your criteria.
- Advanced communication technologies: Communication tools are essential for having clear, productive conversations with decision-makers through phone calls and sales emails. Without a reliable communication platform, you risk missing out on significant sales opportunities.
Key Takeaways
Finding the best lead generation company for your business growth efforts doesn’t have to be a trial and error scenario as long as you have a thorough understanding of their:
- Lead generation services
- Sales and marketing processes
- Industry experience
- Outsourced sales and marketing team members
- Ability to measure success
- Sales tech stack
At Abstrakt Marketing Group, we implement a wide range of lead generation services for growing businesses. With over 10 years of experience, we’ve helped clients in various industries generate new leads for their sales pipeline and secure high-converting sales appointments. Our sales and marketing experts are well-equipped to communicate with your target market effectively and have a firm grasp of how to use sales tools.
Not sure if outsourcing lead gen is right for your business? Check out the questions you should consider before hiring an outsourced sales and marketing company here.
When you’re ready to partner with the best lead generation company in the market, contact the sales reps at Abstrakt!
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