Finding the perfect lead generation agency to grow your company’s sales is hard, especially if you’re a small business. Do any of these situations sound familiar?
- You’re on a budget and want to work with a lead gen company that will pay for itself.
- You’re tired of trial and error and need experts with proven success in your industry.
- You’re aware of Google and Yahoo’s new SPAM policy and want a vendor well versed in deliverability.
- You don’t want to wait months for leads to start coming in.
Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of lead generation companies specifically designed for small entities: Most are neither budget-friendly nor results-oriented.
So we scoured the internet to find the best lead generation companies for small businesses. We analyzed them based on Clutch customer reviews, subject-matter expertise, and small-business client percentage according to their websites.
Belkins: Best lead generation company for small-business growth
- Rating: 4.9 stars out of 197 reviews
- SMB clients: Café Zupas, Smartrek, Talkatoo, GDL Building Maintenance
- Milestones:
- 1,000+ loyal customers with a 95% retention rate 🚀
- 300,000+ appointments scheduled 🤝
- $10 return for every $1 invested 📈
As one of the world’s top 10 professional service agencies according to Clutch, it’s no surprise most people think of Belkins as a lead generation agency for enterprises.
But, in fact, we’ve served over 1,000 SMBs for an average of 1 year each, and they continue to make up a considerable portion of our client base. Having grown a small business ourselves, we know how difficult it is to hire the right people, hone your marketing, and develop a go-to-market strategy all while working within a limited budget.
That’s why we built our agency to cater well to small businesses and scale-ups.
Regardless of your industry or vertical, we can design a customized lead gen solution for you.
“By providing an ROI-focused lead generation solution and dedicating an entire experienced SDR team to each of our clients, we make sure our small-business clients are hitting their sales goals, all while growing with us.”
More specifically, here’s how we cater to our small-business clients.
Dedicated SDR team who leverages their experience to build outbound based on best practices and industry standards
Most small-business owners we talk to complain about their previous lead generation partners’ lack of expertise. They also know hiring an amateur will only waste money and time in the long run, not to mention risk tarnishing their business reputation.
That’s why at Belkins, we’ve built the best outsourced sales team to serve our clients. Instead of assigning you a single account manager, we put together a team of SDRs, sales template copywriters, deliverability specialists, and lead researchers.
Our team’s goal? Listen to your pain points, understand your targets, and collaborate to create a lead gen strategy and action plan. This includes filling the top of your funnel with qualified leads and sending them right to your sales team.
Here’s Michael Maximoff on how we make that happen:
“We provide all the tools needed to launch and get results. Our SDR team covers the entire cycle from top to bottom, so you don’t need to have anything built in prior to our campaign.”
Transparent view of your sales ops at all times
If you’ve ever worked with a lead generation company, you’ve probably experienced the inconvenience of unexpected costs.
Why? Most agencies only work on the top of your funnel and leave the nurturing, appointment-setting, and no-show management up to you.
For most small businesses, this means having to spend more time on pre-sales, hiring, training, and other necessities, adding a laundry list of unforeseen expenses to your already limited budget.
Working with Belkins means you don’t have to worry about any of that. Not only do you receive clear stats on your leads, engagement rates, responses, and qualified meetings generated, but our experienced outsourced SDR team expands with you as your sales needs grow.
Take our client in the B2B music streaming industry, for example. When they came to us, they wanted just a handful of leads. They struggled with defining their ICPs and narrowing their targeting.
We started by dedicating 2–5 sales experts to their team. Right off the bat, they studied the client’s industry and identified the low-hanging fruits.
“The Belkins team took on our challenges head-on, focusing on just three specific industries we wanted to target: convenience stores, residential home buildings, and healthcare. Not the easiest sectors to pitch to, but we are very satisfied with the results,”
In 3 months, our team got the client 9 appointments with big companies that have from 35 to 250 locations all over the U.S.
“In just three months, we had nine calls with large companies, surpassing our original target. Of the seven calls that have happened so far, at least two have advanced through our sales cycle. This has been a strong indicator of progress and success for us,”
Best of all? They were able to offload not only their entire sales process but their ops as well.
“Belkins was great at keeping things organized. They had a clear plan and stuck to the timeline. If we had questions or needed something, they were quick to respond. Everything was done on time, making it easy for us to focus on our work,” they added.
Future-proof lead generation strategy and campaigns
With email providers tightening spam policies in 2024, many small businesses’ lead gen efforts will falter if agencies lack proper outbound etiquette and infrastructure.
Here is what we mean.
You can no longer bend policies or negotiate practices around sending unsolicited commercial emails to potential customers or leads. Google, Yahoo, and other major email providers are cracking down on spam. So you need to make sure your lead gen partner is:
- Following all anti-spam guidelines
- Delivering useful, nonintrusive content to recipients
- Using emailing tools designed for mass outreach
That’s one. Next comes the email infrastructure necessary for effective cold campaigns and long-term success.
This boils down to the technology and systems needed to send emails at scale. Your partner should be:
- Using email outreach platforms designed for cold emailing
- Using reliable servers and IP addresses that aren’t flagged for spam
- Implementing best practices for sender authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC, etc.)
- Implementing deliverability monitoring systems
- Using services to improve email deliverability
The main concern for your business here is that many small agencies lack robust infrastructure. They often use consumer-grade tools that are not designed for serious outbound campaigns across thousands of prospects.
That’s where Belkins differs.
First, we are very strict about remaining compliant and in alignment with the best lead gen and outbound practices.
We hire and consistently train our experts for that. Also, instead of relying on third-party tools and subjecting our clients’ campaigns to protocols we couldn’t control, we built proprietary software.
Folderly, our email deliverability tool, allows us to solidify and grow your domain reputation steadily so that emails land directly in your recipient’s inbox.
Here’s our Email Deliverability Team Lead Oleksandr Hrabovskyi:
“Our commitment to ensuring the optimal delivery of emails is reflected in our implementation of these industry-standard protocols […] By incorporating SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance), and DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), we enhance the authenticity and security of our email communications.”
Not only does this prevent email providers from labeling your messages as spam, but it also establishes a reliable framework for opt-out processes. This is just one example of our dedication to delivering precise and effective email marketing solutions. It also helps us exceed typical benchmarks.
“Belkins booked 85 appointments for us. We were also surprised by the high open rate (72%) and reply rate (up to 9%) of emails.”
Case studies that speak for themselves
Our website hosts some of the most impressive lead generation case studies in the market. Here are just 2 examples:
- Born & Bred, a rapidly growing brand agency, collaborated with Belkins to increase their client base. As a result, they achieved remarkable growth: 20 deals won in 2 years with an average deal size of $75,000, reflecting a 297% year-over-year growth.
- Unifocus asked for help pursuing new clients in the U.S., Asia-Pacific, and Europe. Within 8 months, Belkins booked 50+ calls and became the third-most successful lead acquisition channel for the company.
Cost-effective deliverables and services for small and medium-size businesses
Our pricing is transparent and straightforward. We have 3 plans, each for a different budget and sales-team capacity.
If you’re in a unique situation, our team can design a custom package for you.
