blogs

B2B lead generation is big business. As much as 53% of marketing budgets are spent on lead generation (per Sapper Consulting). Unfortunately, much of it is wasted.

Most current B2B lead generation (LG) focuses on quantity versus quality. In addition, the process of defining, generating, working and tracking leads is a lot more complex than most people think because there are a lot of moving parts and interactions between people that are missed and/or misunderstood.

LG is and continues to be a marketing department driven function. Once leads become qualified prospects, marketing hands them off to sales to close. Marketers claim that sales does not follow up on leads and sales claims that marketing gives them unqualified leads.

Figure 1- Source American Association of Inside Sales Professionals (AA-ISP)

Fundamentally, the qualified versus unqualified lead argument is the main problem with traditional lead generation programs but there are other problems as well as highlighted in the table below.

Best-in-class lead generation processes do resolve many of these issues by addressing most of the above-mentioned problems. Specifically addressed are: (1) Targeting; (2) Qualified lead definition; and (3) Marketing qualifying leads (MQL) before handing over to sales. Solving these problems combined with C-Level management putting in place the resources and structure to solve the long-term lead problem can triple the number of leads that convert to successful sales. Advanced lead-generation programs (which include nurturing) produce an average 15% lead rate—a whopping three times higher.

Below is a table that highlights the key differences between Best-in-class LG and traditional LG methods.

Note that neither best-in-class nor standard lead generation methods adequately address problems relating to B2B prospects conducting increasing amounts of time online for solution & vendor research and lead relevancy. In future blog posts, I will address these problems when I discuss the impact that artificial intelligence (AI) has on lead generation.

To learn more about how to increase both the quality and quality of your marketing qualified B2B leads contact us at: www.enov8mobile.com.