Lead Generation Archives

The Five Sources Of B2B Leads Prospects

June 11, 2013/in Lead Generation /by admin

When you prospect for new B2B leads, you are looking for new business opportunities. But what should you do if you do not have any idea about who to get in touch with? That would be a problem for your lead generation campaign.

When something like this happens, a lot of marketers always go for the easiest solution: find a provider of appointment setting prospects. Ideally, a business database provider will do the job, but if that is not ready available, then you can tap the following alternatives:

Past customers – these are the people you have served before, have records of them, and may be interested in buying from you again. If they were happy with your service, then good for you. If not, then you have to work extra hard to mollify them.
Referrals – these are potential sales leads that your current customers have a connection with and suggested to do business with you. Or, your current customers suggested these people for your telemarketing team to get in touch with.
Networks – these are prospects that have a direct connection with you, either through industry events, forums, or social media networking. This requires for you to be in regular contact with them, and that you have enough proof that they might be interested in your product or service.
Web visitors – this one is totally online, where interested prospects visit your website and leave their contact info in the appropriate page. You have to make sure that your website is presentable, user-friendly, as well as enticing enough for potential sales leads.
Calling lists – these are lists that you purchase from a reputable agency. Ideally, these will contain the contact information of business executives in the industry you wish to enter.

Try using two or three of these sources to round out your list of potential sales leads. These are very helpful for your marketing efforts.

Going Global In Lead Generation The Coca-Cola Way

June 10, 2013/in Lead Generation /by admin

We all know how big Coca-Cola is as a brand. It is practically everywhere you go in any part of the world. And while we might say that all large companies can do that, and smaller firms could only sit and moan their situation, it is a rather flimsy excuse. No matter the size, a company can still go global in their lead generation efforts. Generating sales leads from different markets (not to mention countries) can still be done. In Coke’s case, they went for a simple mantra – same company, different approach.

Coke serves a huge market, and they know it. That is why they set up marketing teams in every country they get into. These people must be immersed in the local culture, aware of the norms, knows what clicks with the audience, and come up with a marketing plan that jives with the local market and the global branding efforts. And here is the keyword to be remembered: research. You have to do proper research in the local market if you want to

This is a good lesson for you and your appointment setting team, especially if you are employing certain promotions to advertise your products or services in the global market. Before you begin any marketing campaign, you need to do your homework well. And you might have to double up your efforts if you do not have a local team to guide your way.

It is necessary. You need to understand what message is acceptable or unacceptable in your business. You also need to know what medium will work best. If telemarketing brings in the B2B leads, then so be it. It is a mix and match kind of marketing you have to do, since you have to test the waters and see what works best.

a graphic illustration of a broken arrow

Why Will You Fail To Generate Sales Leads In Australia?

March 29, 2013/in Lead Generation /by Dara Lin

If you are trying to generate good B2B leads, you should be prepared to fail especially if you didn’t plan your strategy well. A lead generation campaign without clearly identifying your target prospects will surely fail.

When I first started as a sales manager in one of the leading sales and marketing company in the Asia Pacific, I know at some point my sales strategy will not go as planned. Why? Prospects are also evolving. They don’t just purchase right away. Instead, they do their research first before they decide which makes their buying journey longer than before.

Lead generation is not an easy task to complete. Many factors need to be considered – market trends, product offers, not to mention the salesperson assigned to do the task.

In this article, let’s discuss the reasons why will you fail to generate sales leads?

As a sales manager or owner, here are the things that some of us are doing that will make your lead generation campaign fail?

#1. Not utilizing multi channel marketing.

It is always best to be where your prospects are. Multi-channel marketing allows your to be visible on your prospect’s preferred channel – social media, email, voice, mobile, web and chat. It helps your prospects become more familiar with your company and product.

#2. You failed to nurture your prospects.

Of course, we want prospects who will buy from us. However, leads don’t convert overnight. Prospects nowadays prefer to research online before they make a decision to purchase.

You need to build relationships with them in order to get their trust. Walk them through every stage of their buying journey until such time they are ready to purchase and do business with you.

#3. Refuse to invest in marketing automation tools.

Larger corporations choose to expand their target audience and go global. The best way to reach out to their target audience in different time zones is through marketing automation. Marketing automation lets you send out emails or post on social media during times that your prospects are more active, can see and respond in real time.

#4. You want to control everything.

Micromanaging things may work in some businesses, but this is not ideal in an appointment setting campaign. In sales, you work as a team. The fact that your team members feel you don’t trust them to perform certain tasks successfully can lead to conflict. This makes them not to perform their responsibilities well. Let your salespeople have the freedom to negotiate with prospects and manage their calls. The important thing is they deliver results.

If these are your kind of thing, it would be advisable that you change them immediately. If you want your lead generation campaign to become successful and become consistent in your ROI, you need to change your old habits and do better than that.

a graphic illustration of 2 people working at home

What Will Make Telecommuting Work In Lead Generation?

March 21, 2013/in Lead Generation /by admin

When you want to improve your lead generation process, you need to use different marketing and business tactics to maximize your performance. One of the most popular methods you can employ is through telecommuting. This creates a very flexible set-up for the generation of qualified B2B leads. Still, there are issues with this tactic, namely in reliability and collaboration. This is a very serious concern, especially where teamwork is needed. Even so, once you identify which areas in sales leads generation are precisely lacking, then you can proceed to solve it. There are many ways to do that, but the most important are:

Technology – this is one point that you have to remember well. When it comes to remotely working with appointment setting specialists, you need to make sure that you have the technological tools needed for communication. Without it, you will not be able to monitor or keep tabs of what you need to do. Keeping in touch will require some good technology.
Humanity – this is also a point that you need to consider well. No matter how advanced is the technology you use, if you fail to improve the human part of your marketing campaign, then you will not be able to generate qualified sales leads. This is an important consideration, especially if telemarketing is used as the communication medium.

Of course, outsourcing the job to professional lead generation services is also a feasible plan. As long as you choose the right people, then you will be able to do well.

a connected concept of people with map of australia

Want To Create Lead Generation Networks In Australia? Step Out

March 12, 2013/in Lead Generation /by admin

One important factor that makes it possible for companies in Australia to success is in the business networks that you create. The power of social media has made it possible for companies to gather the business leads they need from their contacts. Of course, there are areas of opportunities in this method of lead generation. Among these is in the network creation in itself. When it comes to effectively creating networks, sometimes, stepping out of the social media game is necessary. In other words, you need to do it in person. That is where the fun part comes in.

How will you do that?

For example, you can attend seminars and forums. Not only will you learn something from speakers there, you can also interact with the other attendees. Who knows, they might be good candidates for your appointment setting campaign.

Another thing you can do is to stop by a coffee shop. If you can do your work there, then do so. While you are at it, talk to the people who stop by and buy a drink. You can meet a lot of interesting personalities there, not to mention getting some inspiration that you can use to your work.

You can also use your existing friends as networks. A little old-school networking can do wonders in getting you in touch with others of similar interests and industry with you. You might get lucky in helping your telemarketing team in.

Really, there are a lot of lead generation opportunities in Australia, if you are willing to network outside the usual social media.

Why Outsourcing Is Good For Any Australian Company - Blog Image

3 Reasons Why Outsourcing Is Good For Any Australian Company

March 8, 2013/in Lead Generation /by Maegan

Business process outsourcing is not just about inside sales outsourcing and back office tasks. Though certainly these tasks make up a huge percentage of outsourced processes, BPO companies also handle other important business tasks for companies in Australia.

In today’s business mindset, not only large companies but small to medium sized businesses in Australia can also take advantage of moving some of their operations offshore.

According to the IBISWorld’s market research report, BPO industry in Australia is expected to grow steadily despite offshore competition.

However, some business owners misjudge outsourcing a third-party company because it can affect other workers leaving many Australians jobless. But reality is, outsourcing can help businesses.

Here’s why outsourcing is good for any Australian company.

Why do businessmen start a business? To create profits. Their goal is to run a business at the lowest cost possible. Lower cost means lower risk involved. Many business organizations, especially smaller companies operate with little financial backup. Even medium sized companies who are making more money should focus on keeping a low financial cost. Outsourcing can help increase your profit and save on overhead expenses, even with if you are on a tight budget but still want to maximize your efforts.

There’s a huge demand for talents and expertise in the fields of IT, Software, Financial, Solar, Telecom, Consulting and Advertising. Having an outsourced company not only helps you save your overhead expenses but can provide professionals and experts in these fields to achieve operational efficiency and maintain high quality standard of service for your business.

Lead generation and appointment setting are also tasks which can be outsourced to a BPO company. They may be critical aspects of a business, but outsourcing them to a more capable BPO company (especially when you are new to business or entrepreneurship) can be a lifesaver. Plus, it makes you get closer to your end users and for more business opportunities.

A good BPO company often offers various services, and Australian businesses will find that outsourcing regular office tasks which tend to be neglected due to their lack of available workforce can result to an improved overall business workflow. Outsourcing transformed the way people do business. It’s helps not just large businesses but small and medium size companies increase their profit and operate more efficiently.

Lead Generation Lessons From Steve Jobs For The Australian Market

November 7, 2012/in Lead Generation /by admin

What makes a marketer effective in lead generation? This is just one of the many questions that have always come foremost in the minds of those responsible in generating qualified B2B leads in Australia. Perhaps we can take a page from the late Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple. Considering the number of people praising his style of selling (not to mention a significant number vilifying the same strategies), we can learn a thing or two about our own way of getting sales leads, especially if we use telemarketing for our work. So, how can we do it, Steve Jobs-style?

First, we should be aggressive. Not in the sense that we are intruding into the life of our business prospects, but more along the fine line of not taking ‘no’ for an answer. Basically speaking, nothing ventured is nothing gained.

Second, focus on presentation. Why else was Jobs able to get that ‘wow’ reaction from his buyers? Because he knows how to present well. It is the same thing with you, if you want to turn sales leads into a closed deal. Being able to stand out in the ground meant presenting something in the most attractive manner possible.

Third, always deliver. What is the use of all those aggressive selling and presentation if you do not deliver what you promise? This is the greatest strength that Jobs’ company did, and this is something that we can learn for our appointment setting campaign.

These are the three main points that you can learn from Steve Jobs. You can use these to ensure that your lead generation campaign is more successful.

The Best Lead Generation Methods To Utilize For Niche Marketing

July 26, 2012/in Lead Generation /by admin

When doing niche marketing, it is best to utilize methods that will help you connect directly to your business leads. Choosing the proper marketing method to reach out to your leads will significantly improve your b2b sales leads generation campaigns. But what are these methods?

Direct marketing methods like email and b2b telemarketing complement niche marketing pretty well. Other marketing strategies, such as social media marketing, advertisements, TV spots, and even PPC are more aimed at the mass market and not at the specific members of your niche.

Here are 3 direct marketing strategies that are best suited for your niche marketing efforts:

B2B telemarketing – if you want to get up front and personal with your business leads, nothing beats picking up the phone and dialing their number. Whether you want to know what they think about a certain product or what problems they have, telemarketing will be able to give you that voice.

Hiring professional b2b telemarketers also allows you to easily follow-up any business leads that you want to set appointments with. The importance of follow-up needs to be stressed a lot because most marketers are too preoccupied with finding and qualifying leads that they forget to follow up on the already qualified leads. This results to lost opportunities for quality b2b appointment setting that they could have easily acquired..

Email marketing – having the email of your target b2b leads lets you create personalized newsletters and marketing email for each business on your client list. The level of personalization you can do for each email is only limited by yourself. You can discuss the topic on the forum where you met that business lead, or better yet, you can indicate the problem of the business lead for which you have the best solution.
Seminars – trade shows, seminars and webinars are also great niche marketing tools because they attract the people who are really interested to hear about your topic. For example, if they have no problem with their corporate recruitment processes, why do you think they signed up for a free 2-day webinar about effective recruitment strategies?

When you decide to market to a niche, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re constraining yourself to a limited number of b2b sales leads. It’s quite the opposite. In fact, once you’ve mastered how to identify the characteristics of your current niche, you can start expanding your marketing plans to encompass another niche as long as it still benefits from your products and services. An expert b2b lead generation firm will help you improve your business by providing good b2b sales leads through well-targeted niche marketing.

image of an exhibit and a setting of a magazine display

Generating Leads From Trade Shows and Magazines

July 2, 2009/in Lead Generation /by admin

Anyone who runs their own business can tell you how challenging it is to generate business leads on a consistent basis. Finding good leads and generating more sales is vital to the long term growth of any business.

As any job seeker can tell you, networking generates far more job offers than simply reading the want ads each morning. The same is true of business leads. Networking with your peers is likely to generate far more business leads then putting an ad in your local newspaper. That is because of the exponential nature of the social and business network.

Say you tell five associates about your great new business. Each of those five associates tells five of their friends and associates, and so on and so on. You can see how quickly your circle can expand. Word of mouth advertising is the most cost effective advertising of all. It’s free and it can generate an exceptional amount of interest in your business

Trade shows are another excellent source of business leads. Trade shows take the networking concept a step further by gathering together executives and business owners for a common purpose. Trade shows can focus on a specific industry or a specific market. For instance, we have a trade show here each fall to which all the local businesses are invited. This provides an excellent opportunity for business executives and small business owners to meet each other and discuss their products and services. This show generates excellent business to business leads year in and year out
Industry specific trade shows are an excellent source of business leads as well. For instance, the computer industry holds many trade shows throughout the year, including the well known extravaganza in Las Vegas each year. By concentrating on one industry, the vendors know they will be able to generate good business leads among an audience that is already interested in the product or service they provide. This focus can eliminate a lot of the wasted effort that often accompanies efforts in business lead generation.

Trade magazines can be another excellent source of business leads. Unlike advertising in your local newspaper, or general purpose magazine, trade magazines are focused in on a specific industry. Trade magazines are generally read only by those involved in that industry. Believe me when I say it – no one reads Network Computing for fun. By advertising in a trade industry journal or magazine, you can be assured of reaching a targeted audience for a reasonable price. There are a number of trade industry journals, both online and offline. Check their circulation rates to make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck

Being flexible, creative and friendly goes a long way when searching for business leads. Be creative, think of things the other guy has not. Tell the people you meet every day about your business. Try b2b telemarketing services. The more you get the word out about your business, the more business leads you are bound to generate. Always strive to be the best in everything you do. Your drive and determination will help you stay a step ahead of the competition.

Growing Your Sales Pipeline: Part 2 – Converting New Business Leads

June 28, 2009/in Lead Generation /by Dara Lin

In a another post, we went over a handful of sales prospecting tips that top-performing Australian B2B marketers put into practice. Today, we’ll focus on the next crucial step in achieving pipeline growth: converting new business leads into opportunities and customers.

To recap, recent research findings about the B2B marketing space in Australia (such as Green Hat’s 2018 B2B Marketing Report) reveal what highly-effective marketers tend to do differently. Based on these results, we’ve identified 10 pipeline growth strategies that drive the performance of best-in-class marketers:

Document your marketing strategy the right way
Work with TIDY marketing data
Meet prospects where they actually are
Focus on conversations, not just content
Don’t do what everyone else is doing, unless…
Always be selling the next step
Help prospects find and use information faster
Bake CX into your marketing DNA
Separate the signal from the noise in your metrics
Align, by all means, align

We’ve already talked about the first five points in detail in the previous post. We now turn our attention to the five other remaining pipeline growth ideas, which relate to lead conversion.

Always be selling the next step

Best-in-class marketers understand that today’s buying process is a marathon, not a sprint. That’s why they’re twice more likely to have a lead nurturing strategy and process in place compared to average marketers. Keep in mind that the most effective lead nurturing programs produce 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost.

If you took the time to clearly document your lead generation strategy, then it’s going to be much easier for you to outline the steps in the nurturing process.

Marketing MO recommends going over these questions to define your buyer’s purchase journey (which you can then use to create your lead nurture path):

When do buyers realize that they need help with a problem?
What do buyers do to find potential solutions?
How do buyers decide which solutions and vendors to evaluate further?
What information do buyers need in order to make a decision?
Who else from the buyer’s organization will be involved in the decision?
How long will it take for the buyer to make a decision?

Help prospects find and use information faster

As B2B buyers control more and more of the purchase process, they need to quickly access the right information at the right time to help them move along the buying journey. Faced with an ocean of content and collaterals, buyers tend to prefer potential vendors that can help them easily find what they need.

Research from Aberdeen shows that targeting users with content relevant to their buying stage yields 72% higher conversion rates. At the same time, DemandGen Report finds that bundling lead nurturing content within a resource hub results in 400% increase in lead-to-pipeline ratio.

All this points to the fact that, not only does content need to be relevant to the buyer’s position along the purchase journey, it also needs to be easily within reach.

Here’s how to help prospects gain access to what they’re looking for:

At each step in the purchase journey, what information or tool can you provide to help meet the needs of potential buyers?
Can you assign persons from your team to be involved at each stage?
Does your experience with past prospects help you identify how to shorten the time leads spend at each stage?

Bake CX into your marketing DNA

When it comes to converting new business leads, best-in-class marketers understand the value of optimizing customer experience (CX). In fact, this is a clear point of distinction between top-performing marketers and the rest of their peers.

According to Green Hat’s survey of Australian B2B marketers, around 48% of overall respondents have implemented customer journey mapping and developed personas, while 50% are targeting specific segments. By comparison, 67% of respondents classified as best-in-class have already undertaken customer journey mapping, and 74% are personalizing content.

Part of the reason for this difference in the level of CX focus is the multi-channel nature of the customer buying process. This is why a full 95% of B2B marketers find optimizing CX very challenging.

As PWC notes, buyers expect these four key qualities in any CX effort: speed, convenience, knowledgeable help, and friendliness. This is even more important now that 46% of B2B researchers and decision makers are millennials.

B2BMarketing.net lays out the specific steps in order to make CX a seamless part of your lead generation process:

Audit your lead conversion process and set metrics for success at each touch point
Plan for every stage in the customer life cycle, from acquisition to retention
Make sure your marketing team (and only your marketing team) owns CX
Get everyone’s buy-in and understanding
Leverage influencers and customer champions
Listen and respond to feedback

Separate the signal from the noise in your metrics

Highly effective marketers also excel at another crucial ability that their peers struggle with: measuring what matters.

As Bizible mentions, while both best-in-class and average marketers have largely the same marketing priorities, they differ in how they use marketing metrics. Top-performing marketers are 10% more likely to point to down-funnel metrics such as lead-to-opportunity, pipeline growth, revenue, ROI, etc. as gauges of their performance.

Best-in-class marketers are also more likely to claim they can reliably measure marketing results. Green Hat finds that 95% of top-performing marketers measure overall marketing ROI to some degree. In addition, almost 3 out of 4 highly effective marketers can accurately measure lead conversion and pipeline performance, 2 out of 3 can measure sales lead follow-up and more than half can measure campaign attribution.

One pressing reason why average marketers struggle with marketing measurement is that they tend to be inundated by an overwhelming amount of data. With so many data points to monitor and analyze, it can be hard to separate the signal from the noise.

An article from Forbes breaks down the steps to help you analyze marketing data more effectively:

Start with clear objectives
Assess the quality of data
Answer specific questions
Acknowledge and correct possible biases
Analyze data in context
Apply the right data visualization
Organize and crunch the numbers using a reliable tool
Assign the right person to the data analytics role

Align, by all means, align

Among the things we’ve mentioned so far, it’s the ability to align sales and marketing that starkly contrasts top-performing marketers with the rest of the pack.

Bizible uncovers a correlation between high marketing performance and marketing-sales alignment. Top-performing marketers are more likely to rate their sales-marketing alignment highly than average marketers.

Green Hat also observes a similar relationship between marketing performance and the degree of marketing-sales alignment. According to their study, sales-marketing alignment is the B2B area that sharply differs between best-in-class and average marketers.

Sales and marketing alignment is a core element of pipeline growth. With alignment, more leads are converted and followed up by sales, and both sales and marketing share a unified view of the prospect’s purchase process.

For alignment to happen, the following five areas need to be covered:

Shared goals and KPIs
Mutual lead management process
Common lead definition
Clear service-level agreements (SLAs)
Open communications and regular collaboration

Conclusion: Now that we’ve seen what top-performing B2B marketers do to get the most from their marketing programs and campaigns, it’s time to put these ideas into practice. Building and growing your sales pipeline is all about finding the right approach to capture sales prospects and convert new business leads. Hopefully, the things we’ve covered in this series can point you toward that direction.

The Secrets To Sales Lead Generation Online

June 18, 2009/in Lead Generation /by admin

Generating a sales lead is a fundamental part of sales lead generation. A sales lead is not yet a sale. It is purely an indication that a potential customer has expressed an interest in your product. You now need to set about convincing them that you are the right business for them to buy from and that you will solve their problems. Most companies that buy in sales leads typically tend to approach a potential customer by selling to them. This is will not work in 99.9% of the time. The golden rule is to ensure you give value first then offer the lead an opportunity to think things over, then re approach them and offer them something of value to buy from you.

Remember that price is not everything. If you offer services, reviews, help and advice that your competitor doesn’t then you need to make this clear to your customer. A great way to do this is to offer your sales lead a special report. This report will contain all the vital information about buying from you and also give them plenty of practical and helpful advice about what to look for, what to choose, and how to get the best out of the product.

The simple way to write a special report is to write down five things that are unique about your product or service. You can then expand on this by adding some general observations about what your competitors are not doing and you are. Once you have this complete you will need to decide on a title. I would recommend naming the report “Five Secrets To….” This type of title gets the interest of the visitor and is likely that they will take action and sign up for your report. Simple. You now just have developed your own sales lead!

This method warms the sales lead up from just a lead to a probable sale. With technology today it is simple to put this entire business lead generation process on autopilot using an auto responder. The auto responder will send out messages or reports in the order you select without you lifting a finger 24/7 365 days a year.

You want to look professional in the eyes of your potential sales lead so need should invest in one of the many auto responder services there are on the market. There are those that are cheap and deliver messages promptly and professionally. They also allow you to add custom fields to collect more data about you sales lead on the name capture page that you need to create for your website.

How does your website currently generate sales leads? Chances are you have a simple contact us or request for more information form that you get visitors to use. If you are using this you need to change the way you capture data to ensure your website generates the right type of sales leads you need.

It is vital that you place your lead generation services form on the main page of entry; this is usually your index or home page. By doing this you are filtering the visitors to see their level of interest. We want to find the visitors who are interested in learning more about us, our product and how we can help them. If we do not capture their attention then we know that they will visit another site, as we have not satisfied their needs.

Business lead generation is a cost effective way to improve your website and turn your business into a 24 hour marketing machine for your business. Use auto responders to capture full sets of visitor data to ensure your online sales lead generation is high profitable and successful.

The best thing about this method is that whilst it might take some time to set up the auto responder, write the report and convert it to a pdf, it will work for you forever developing sales leads into sales using this simple yet powerful tactic for your lead generation campaigns.