Having a magic button to push to get more leads would be great. But chasing the promise of cheap and easy leads is a waste of time and resources. This doesn’t stop dozens of outsourced B2B lead generation companies from making all kinds of claims. “Buy our list and we’ll send you 30,000 sales leads directly in your target market that match your ideal customer profile!” or, “We’ll fill your calendar with appointments!”
Who wouldn’t want that? Unfortunately, those claims are smoke and mirrors. The truth is the world of business-to-business selling is a complex and multi-dimensional system. It does require time, effort, diligence, strategy and money to drive quality leads (the ones that turn into revenue).
The cold hard facts: A “lead list” isn’t a machine that you can plug a bunch of cold emails into and get a guaranteed return on investment. There are actual human beings on the other side of your marketing with real ambitions and real fears. They are tasked with making important decisions that can better their company while also playing it safe and getting their stakeholders on board with all their choices.
Want to hear what we REALLY think about b2b lead gen? Watch this.
Your B2B Lead Generation Strategy Should Not Be a Numbers Game
In the last few decades, buying behavior has changed dramatically. Long gone are the days where bulk outreach always won the day. Back then, the more people you got in touch with, the more chances you had of closing deals. But now, competition has grown exponentially. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have more direct competitors who sell exactly the same product or service you do. It DOES mean that every single person you sell to is being bombarded with exponentially more marketing and advertising than they were a decade ago. You are competing against all that noise to make an impression and drive engagement. It’s an uphill battle, and just shouting louder at more people doesn’t work.
Here’s a Typical Numbers-Based Outsourced Lead Gen Scenario
“I got contacted by an outsourced B2B lead generation firm that has a list of 50,000 people in my target market. They’ll run an email and phone outreach campaign for me so I don’t have to do anything. I only need 50 of them to turn into deals for it to be worth it. I’ll get one out of a thousand for sure.” This is a story many business owners and CEOs tell themselves. But it just doesn’t work that way anymore.
Unfortunately, the likelihood is that you will get NONE of those 50,000 people to turn into buyers. For marketing to work at scale in this way, that lead gen firm would have to know EVERYTHING about YOUR ideal target persona, how to qualify them, and how to prompt them to take action – from awareness through consideration (some of the hardest stages in marketing) – and how to POSITION your brand for success amid steep competition.
That’s not likely to happen, especially when the tactic that is promised is cold calling and emailing, a tactic that most buyers hate today (think about how much you love getting spammed). Not only is it possible to close zero deals with this tactic and lose thousands of dollars, it also has the potential to damage your brand reputation. The lack of consideration, personalization, and blanket assumptions about what your prospects need will not go well with your audience.
Buying in the B2B space is hard. It’s not done on a whim, and it always comes with risk. Sometimes, simply doing nothing seems like the safest option. That’s why it’s not surprising that “churn and burn” outsourced lead gen does nothing to move the needle. Your buyers need to TRUST you to move forward.
“If you are losing deals, you may find that most of your prospects are not choosing your competitor. They’re choosing to just not do anything because they’re too overwhelmed and they cannot make a confident decision.” – Daisy McCarty, Fractional CMO
Can Outsourced B2B Lead Generation Actually Work?
Yes, with a thought out, repeatable B2B lead gen strategy you can see a positive impact. You MUST take a human-centric approach to the process. Buyers want to feel valued. This can only be accomplished by establishing your customer persona and creating a thoughtful customer journey. Never generalize your audience or trust in any marketing plan that fails to include consistent and thoughtful nurture. A typical B2B buyer making a complex purchase needs 7-13 touch points to feel confident enough to even become a lead. Then, it takes 5-12 MORE touches to convert a lead to a sale. Your lead gen partner should understand this and help you navigate that long journey.
Here are our non-negotiables at The Marketing Blender that help our clients win at lead gen.
- Deep dive and DOCUMENT your buyer personas. No one knows your business like you do. For lead gen to work, you need to participate in defining the target market even if you are working with a third party agency. You need to know the buying behavior of your audience, along with their pain points. Then, you need to use that knowledge to build a buyer journey personalized to them. It is about helping them make PROGRESS at each step.
- Map sales opportunities EVERYWHERE your buyers go. Stay clear of any outsourced B2B lead generation agency that only offers one tactic. In B2B in particular, multiple touches across platforms is key for building trust and authority and priming the market to buy from you. Digital marketing for lead generation isn’t just Google ads. It’s social, email nurture, a website chatbot, a YouTube channel, webinars, automated retargeting, etc. Those multiple touch points also need to run seamlessly together. Any friction in the process can deter buyers.
- Create personalized messaging for the entire spectrum. Be thoughtful in your messaging and how you speak to your audience across every point of the journey. Make sure your messaging aligns with where your buyers are in each marketing stage and there is a clear call to action prompting them what to do next.
- Build a marketing ecosystem. Future-proof your business by planning for both sales qualified leads and marketing qualified leads. Your SQLs will help you in the current quarter, but your MQLs will help you in the future. If you are not willing to grow a pipeline of MQLs, you will ALWAYS be scrambling to hit revenue goals. If you are relying on one or two lead sources, your outsourced B2B lead gen could fail catastrophically at any moment.
“You’re throwing away tomorrow’s sales if you do not have things that keep people interested. The buyers that are gonna buy six months from now or 12 months from now or 18 months from now, they’re already cataloging their options, they’re already tracking and paying attention.” – Dacia Coffey, The Marketing Blender CEO
By putting thought and effort into every part of your lead generation strategy, you can see great gains. For outsourced B2B lead gen that really works, get in touch with Blender today!
