5 Tips for Lead Generation Success

Check out blueberry’s top 5 tips for the most successful approaches to b2b lead generation.

1. HAVE A GOOD … NO A GREAT REASON TO GET IN TOUCH

Senior decision-makers responsible for company budgets are often bombarded with sales calls. Not surprisingly, they are very adept at quickly deciding whether a call is a bonus or a nuisance. They’ll no doubt have a long to do list and your call might well be the third or fourth they’ve handled that day. It’s imperative that you earn their attention. In the first ten to fifteen seconds, you should be answering their “What’s in it for me?” question. Give them a clear, succinct reason why your call is different to the others they have received.

2. REMEMBER YOUR OBJECTIVE

Keep in mind that you’re not selling your product or service during an initial lead generation call. The objective of your call is to get them on side and persuade them to give you more of their precious time. Your call should focus on how you can help them. At this stage the main thing that you need to convey is that you have something interesting to say and are worth listening to.

3. STAY FOCUSSED

When deciding who to target, less is more. Casting the net too wide will dilute the effectiveness of your calls and distract efforts away from your strongest targets. It’s important to be ruthless, particularly when you’re purchasing from a data house that has a vested interest in selling you reams of data. Make an honest assessment of the businesses who are most likely to respond to your product or service and limit the data to that.

4. DON’T TREAT TELEMARKETING IN ISOLATION

Telemarketing should never be a standalone activity – it is one of many effective marketing methods at your disposal. Your call approach should seamlessly link up with email marketing, social media outreach and events to name but a few. Make sure that you have marketing materials to hand to support your endeavours. Whitepapers, product sheets and case studies should all be available for prospects at different points in the buying process. Outline a basic lead nurturing programme to guide your prospects through the buying journey. Telemarketing will be an important part of this, but it shouldn’t be the only part.

5. SET REALISTIC GOALS

Sometimes internal telemarketing operations fail, not due to any inherent weakness, but because there are no distinct goals and therefore it’s difficult to measure performance. If you don’t have a clear idea of your metrics, it will be hard to gauge which parts of the process are working and which are not. You need a clear overview of your objectives – the number of calls, decision-maker conversations, leads and conversion rates – explore what KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) other people are working to. Consider obtaining some quotes from lead generation companies to give you a better idea of what they work towards.