Sales organizations have a lot of people working together to increase efficiency. Every member of the sales team contributes, from business development personnel to account executives.
Of all the sales roles available, the most crucial to a company’s success is the lead generator. This person is responsible for attracting buyers into the company’s market and nurturing them. Companies may have lead generation staff in-house or outsource to a third party company. The goal is to attract and retain target customers while maintaining a pipeline of qualified leads.
The truth is that not all lead generation efforts are successful. You need to be able to spot if a more reliable, better strategy is needed.
How is my Lead Generation Looking?
Not sure if your lead gen techniques need to be re-tuned? Take a look at our checklist. If any of the above scenarios sounds familiar, your sales team should re-evaluate their approach to lead generation and adopt a more efficient one.
Not Enough Organic Leads
The goal of lead generation is to attract target customers and nurture them through the sales process. You can’t build a pipeline without the right leads. Although you can invest in paid advertising campaigns to generate buzz for your site and drive prospects to it, that is not always a guarantee of the right traffic for your business. Lead generators should concentrate on driving organic traffic via inbound marketing and search engine optimization. Two reasons are there for this. One, organic traffic is free. It takes only a keyword-optimized site and some quality content to attract qualified, in-market leads. Organic traffic also tends to attract more customers with purchase intent. This is because the company doesn’t push hard sales and instead focuses more on showing value and building trust with customers. This strategy is beneficial for many reasons. It allows sales teams to convert without spending too much, and customers who are satisfied can increase organic traffic through word of mouth.
You might need to update your lead generation strategy if you don’t attract enough organic leads.
Increased Spend, Rising Costs
If sales and marketing spending seems to be growing by the day, it’s not a good sign. Especially if there is no ROI. It is true that marketing content must be relevant and appealing to target customers. However, it is important to monitor the results of these marketing efforts to see if they actually work. Some companies attempt to balance the scale by cutting sales staff. However, that doesn’t solve the problem. In fact, it only helps to manage budget constraints while not actually solving the problem, which is operational inefficiency.
Instead, sales teams should work together to create a more efficient sales process. Sales teams can avoid pitfalls and reduce wasteful spending by identifying potential pitfalls. They also have the ability to identify more efficient ways to drive quality leads. This will allow them to strategize more cost-effective strategies while reducing their expenditures.
A third-party lead generation company can be used to increase quality leads by generating high-quality leads using predictive analysis, content syndication and other data driven solutions. The responsibility for finding customers who are ready to convert is shared by these lead generation partners. This frees up time for sales reps and allows them to close more deals.
You might want to consider a partner or better plan if your lead generation efforts are making a significant impact on your sales and marketing budgets).
Inefficient, Longer Than Average Sales Cycles
B2B sales cycles are typically longer and more complex than those of B2C companies. B2B sales departments often adopt a strategic approach in lead generation. They work closely with marketing staff to design tactical nurturing processes that can be both effective and efficient. Companies that have a strategic approach to lead nurturing report a 20% increase on sales opportunities.
It is not possible for every B2B company to have a tried-and true lead gen process. This makes keeping pipelines full of potential buyers difficult. Organizations can waste time by doubling their efforts and resulting in a longer, but often less successful, sales cycle. Market Sherpa has shown that 79% marketing-qualified leads fail to convert due to poor nurturing efforts.
You might want to consider a new lead gen strategy if your sales cycle seems to be getting longer due to operational inefficiencies.
Summary
Lead generation is an essential stage in any sales campaign. A well-oiled, coordinated sales team must prioritize lead generation efforts and ensure efficiency from start to finish. A lack of a strong lead generation strategy can cause sales opportunities to plummet and sales cycles to grow longer. Revenue also suffers.
A temperature check is a good way to prevent this.
- Do my sales efforts generate enough organic traffic to be effective?
- What proportion of sales spend is converted?
- Is the alignment between marketing and sales optimal for lead nurturing?
- Do I have enough purchase-intent potential in my pipeline?
If you don’t answer any of the questions, it’s likely that your sales team needs some reorganization and better lead generation strategies. To drive growth and scale, lead generation should be considered a separate function within the sales process.
