Lead generation is one of the most important challenges a business will meet. You can have a fantastic product, with lots of great features, yet if no one knows about it the business will fail. The answer is unvaryingly, build a strategy for the right kind of lead generation.
A beginner’s guide to B2B telemarketing will lay out a few basic things you’ll need to get your lead generation off to the right start, however, if accomplished well, the beginning will fuel not only the start of your lead generation journey, it will help inform your progress forever. Read on to learn more.
Database
It can take time to fully understand the right type of buyer for your products. Often a business starts out as a result of a single key client win, or a solution identified to meet a particular need. In such cases, it’s reasonable to assume similar companies would potentially be the best prospects for lead generation.
A beginner’s guide would suggest that assumption is a good one, but you can test it out before plunging headlong into building a strategy based on one or two existing clients and their habits.
You can test out a small selection of data by purchasing and testing a handful of company records that look like your existing clients. Then broadly check their propensity to convert to sale by speaking with them. This means you basically just call them, find the right decision makers, have a chat with them about your business and how you can help and based on the results of that handful you can go back for more records, or change your profile slightly.
Test
Add the records to your database and use headings to make sure you can select key criteria like location. Test your sample by calling one by one. Rinse and repeat until you are happy that the prospects you’re speaking with are more or less the right kind of organisation. Data can be acquired through a number of specialist B2B suppliers.
The best ones will have an online portal that allows you to carefully select a small handful of records that you can purchase with no minimum order or charge. Choose your records based on sector using SIC codes (standard industry classifications), company turnover bands, geography or whatever you feel is important to you.
You can save your selections so it’s easy to go back and buy more of the same tranche and profile of records, if having tested them, you are happy the records were right for you.
Messaging
The messaging you use to communicate the features and benefits of your product will have a big impact on the success of your lead generation. A beginner’s guide will tell you to pick out the features that define you from the competition.
Who are you, what do you do, how are you special, how can you help organisations, why would they pick you and not someone else, what are your proof points, do you have any unique qualities. All these things will need to be built into a narrative that you pepper your interactions with.
A great tool for building your story is to make a list of all the features separately, then after each feature insert the words ‘which means’ and complete the sentence with why that’s important to the customer.
Outcomes
Don’t expect instant results from your lead generation. A beginner’s guide will tell you to keep great records of your discussions and manage your own expectations. For example, you will not always get through to a decision maker on your first dial. Sometimes you’ll dial many times before you reach them. Don’t use redial. Spread your attempts over several days or weeks and definitely do not leave messages asking them to call you back, they won’t.
When you leave a message for a call back, in effect you’ve handed over the control element for that record. Patience is a virtue, keep trying and when you get through, do hide your relief at having reached them. Use open questions to understand their business and needs, ask for opt-in consent as you go along so you can keep them on your database.
Make an assessment about their needs and if you can help them, find out about their timings and work at their pace. One by one, nurture each relationship so you gradually build a warmer and warmer database full of hungry connections that will have you round the table when there’s a buying decision to be made.
