The new year came and brought new sales objectives with it. One of the most common goals is, of course, to increase sales. But to do so means you need to increase the number of leads and get your B2B lead generation strategy working for you. With a pandemic on our hands, that hasn’t been exactly easy.
Without a doubt, the current situation brought a lot of changes in the sales and marketing world. People, and especially companies, have been more leery of spending money. Salespeople have had to double their efforts to score a sale.
The Big Lead Generation Question
That leaves you with the big lead generation question everyone is asking. In this new economic climate in which your sales funnel has shrunk considerably, what can you do to:
- Get more leads,
- Score more referrals and
- Increase sales?
While it may seem daunting, there are actions you can take to reach your goals and achieve your desired sales results. The first step is to take a look at your existing lead generating strategy.
Analyze Your Lead Generation Strategy
To reach your sales quota, you should have 3 times your revenue target in your sales funnel. But how can you reach that number?
I believe that asking the right questions can lead you to the right answers, so here are a few questions that can help you figure out if you’re on track.
- What is your target market? Who are your competitors? What are your differentiators?
- Are you using more than one lead generating strategy?
- Do you have a lead generating system in place? What can you add to that?
- Are you still relying on referrals as your primary lead generation strategy?
- Are you trying to consistently draw new leads into your pipeline?
As you might have figured out, you need to make sure that new leads are constantly entering your sales funnel. Although the referral process is a great way of reaching potential clients, you can’t rely solely on referrals, especially in these dynamic times when people aren’t seeing each other as frequently. Having multiple lead generation strategies working in the background is a must if you want to make your target.
Use these questions to carefully analyze what’s working and what’s not. Once you identify an aspect of your lead generation strategy that needs improvement, focus on it. Know that the evaluation process can take time, even up to 6 weeks, so don’t rush it and make sure you do it correctly.
Choose Lead Generating Strategies That Fit Your Target Audience
Who’s your target audience? Are you selling to business owners or the CFO? Are you only able to reach the practice manager who will introduce you to the partners?
Being clear on your target audience within your target market allows you to:
- Select the right lead generation strategies – ones your target audience will notice.
- Get your grabber message for marketing and sales. They might be different!
- Select the right differentiators to highlight. Early in the lead generation process they’ll be different than later in the sales process.
- Plan your content strategy. Content should align with the trigger events your target audience cares about right now.
- Establish an effective SEO strategy. Use keywords that resonate with your target audience to get their attention through organic search.
- Lead with solutions they value. Focus on what they care about rather than what you believe they should care about.
Recognize that your buyer persona and their needs change over time. If ever you needed an example of change, just look at the past year. Regardless of their industry, your target audience’s needs changed when the world locked down and businesses moved to remote work. Even when we aren’t in crazy, dynamic times, your target market is evolving and shifting. This means you want to be constantly re-evaluating your target market and adjusting your lead generation and sales strategies.
Don’t Forget the Purpose of Your Lead Generation Strategy
The end goal of your lead generation strategy is, of course, to get more leads that eventually lead to more sales and increased revenue. But that shouldn’t be the only focus of your marketing or your sales team. After all, you want your clients to be satisfied so they’ll offer up great testimonials and proactively refer you to new contacts. And, if you sell more than one service, you want clients to buy more.
Don’t limit your lead generation to new prospects. You’ve heard the saying that it’s easier and more profitable to sell to an existing client than get a new one. Take that to heart and show your clients some love.
- Incorporate educational content that keeps clients interested.
- Ask for referrals and testimonials.
- If you sell multiple solutions, tell them about the services they may have forgotten you offer.
- Create special campaigns that focus on needs only clients who have worked with you for a while recognize are important to address.
- Focus on account management as much as new account acquisition.
Developing a lead generation strategy that encompasses both new prospects and existing clients will yield consistent leads, more sales and higher profitability in the long run.
Hire Lead Generation Experts
Lead generation is complex. There are activities, lists, target markets, personas, confusing guidelines and weary salespeople to consider. This is where asking for the help of an expert team to manage your lead generation comes into the picture. You might be able to figure it out on your own. But lead generation strategies are always changing. It’s time-consuming to stay on top of day to day. You have a business to run. It may be time to hire a lead generation expert to do it for you.
If you’d like to explore more about how we could manage your lead generation, contact us and let’s talk about your vision. Your sales funnel shouldn’t dry up just because lead generation is complicated.