B2B lead-generation – not flashy but gets results, especially outsourced

An outsourced lead generation department can bring with up to 43% better results.

The Internet marketing world is abuzz over content marketing, social media marketing, SEO and the likes. And they are right, of course.

But B2B lead generation does something successful businesses have always done: going after their customers, not just waiting for them to find them. No matter how appealing and well promoted your invitation to customers may be, sometimes the direct approach works best.

It is common knowledge that “B2B lead generation is not mass marketing”. In order to get results, simplicity is the key: ask simple questions, know simple facts, and perform simple actions, but with high impact. And most importantly, leave it to the experts. Why?

What do the experts say

In an interview for FutureLab (Lead Generation Best Practices: Thought Leadership with The Funnelholic), Craig Rosenberg, author of The Funnelholic blog, describes the biggest hurdle in managing leads effectively as not having an internal infrastructure built to process and qualify leads, which should include:

• A lead qualification group: Have a team whose job it is to reach leads and qualify them.
• Lead qualification process: You can't just hire people.
• Unify sales-ready lead definitions: Agree with sales on expectations

Outsourcing would ensure this hurdle is removed, without any infrastructure investment.

More than that, outsourcing the lead-gen department means giving this responsibility to a company for which this is core business, and masters the right tools to deliver qualitative results. How?

• Clear client profiling – lead gen specialists consider the sales process exclusively from the client’s perspective.
• Correct targeting – will always talk to the person who makes the buying decision
• Qualified leads – will only get meetings with people who understand the product or the service, need it and afford to buy it
• Follow up and feedback – all opportunities are followed
• Multi-channel approach – a good B2B lead gen partner will use a complex mix of lead generation channels.
• Engaged responsibility - it only takes one month to see whether a lead gen partner is up to contracted expectations.

It will come as no surprise then that lead generation outsourcing is far more efficient and profitable than doing it in house, can deliver sales leads better, reducing cost, reducing risk and increasing opportunities for business development.

For some real-life examples and to find out more benefits of outsourcing lead-gen activities, read NNC Services White paper Outsourced B2B lead-gen brings 40% increase in sales ROI