What is B2B lead generation, and why does it matter?
There are only three ways to keep a business alive and growing at a steady pace:
You acquire new customers every day/week/month.
You can increase the value of your existing customers.
You can get your customers to buy more times.
Numbers 2 and 3 aren’t possible without number 1. This is especially true for B2B businesses, as B2B customers pay more and stick around longer. B2B customers are also harder to convert into paying clients. Therefore, there must be a steady stream of qualified prospects – aka leads – to convert into clients.
B2B lead generation is the process of finding the ideal clients for your products and services and then working these leads to encouraging them to buy. For some medium to large businesses, outsourcing B2B lead generation is the best way to keep up with a demanding, complicated process.
In this post, we will talk about B2B lead generation, why more businesses are outsourcing it, and five tips for outsourcing successfully.
What are the best ways to generate B2B leads?
All businesses – whether they’ve spent time developing it or not – have a Sales funnel. Potential customers move through this funnel, and with time, a select few signs on the dotted line to buy. However, the front-end effort to get hundreds or thousands of businesses into that funnel is worth it.
There are several ways to attract B2B leads, including:
Digital Marketing/Social Media Marketing
Content Marketing
Email Marketing
Inbound and Outbound Calls
SEO
Paid advertising
Referrals
These can be separated into inbound or outbound lead generation. Inbound often results from content, social media, paid ads, and other work a company creates to attract leads. Outbound focuses on calling, emailing, and other outreach methods to speak with and qualify potential leads.
What is outsourcing B2B lead generation?
Outsourcing B2B lead generation involves hiring a third-party agency, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company, or freelancer to handle the lead generation process for your business.
This can include tasks such as identifying potential leads, qualifying them based on predetermined criteria, and nurturing them until they are ready to purchase. These leads are the decision-makers of businesses or business owners.
Can businesses do B2B lead generation themselves? Absolutely. Small and medium-sized companies have several lead generation channels they manage themselves.
However, businesses interested in outsourcing are usually at an inflexion point. They are growing rapidly or need to ratchet up Sales and Marketing efforts to grow their revenue. These businesses have maxed out their existing staff or need to expand their Sales efforts quickly or more efficiently.
Why should you outsource your lead gen?
Outsourcing allows businesses to tap into the expertise of lead generation professionals. These experts have the knowledge and tools to identify high-quality leads and nurture them effectively, increasing the chances of converting them into customers.
Secondly, outsourcing lead generation can save businesses money in the long run. Outsourcing allows them to pay only for the services they need rather than hiring a full-time employee or team to handle lead generation or create new sales channels. This can be especially helpful for smaller businesses with limited resources.
Finally, outsourcing lead generation is ideal for launching a new product or service. The business wants to get as many sales as possible to offset the cost of a new product. The B2B lead generation can help land the initial flood of sales required to get feedback on a product or to help propel it to success.
There has also been an interesting change since Covid-19. According to lead generation statistics by McKinsey, more than 70% of B2B customers now prefer remote or digital interactions to save time, improve efficiency, and increase safety. That means outsourcing B2B lead generation can help your business grow while being the preferred choice of potential leads.
Based on our experience working with businesses of all sizes and industries, we know what it takes to get the most out of your outsourcing partnership. Here are five tips to successfully outsource your B2B lead generation.
Tip 1: Define Your Goals And Expectations
So, you know you need help with generating and working leads. But what does that mean? In other words, what does success mean to your business? How many leads do you want to generate based on your budget? What are your sales targets? Creating clear, measurable goals is the first step to success.
Your B2B lead generation goals and expectations may include increasing the number of qualified leads, improving conversion rates, reducing the cost per lead, or increasing revenue.
At CallServ, we help with B2B lead generation with these metrics in mind. We then use techniques like cold calling, inbound support, or setting up appointments with decision-makers.
With this crucial step, you may save time and resources on relevant leads, resulting in a good ROI. In addition, by clearly defining your goals and expectations, you set a clear direction for your outsourcing team, and they can focus on delivering results that align with your objectives.
Tip2: Have An Iron-Clad Lead Generation Process In Place
It’s not advisable that your first foray into B2B lead generation be with an outsourcing company. The business should have done lead generation first. The lead generation should be documented with clear standard operating procedures (SOPs) for interaction, qualification, and closing leads.
You should have a deep understanding of your ideal client and a process that ensures you get the best possible prospect. If not, the outsourcing team will produce quantitative success but not a qualitative success, wasting your time and money. This step also helps the onboarding process. The team can start faster and have fewer questions.
Tip 3: Research And Vet Potential BPOs Or Vendors
Based on your intended channel, you’ll need an outsourcing provider that has experience in your particular field or the areas of B2B lead generation. Before moving forward, you’d want to do your due diligence, as your vendor becomes an extension of your brand. You can vet your provider in several ways:
Get referrals, either online or through the potential client.
Ask for past success stories or Case Studies
Make sure they have a reputable digital footprint.
Taking the extra time to evaluate the BPO or vendor minimizes future concerns.
Tip 4: Develop A Comprehensive Plan
Once you have defined your goals and established your target audience, it’s time to develop a comprehensive plan that outlines the steps you need to take to achieve those goals. A well-thought-out plan will ensure that everyone involved in the outsourcing process is on the same page and working toward the same objectives. This plan should also involve you providing training data, product access, or other lead generation data necessary to achieve success.
You can often work with your provider to flesh out the details of your lead-gen campaigns. Both parties can identify obstacles and develop scripts and processes for recording data, customer support, and much more.
At CallServ, for instance, we help clients establish timelines and deadlines, budget and resource allocation, and even create a risk management strategy. We work with you to develop metrics and report on those metrics in a clear, impartial way.
A lead generation plan helps things run on autopilot. You’ll leave with a solid process that can be scaled with your existing BPO or used with other agencies for lead gen in different verticals.
Tip 5: Evaluate And Provide Feedback
B2B lead generation can still encounter roadblocks. The best way to intercept and fix these issues is to get regular, consistent feedback from your vendor. This can help you identify areas of improvement and adjust your strategy accordingly.
As part of the agreement, you should have actionable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), a reporting schedule, and periodic meetings to discuss the data and make adjustments. Provide feedback to help the team be successful.
Don’t Be Scared To Outsource
Business to Business (B2B) lead generation forms the backbone of many businesses. Even those that provide both consumer and business products understand that landing just one business client can take their business to the next level. Outsourcing is a useful, high-leverage tool. The company maximizes the expertise of a BPO that has multiple agents and tools available to reach your ideal client as many times as possible.
Working together with the BPO, your business can craft the ideal process that combines cold calling, email, live chat, or other avenues that get qualified leads into your funnel and even close more leads for increased revenue.
Outsourcing B2B lead generation could feel daunting at first, but with a solid BPO on your side, you can reach your target audience within budget and a suitable timeframe.
At CallServ, our team of Sales experts and agents work with you to generate high-quality leads for your business. We use up-to-date technology to cold call hundreds of customers a day or interact with them using many of the lead generation tools available today.
Contact us for a quote to work with our team on Interactive Solutions, like Lead Generation campaigns.
The more and faster you invest in outsourcing B2B lead generation, the quicker your business will grow.
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