6 lead generation agencies with manufacturing niche expertise
Author
Sophie Kompaniiets
Sophie is a content writer and strategist at Belkins and Folderly with years of experience in the B2B space.
Published:2024-12-03
Reading time:13 m
Our manufacturing prospects often express a common frustration on initial calls: Past outsourced lead generation efforts consistently failed to meet expectations. They cite issues such as dismal responses from single-channel outreach, marketing campaigns that oversimplify technical product descriptions, and strategies misaligned with long sales cycles. One client shared that prior outsourcing brought in a mere 1 or 2 leads per month — a far cry from the promised 15.
Yet, outsourced lead generation can bring impressive results if it suits your product's complexities well. Drawing from our experience working with over 100 manufacturing companies, we've pinpointed key factors to consider when picking a lead generation partner in this sector:
Do they have specific expertise in manufacturing lead gen? Your ideal partner should be adept at navigating manufacturing's unique challenges like long sales cycles, multiple stakeholders, and complex technical messaging, not to mention customers who aren't ready to buy yet. Reviewing case studies and checking out sites like Clutch and G2 for client reviews can give you a better sense of their performance in the manufacturing sector.
Can they sort out the whole prospecting and appointment setting process for you? In manufacturing, where sales cycles can drag on for up to 18 months, your partner should bring more to the table than just new leads. They help cultivate long-term relationships, bolster sales efforts, and use diverse channels to sustain interest. Plus, they should know how to make marketing and sales work together seamlessly throughout the customer journey for the highest possible conversions and return on investment.
Do they understand and communicate the technical side of your product effectively? Your contractor needs to understand the technical aspects of what you're offering and use that to craft messages that speak to the specific challenges of different people who make purchasing decisions. Since many manufacturing clients already work with established vendors, a thoughtful approach is necessary to get them to consider new possibilities.
Do they adapt their strategy to fit your product across all channels? A good partner will do their homework on your market, review past lead generation efforts, and create a targeted plan focusing on the right people and decision-makers. They'll also test and balance each channel for the best engagement and conversion rates. This flexibility means their lead generation approach will evolve to meet your needs.
Is lead research done manually? Automated lists may be the easy way out, but they are poor at bringing in qualified leads. An effective lead generation partner knows that quality starts with careful research. A manual, tailored approach to lead research ensures that every prospect aligns well with your ICP. Additionally, your partner knows how to find leads in highly regulated markets, such as the medical, aerospace, and military industries.
Is lead quality a priority, with regular performance checks? Top lead gen partners give you real-time insights into lead quality, cost per lead, and the metrics you've agreed on, and they join regular reviews to ensure they're still on the same page as you.
Here's the review of top lead generation companies for the manufacturing sector and how we at Belkins cover each factor.
6 best B2B lead generation companies for manufacturing
Belkins — best for omnichannel lead gen for mid-size & enterprise-level companies
Revit — best for small-size manufacturers (offers flexible pricing models)
Callbox — best for international lead gen campaigns
At Belkins, we’re committed to supporting our manufacturing clients because we genuinely enjoy collaborating with them.
"Our manufacturing clients focus heavily on research and development, creating high-demand products, but often lack the resources for marketing innovation. When we combine their exceptional products with our unique marketing approach, the magic happens. Within six months, we see rapid, visible growth, making the work incredibly rewarding."
Yuriy Boyko, Head of Account Management at Belkins
Proven expertise in manufacturing lead generation
We have a solution for each challenge, coming up with lead gen strategies that perform for various manufacturing subsectors.
Your challenges
Our solutions
Extended sales cycles
On average, it takes 62 personalized touchpoints to engage each lead and keep their interest before they are ready to buy. We help qualified leads progress quickly through the sales pipeline using a consistent method that incorporates the best-performing channels. When appointment setting is stuck due to lengthy cycles, we also focus on broadening the target market and expanding outreach to other verticals and regions.
Traditional lead gen channels (referrals, conferences) fail to meet the quota
Rather than using channels that underperform in manufacturing, we optimize traditional strategies to enhance their effectiveness, creating a robust blend of digital channels tailored to your specific market. For example, we implemented a targeted event campaign to engage decision-makers through their preferred channels before a conference, resulting in 135 in-person meetings over 7 months.
Complex decision-making process that involves multiple stakeholders
We employ a strategy that targets stakeholders based on revenue potential. Our team analyzes a wide range of titles and tests various approaches to craft a tailored value proposition for each stakeholder.
Generic messages with oversimplified technical nuances
Our team excels at diving into the technical details when necessary. We conduct thorough product research and employ an account-based approach, tailoring our messaging based on each prospect's role, tech expertise, and ultimate needs.
Our experts are on hand to help with your specific challenges — just , and our sales team will create a plan that's right for you.
The 4.9-star rating on Clutch highlights Belkins' proactive approach, transparency, and adaptability in navigating evolving market conditions.
Here are some reviews from our manufacturing clients:
"Belkins provided lead generation, appointment setting, and cold email outreach. They identified and vetted leads in the European medical sector and scheduled appointments with clinics. In the first phase, they focused on Germany, France, Netherlands, Sweden, and Austria. In the second phase, they extended to Italy, Poland, and Romania. The main goal was to achieve a high number of successful appointments, which they consistently exceeded."
Adam Svrcina, CSO at Aireen
"16 calls within 2 months were scheduled for our first campaign and 11 calls in 5 weeks for the second one. 3 promising opportunities currently progressing through the pipeline. Our successful collaboration has led to a 3-month extension. Overall improvement in potential deal flow achieved."
Director at TMD Holdings
We know that most manufacturing companies don't have the capacity for proactive prospecting, cold calling, or digital marketing due to a small in-house team. And that’s why we go beyond generating leads. We can cover you throughout the entire sales journey with omnichannel strategies that nurture leads over extended cycles, ensuring sustained engagement.
Our appointment setting service covers all sales funnel stages, from lead sourcing and marketing content creation to follow-ups on booked meetings and sales enablement.
Following the initial lead qualification outreach, we identify the most promising leads and engage them across multiple channels with a clear CTA to schedule a call with your sales team. This process includes multilevel follow-ups and nurturing campaigns. To reduce no-shows, we implement targeted strategies and can also create sales enablement assets, such as case studies or sales decks, that address your product's technical specifics.
Comprehensive market and past strategy analysis
Rather than promising arbitrary lead numbers, we first assess opportunities based on your goals, market trends, and historical sales data. Our approach is revenue focused, and we dedicate about 30 hours to industry analysis and strategic planning to ground our recommendations in data.
This initial groundwork includes:
Taking lead gen history and reviewing current channels by analyzing your previous campaigns and identifying potential gaps
Performing in-depth analysis of the ideal customer profile (ICP), target personas' digital presence, and the total addressable market (TAM)
Developing lead qualification criteria and methodology to set up clear metrics and methodologies to ensure high lead quality
Gathering relevant playbooks, frameworks, and resources to build a customized strategy
Once the task is complete, we hold a kick-off meeting to align on lead targets, timelines, and KPIs.
We prioritize quality over quantity in lead sourcing and know where to find leads for industries with specific regulatory needs, such as medical and aerospace manufacturing.
Our manual, in-depth research ensures that each lead aligns perfectly with your ICP, delivering qualified prospects ready to engage with your brand. Belkins lead researchers enhance search with tools like Sales Navigator, Apollo, and PhantomBuster. In 2 days, the research team will provide you with 50–100 leads for verification, including all data points needed for your future successful outreach campaign. After the list is ready, our full-stack team conducts manual prospecting and double qualification backed by advanced tools to help you build a solid pipeline.
You can see our approach in action and get 20 test leads that match your ICP for an initial review.
A cross-channel outreach approach tailored to your audience
We don't have pre-prepared channel infrastructure models.
Instead, our manufacturing clients receive a customized channel mix that's tailored to their current digital presence, KPIs, target audience's digital footprint, and defined timeline. And it’s not a finished strategy.
At the initial stage, we test-drive different channels and analyze the first campaigns’ results and behavioral data, selecting the highest-performing channel for narrower targeting. The assigned project team creates a road map that outlines outbound and inbound channels that will be used for lead generation and identifies the necessary resources.
Belkins’ internal team handles outbound lead generation strategies, such as manual lead research and cold outreach. We also work with our partners at ClickRoads (GTM, paid ads, ABM) and Kalyna Marketing (SEO, events, content, partnerships) to integrate complementary inbound channels. Additionally, we bring in external subject-matter experts and form a Center of Excellence to cover niche channels as needed.
We also recognize that referrals and events remain powerful in manufacturing and related industries. If they are at the core of your company, we enhance the performance of these channels with others to engage with your target audience on multiple fronts.
Targeted content and aligned messaging
We always focus on early-stage engagement and adapt messaging to demonstrate respect for the unique pace of manufacturing buyers, which usually need more time than buyers from other industries.
Also, unlike most lead gen companies, which often overlook alignment between marketing and sales content, we prioritize it. Our cross-functional teams of researchers, SDRs, and copywriters collaborate to develop a cohesive strategy that aligns every message with both marketing and sales goals. This ensures consistent, impactful engagement at every stage of the funnel.
We prevent missed opportunities that arise from generic messaging by focusing instead on ICP-tailored content that speaks directly to manufacturing decision-makers.
For cold emails, we use a referral approach, face-to-face meeting invitation, or personalization based on unique pain points.
Here’s an example of the referral approach we use in cold emails:
We hold ourselves accountable with consistent performance tracking, leveraging live ROI graphs that present real-time campaign outcomes. To streamline reporting, we automate data updates as much as possible.
Our reporting stack provides comprehensive insights across multiple platforms. The primary outreach tool, Reply.io, provides fresh sequence metrics twice a week — on Wednesdays and Sundays — keeping clients consistently updated on key productivity indicators.
We assess metrics daily and share actionable insights during regular client calls. Through ongoing collaboration with each client’s in-house team, we continuously refine strategies based on data and feedback.
All clients using outbound omnichannel lead gen receive detailed metrics through Reply.io and Looker Studio. For clients expanding to inbound omnichannel, Dreamdata is integrated as well. The use of different tools ensures the utmost transparency. Take it from our client:
"We worked closely with an account manager, a lead generation specialist, an email outreach specialist, and a sales development representative. The workflow between our team and Belkins was very productive and transparent. We were able to discuss and adapt our strategy to focus on lead quality rather than quantity."
Hiro Masumoto, General Manager of Sekisui Chemical
Revit
Revit specializes in lead generation for small manufacturing companies, offering a fresh approach with affordable, pay-per-appointment pricing. They connect clients with prospects through in-depth market research, multichannel outreach, and tailored engagement strategies.
How Revit addresses manufacturing needs:
Low-commitment flexibility: The company delivers high-quality leads without long-term obligations, allowing you to pay per appointment. This approach is ideal for companies wary of high-commitment outsourcing after past lead gen efforts underperformed.
Customized outreach: Revit’s outreach strategy prioritizes technical precision and personalization, addressing the specific needs of manufacturers.
Lead nurturing and appointment setting: Beyond lead generation, the company focuses on cultivating long-term relationships and sustaining prospect engagement throughout manufacturing's typically extended sales cycle. By aligning marketing and sales efforts, Revit ensures clients maintain consistent interest and connection with prospects over time.
Integrated cross-channel strategy: The company meets prospects where they are most active, blending traditional outreach with event-based networking, industry conferences, and relationship-building tactics.
Regular reporting and transparency: Through real-time reporting, Revit provides transparency and adaptability, ensuring lead generation efforts are continually refined to meet evolving goals.
Although the agency is relatively new, you can already find 1 review from a manufacturing client:
"The project was a success, with Revit exceeding our expectations in terms of appointment quality and quantity. We experienced a substantial [increase] in our lead-to-opportunity conversion rate and overall sales pipeline."
Nazarii Kozachok, CEO at ERA Digital
Callbox
Callbox specializes in cold calling and offers multilingual capabilities to facilitate effective international campaigns. They focus on connecting clients with decision-makers across various manufacturing industries, including automotive, aerospace, and heavy machinery.
How Callbox addresses manufacturing needs:
Account-based marketing for high-value prospects: By focusing on ABM, Callbox prioritizes accounts with the most potential for conversion, ensuring resources are spent on leads likely to deliver significant returns on investment. (Propelled air compressor company case study)
Multichannel inbound channels: Callbox uses multichannel marketing activities to engage more manufacturing customers and nurture them over time. (Forklift & material handling company case study)
Outbound channel nurturing: To keep leads engaged throughout the decision-making process, Callbox implements a lead nurturing program that includes timely outbound campaigns and relevant content, helping prospects understand how the client’s solutions could transform their workforce operations. (Robotics company case study)
There are also some verified reviews on Clutch, with an average rating of 4.6:
"They do provide quite a comprehensive brief in order to create very clear parameters and boundaries as to what the research entails, we worked closely to distinguish the qualifying questions which help us determine whether the target audience was of relevance to our business and if they could have a legitimate interest in our products."
Olivier Tulliez, Marketing Analyst and Visibility Head at Color Technology Firm
"Since the project began in October 2020, we have seen over 120 additional leads come through our internal sales team that are directly attributable to CallBox's efforts; we have also had around 5,000 accounts requalified and put back into our regular rotation of accounts to be called on by our internal sales team."
Review from a marketing analyst at Videojet, Inc
SalesRoads
SalesRoads stands out with its U.S.-based, dedicated sales development teams exclusively trained for each client, ensuring a personalized approach with phone conversations and emails as primary channels. They have experience in such industries as supply chain, wire product engineering, hydrologic, and motion control systems.
How SalesRoads addresses manufacturing needs:
In-depth discovery sessions: SalesRoads teams identify target markets, assess competition, and clarify value propositions, ensuring a well-defined and tailored outreach approach. (Source: Motion & control tech manufacturing case study)
Detailed data collection on each lead: They gather crucial data points for each lead, including building focus (single-family or multifamily), the number of homes built annually, key decision factors for specifying building wire, purchase quantity, purchasing location, and annual spending. (Wire product engineering case study)
Targeted research and lead qualification: They then identify ideal target titles and markets through real-time learnings and extensive research, ensuring alignment with the companies’ unique product offerings. (Supply chain manufacturing case study)
Cold-calling lead qualification: SalesRoads gathers insights during a 3-week calling sequence, assessing each prospect's business activities, preventive maintenance practices, technology usage, reasons for downtime, and estimated annual spend to better qualify and target high-potential leads. (Motion & control tech manufacturing case study)
"Project Management has been incredible. Their team has been extremely responsive to anything we ask of them and manages our expectations very well when it comes to due dates on changes/additions to the project."
VP of operations at a label manufacturing company
"SalesRoads exceeded our expectations with the defined metrics: number of calls, number of contacts, number of leads passed. Also, SalesRoads was very good at adjusting the plan as needed."
Len Weinstein, CEO of a manufacturing firm
Cleverly
Cleverly specializes in cold email outreach and LinkedIn inbound lead gen using a targeted approach and technically nuanced copy to effectively reach manufacturing prospects.
How Cleverly addresses manufacturing needs:
Targeted cold email outreach: They reach verified decision-makers in the contracting space and create targeted messaging, emphasizing specific advertising success stories and growth metrics from similar contractors. (Construction manufacturing case study)
Technically nuanced copy: Cleverly highlights specific competitive technical features in emails, positioning the client’s company as the premier solution provider. (Kitchen solutions manufacturing case study)
LinkedIn inbound campaigns adapted for manufacturing: The company performs a solid job of building a campaign to suit unique manufacturing needs. (Clutch review)
There are a few manufacturers’ reviews on Clutch emphasizing the company's experience in social media campaigns and great communication:
"They met with us and gathered main points on what we were trying to achieve and what clients would be best to reach out to. They did a great job of building a campaign to suit our needs."
Director of strategic growth at a manufacturing company
"Cleverly was an outstanding communicator, very helpful, and willing to adjust parameters."
Executive at a conveyor & automation manufacturing company
Abstrakt Marketing Group
Abstrakt Marketing Group specializes in cold calling and social media marketing. The company focuses mostly on small and mid-size manufacturing companies.
How Abstrakt Marketing Group addresses manufacturing needs:
Consistent company representation: Abstrakt acts as an extension of the client's brand, engaging with prospective leads on their behalf, mainly through cold calling and emails. (Lee Mechanical case study)
Website and social media presence: They help manufacturing companies build up their social media branding to attract inbound leads. (Clutch review)
Resource scalability: For manufacturers with limited in-house marketing teams, Abstrakt provides dedicated personnel to handle outbound lead gen channels and keep consistency in marketing that would otherwise require significant internal resources. (Lee Mechanical case study)
The reviews from manufacturers highlight cold calling excellence and great project management:
"For the cold calling, they create the script and the leads list based on the information we give them and the research they do. Abstrakt Marketing Group’s team also records the conversations so we can listen to them and give our feedback to ensure that they’re hitting the right targets."
Michael Devito, President at Air Comfort
"Project manager is doing a good job keeping us on track. We can get distracted and delay projects, but they do a good job reminding us of our deadlines while respecting our workload."
Michelle Levitt, Marketing Director at Heil Sound
Ready to kick off your lead gen?
While we've covered the key factors every top lead gen agency should have to meet manufacturing demands, the right agency will always depend on your specific needs and preferences.
At Belkins, we handle all the critical elements for growing your manufacturing sales pipeline, including in-depth market analysis, cross-channel outreach, and targeted messaging that resonates with industrial decision-makers. Beyond that, you can outsource appointment setting, so all your team needs to do is come prepared for calls with a booked calendar ahead.
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Content writer and strategist at Belkins and Folderly
Sophie is a content writer and strategist with years of experience in the B2B space. She collaborates with industry experts to collect expert information and turn it into actionable insights.
