In the vast and often unpredictable sea of lead generation, quality trumps quantity. The salesperson is like a seasoned fisherman sorting through his catch, pawing through nets of fish to find the prime catch. At a certain point, the fisherman hasn’t the time to sort through hundreds of catches every day, and has the luxury of being selective about the type of fish he wants to catch.
I’ve heard it said that “It’s easier to sell one really expensive thing to one really rich person than many cheap things to many poor people.” This is the predicament of the successful B2B salesperson - with a sea of prospects, they need only cast to the ICP.
So without further ado, here are ten tips to refine your lead generation strategy and ensure you're attracting your ideal prospect.
1. Update Buyer Personas
Understanding your audience is the cornerstone of effective lead generation, so regularly updating your buyer personas ensures your marketing efforts are segmented and efficient. Segmented campaigns drive 30% more email opens and 50% more click-throughs than non-segmented campaigns.
63% of content marketers already actively create persona-centric content, and customer centric companies are 60% more profitable than those that are not customer centric! More than 60% of companies that have updated their buyer personas within the last six months have exceeded their lead and revenue goals, so consistently updating the persona will allow you to be profitable long-term.
Three to four buyer personas account for over 90% of a company’s sales. Using more buyer personas also allows for further segmentation, and according to a recent study, companies that segment their leads can increase their conversion rates up to 355%, leading to increased revenues up to 781%!
2. Define Brand Positioning & Apply Consistently
Clear and consistent brand positioning makes your business stand out in a crowded market. Brand presentation consistent across all platforms can increase revenue by up to 23%, and it goes hand-in-hand with trust in brands, with 81% of consumers stating the importance of trust before they spend with a brand.
Consistent branding also serves to clarify what your brand stands for and attract leads that resonate with your core values and offerings - with 53% of consumers saying they need their brands to take a stand on at least one social issue, brands are huge entities that can take a hit if they’re seen to be on the wrong side of moral questions.
3. Implement a Full-Journey Strategy
A holistic approach to the customer journey attempts to ensure no potential lead falls through the cracks.
From awareness through to decision-making, tailor your customer experience journey and content to improve lead quality and enhance the overall customer experience. Given that 94% of buyers reported using online research at some point in the purchasing process and are now more averse to talking to reps, it’s important buyers can make a decision by themselves.
4 in 10 B2B companies believe they’ll have a full vision of their customers in the next few years. Given that 77% of B2B customers said their last purchase was complex or difficult, it’s possible many B2B agencies suffer from survivorship bias which might obscure the reality of how they’re generating quality leads.
4. Adapt Your Landing Page
Your landing page is often the first impression prospects have of your brand. Given that the average landing page conversion rate across all industries is 2.35%, you must make it count by ensuring it's optimised to meet the expectations and needs of your target audience. Interestingly, long landing pages can generate up to 220% more leads.
Regular A/B testing and updates to the design, content, and call-to-action can significantly increase conversion rates.
5. Ask Detailed Questions
The quality of leads can be significantly enhanced by asking more detailed and slightly invasive questions. 30.7% of marketers say the ideal number of questions on a landing page form to get the best conversions is four, whilst another study of e-commerce brands found that the highest number of converting form fields is 3, with an average conversion rate of 10%.
There's no one-size-fits-all, and if you want better quality leads, you might use a higher intent form type to provide a review screen, operating as an “Are you sure?“ for the user before they submit. This might include queries about budget, project timelines, or specific needs. Prospects willing to provide this information are generally more engaged and have a genuine interest in your offerings.
6. Tidy Your Funnel & Clean Your Lists
Streamlining your sales funnel removes unnecessary steps and makes it easier for high-quality leads to connect with your brand, whilst tidying up your data allows for proper utilisation of leads that may have got lost. With 51% of companies using marketing automation tactics, a considerable amount of dirty data is being collected, which IBM estimates that bad data costs the US economy about $3.1 trillion per year!
A funnel may have more than normal churn if you have bad onboarding or no ongoing customer success, product problems, poor retargeting, or a score of other factors. Your data might have been sullied by improper formatting, duplicate data, or outdated leads.
Keep your data clean and your funnel efficient to minimise churn and maximise outreach.
7. Provide Valuable Lead Magnets
Offering something of value in exchange for contact details is a tried and tested method to attract quality leads. The average conversion rate for lead magnets varies from roughly 5.2% to 24.2%. In a small study of SaaS companies, the best converting lead magnet type was written at 27.6% and visual at 20.7%, with video and monetary value tied at 17.2%. Whether it’s a free ebook, a webinar, or an exclusive trial, make sure your lead magnets are irresistible and relevant to your target audience, and specific enough that it attracts only your ideal persona.
8. Create Hyper-Targeted Content
Content that speaks directly to the needs and interests of your target audience is more likely to attract qualified leads.
63% of marketers create content by their buyer personas, and persona-based content increases customer engagement by six times when cold leads are targeted! Use insights from your updated buyer personas to create content that addresses specific concerns, questions, or needs relevant to your audience segments.
9. Ask for Referrals
Leveraging your existing customer base to gain referrals is a powerful way to generate high-quality leads. B2B companies with referrals report a 69% faster close time on sales. B2B organisations with referrals encounter a 71% higher conversion rate. According to B2B marketers, the average conversion rate for referrals is 11%. Referrals produce the highest lead-to-sale conversion rates.
Satisfied customers are likely to refer others who are also a good fit for your business. Encourage this process through incentives or simply by reminding customers of the value they’ve gained from your offerings. This also ties into social proof which is a powerful marketing tool - research indicates that landing pages using testimonials experience a 34% increase in conversion rates.
10. Increase your price
If you have too many leads, your supply should meet the elevated demand by increasing the price. Isn’t the free market wonderful?
Improving lead quality is an ongoing process that requires attention to detail and a deep understanding of your target market. By refining buyer personas, enhancing brand consistency, and engaging prospects throughout their journey, businesses can significantly improve the efficiency of their lead generation efforts.
No matter what, when you focus on lead quality over lead quantity, you are almost certainly going to generate a lower overall number of leads. Many of the strategies mentioned above are purposefully designed to ward off low-quality users who aren’t ready to speak to anyone. That means volume has decreased, but the percentage of the good quality to bad quality leads should be moving in the right direction. Before you embark on any of these optimizations, you should discuss the potential outcomes with your marketing, leadership, and sales teams to ensure that everybody is on the same page and no one is caught by surprise with a decreased lead count.
Transitioning into practical solutions, let's talk about Benji, an innovative SaaS product that epitomises the philosophy of smart, efficient, and personalised lead generation. Benji is not just a tool; it's a game-changer in the B2B sales landscape, designed to automate and personalise email outreach and lead nurturing.
With the capability to scrape trillions of data sources and identify real-world triggers, Benji ensures that your outreach is timely and relevant, significantly increasing the chances of building trust and rapport with prospects. It eliminates the often overwhelming stress of managing numerous prospects, crafting the perfect subject line, and pinpointing the optimal moment for engagement.
Imagine a tool that does the heavy lifting for you, allowing your sales team to focus on what they do best—selling. Benji is that partner in the sales process, tirelessly working to ensure every prospect is reached with the right message at the right time. In a world where personalised communication is key, Benji stands out as a beacon of innovation, making it an indispensable asset for any sales team aiming to not just reach but engage and convert their target audience effectively.
In conclusion, if you're looking to revolutionise your lead generation and nurturing process, giving your sales team the ultimate edge, it's time to consider Benji. It's not just about automation; it's about smart automation that aligns perfectly with your sales strategy, ensuring maximum efficiency and effectiveness.
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