There are no longer any doubts about the importance of the lead generation process for a business. In a nutshell, this process aims to find new potential customers and drive them right into your sales funnel with a single goal: to convert them as they move through the funnel. Simply put, when you capture leads, you secure more deals for your business in the future. This fact alone demonstrates this process’s huge value for any business. Though everyone seems to recognize this, there is still a lot of misunderstanding in terms of what a lead is in the first place.
- What are leads in business?
- Why does your business need them?
- Why is creating a stable flow of new business leads important?
- How to get more leads?
- And what do you do when you get them?
Answering these questions on your own can be challenging, but don’t worry — we are here to help you out!
In this guide, a professional team of Belkins will walk you through this topic and help you answer all related questions. Let’s dive in!
Business lead definition
According to the general business lead definition, a business lead, or sales lead, is anyone who demonstrates interest in the product or service offered by your brand.
There are plenty of ways you can get these leads. Some of the most common online lead generation channels include paid advertisements, search engine optimization, social networks, and contextual advertising in search engines. Using these channels, businesses can start generating leads organically. Alternatively, there is always the option to buy leads too.
Why does your business need leads?
We’ve answered the question of who is the lead with the explanation that they are a potential customer who can eventually complete the buyer’s journey and make a purchase. So in a nutshell, if your business plans to sell its products or services, there is no way you can do without leads.
At this point, it is important to stress that not every lead will transform into a sale. But no sale is possible without having a lead in the first place.
On top of that, some additional benefits come with sales lead generation. While every lead is a potential paying customer, it is also a possible referral. Simply put, every lead who eventually buys from you can potentially refer you to others, thus bringing even more leads into your funnel.
When you generate business leads, you acquire new clients and drive sales. Respectively, leads propel your business’s growth, scalability, sustainability, and, most importantly, profitability. These are the main reasons why your business needs leads.
Why is getting new business leads important?
One common mistake businesses make is when they run a few campaigns, acquire a certain number of leads, and then stop generating business leads completely or push it to the background. In reality, the sales process is ongoing, so your lead gen efforts should be ongoing as well. This is mainly because your leads are never going to stay constant as your business grows. Some of them will turn into customers, but a part (often a big one) of them will be lost before reaching the bottom of your funnel.
A continuous lead generation strategy will help your business acquire a healthy customer base. It will ensure that you constantly have new sales opportunities and thus will help boost your revenue. Besides, constantly generating new leads for business will help you evolve your digital marketing efforts and ensure customer retention.
Basically, a steady flow of leads will help your business ensure stable growth.
How to get leads for your business
Now that the questions “What is a lead?” and “Why is generating business leads important?” are answered, it’s time to move to the most exciting part: how to generate leads. In this part of our guide, we will share some of the most influential business lead generation strategies.
But before we get there, let us highlight the fact that the marketing world is incredibly dynamic these days. Every business needs to keep up with it to achieve its B2B sales goals. Therefore, companies must mix multiple strategies to maximize their results. Also, it is important to invest in solid lead generation tools and lead research. Together, these efforts will help you make the most of your lead generation.
Now, let’s look at different lead generation business strategies in detail.
1) Social media networks
Different social networks are among the best places to find business leads, so there is no wonder why so many enterprises are actively investing in social media marketing these days. And those that do confirm that their efforts on social media pay off entirely by providing them with lots of new leads. The main challenge, though, is finding the best platform to connect with your prospects.
If you are seeking new business-to-business leads, LinkedIn is your best bet, whereas Instagram and Facebook will work better for discovering individual leads. But, one way or another, each social network is great for generating different kinds of leads.
Lead scoring is also a crucial part of lead generation via social media. First, you need to find the right leads. Then you need to rank and distribute them according to their type and level of interest. And finally, you need to follow up on them to set appointments and move them further through your funnel.
If your sales team knows how to set B2B appointments with leads you find through social networks, your efforts here will definitely pay off!
2) Sponsored ads
Another popular marketing strategy for reaching your target audience and generating lots of potential clients is creating sponsored ads. This form of marketing is offered by multiple services, including Google, and it can help you easily score hot leads.
According to stats, creating paid campaigns using Google AdSense can provide you with nearly 100% ROI. With the help of advanced targeting features inherent in such services, you can target your leads more accurately and achieve greater results.
However, though sponsored ads can help you reach the right people and turn them into leads, a lot still depends on the quality of your qualify-score-distribute-follow-up strategy. If your plan is effective, you will be able to convert a huge number of leads into customers.
3) Referrals
The next strategy is one of the most organic ways to extend your sales-qualified lead base. This tactic can help you score high-quality B2B leads with almost no effort. The trick is simple: if you deliver exceptional experiences to your existing customers, chances are that they will be willing to recommend you to other people they know or share positive feedback about your work on the internet. As a result, you will acquire lots of new leads that are ready to make a purchase.
How do you make this work? There are two key rules for acquiring referrals. First of all, you need to deliver an excellent customer experience. And second, you need to encourage your customers to refer others to your brand.
4) Buying leads
Finding every new lead and acquiring relevant lead information can be rather time-consuming. Thus, in order to save time, some larger businesses opt to buy sales leads instead of generating them. In fact, this strategy can work well if you want to get a large number of top-tier leads without putting much effort into it. The biggest perk of this method is that you can get a complete leads list tailored to your specific needs and ideal customer profile. However, there are a few drawbacks too.
The big question here is where to buy leads. To get the best results, you want to purchase them from legitimate distributors who won’t let you down. And after you buy, you should put the biggest emphasis on your lead qualification and follow-up strategies to convert more sales.
5) Personalized emails
For decades, sales teams leveraged email marketing as one of the preferred methods for connecting and interacting with their business leads. With the help of personalized emails, sales reps can educate leads about your products and services and boost every person’s interest in your brand. And after a few nurturing email sequences, they should be able to convert those leads into customers with the help of a powerful call to action. But, of course, crafting a personalized email that gets people interested in your products isn’t easy. That’s where professional email-marketing services step in!
Reputable lead generation marketing agencies like Belkins can help you take your lead generation efforts to the next level. So if you want to help your business grow, let the Belkins team do it for you!
6) Content
Another organic lead-gen tactic is content creation. All your content, including blogs, social media posts, and case studies, can serve as powerful lead magnets. Besides, when you create content that brings real value and helps prospects solve their problems, you build authority and earn their trust. As a result, you get a chance to convert them into customers.
7) Retargeting
Finally, the last tactic to leverage in your lead generation campaign is retargeting. This strategy works great when you have lots of website visitors who demonstrate interest but don’t take action. By retargeting your ads to users who have already visited your site but never converted, you stay on their radar and encourage them to engage with you. As a result, they will have a higher chance of converting.
What to do when you get new business leads
So you’ve generated lots of business leads. What’s next?
As you may have guessed, this is just the beginning of the sales process, so there are still a few more steps that you should take.
Here are four key things you need to do after acquiring your leads to optimize your sales cycle and improve conversions:
- Qualify — First of all, you have to look at every individual lead and qualify them depending on how well they fit your commercial offer.
- Score — Not all qualified leads have the same value for your business. Therefore, ranking leads based on their likelihood to buy is the next thing you should do.
- Distribute — After you qualify and rank your leads, you need to distribute them between your sales reps.
- Follow up — The final step is for your sales reps to follow up on their assigned leads in order to nurture and convert them.
Conclusion
So that’s what business leads are and how you can use them to benefit your business. Hopefully, this guide has helped you see the full value of high-quality B2B leads and get on the right track with your lead generation strategy.
And don’t forget: If you want to grow your business by creating a stable flow of qualified leads, Belkins offers a wide range of services and features that can help you maximize the outcomes. So don’t hesitate to let our experts help you!
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