The Next Best Thing in Lead Generation—3 of the Best Strategies for B2B Lead Generation

If you’re one of those people new in the marketing field, you will know that the jargon can sometimes get confusing. But don’t fear. There’s hope for us all and it has been staring us in the face all this time.

The original B2B marketing has a new name and it’s called Human-2-Human (H2H) lead generation. Yes, you read correctly. Why is this approach important? Because we’re all humans and your lead generation includes humans, not machines…at least until the robots take over in the future!

Do you want to use the right approach with sales campaigns and enjoy high ROI?

With changes in many industries, needs in business are changing. And we need to shift with the times. For one thing, people and businesses are looking for personal connections in a world that has become clinical and disconnected.

Can you meet their needs?

In this article we’ll touch on the three best strategies in generating quality leads. This will be your first human look into the maelstrom of information out there. Allay some of your fears that come with the pressure of taking those leads and turning them into sales.

Select Your Audience Carefully
You’re probably aware of the nuisance of taking calls from random sales people. It always happens when you’re in the middle of something, right? And more often than not it’s not relevant to your needs.

So, are you sure you’re not causing this same frustration with your audience?

Firstly, realise that people don’t buy from a business, they buy from people. Telemarketing, appointment setting with face-to-face meetings (you can book meeting rooms if you don’t have one),  live online demos and conference calls: there is no better way than to sell a product visually and even better, in person. So, use the tools you have. It works!

But it’s of no use if you picked the wrong audience.

How do you select the right audience?

– Learn what’s important to your audience
– Speak your audience’s language
– Know your organic keywords
– Know when to retarget
– Know your audience’s characteristics: age, gender, occupation, life stage

Consider that random sales person who calls you in the middle of the day: did he or she take any time to get to know you? Or are you merely another name on another database?

You need to show your leads that you care about more than the sale. A call should be about learning more about the lead. Let’s bring humanity back into sales!

Select Your Most Ideal Output—Social Media, Blogs and More

Content is fire. Social media is gasoline.

You know the power of social media. Just think of trending content about all subjects ranging from missing persons to the latest trends in fashion. And don’t forget food! You have this tool that can reach the whole world at once!

If you’re not using this tool yet, it’s time to stop fearing change.

The Human 2 Human interchange is also apparent when it comes to social media and digital marketing such as blogs. Make yourself seem more familiar by posting personal content.

Companies that blog record that they enjoy a massive 67% more leads than those who don’t blog. By sharing opinions, tips and information, blogging is your representation of your brand to the outside world and makes your website less clinical and more familiar.

Qualified Leads—The Only Way

It’s one thing to get a lead, call the lead and make a lasting impression. It will hopefully result in an informative email to the prospective customer. Thereafter either a face-to-face meeting or live demo if the lead becomes interested.

Qualifying leads takes it one step further. It ensures a quality, verified lead followed by additional efforts to ensure the product received fair exposure. To the prospective customer it gives a number of opportunities to address his or her needs and fears, if any.

Therein lies the human factor in B2B lead generating. Qualifying leads ensures that sales teams don’t waste their time on futile telemarketing with leads that aren’t really interested or aren’t ready to commit to a sale. Convincing them should happen during the qualifying stage and can be done in a group action by the marketing team, customer service and the sales team.

During qualifying, you focus attention on getting to know the customers over time via calls, emails and live interaction. This makes your customer feel like family before he or she has even signed on the dotted line.

Their individual needs must be fully understood before the qualified lead is handed over for further action by the sales team only. Your company will seem less clinical and you may get a long term, loyal customer because you recognised someone’s real needs.

In Closing

Do you have some ideas to get started with a more humane approach to marketing now? This applies to B2C and B2B marketing because you’ll always have a human on the receiving end of your messages.

These strategies can be amended according to the product and customer. How will you implement these tips to ensure more sales?