How to Become a B2B Lead Generation Master

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Want to Achieve Your Revenue Goals? Learn These 7 Things

Most B2B companies are successful only to the degree they are able to generate qualified sales leads. So why is lead generation such a mysterious subject to so many? Considering the stakes, it behooves you to take lead generation seriously and become a master. At Fusion Marketing Partners, we see a full range of marketing practitioners ranging from novices (grasshoppers) to masters.

So what does a master know, and what actions do they take, that separate them from the amateurs? Here are a few of the more important factors:

  1. They understand their target audience. I mean really understand them, in terms of:
    • Who they are: titles, industries, gender, education level, etc.
    • What they care about: motivations, business drivers, etc.
    • What they read and listen to: where they go to find useful business information
    • Why they choose to do business with one company and not another
  2. Based on this in-depth knowledge of the target audience, they create offers that are:
    • Compelling
    • Timely
    • Relevant
    • Easy to respond to
  3. They operate on metrics that are aggressive, yet realistic and obtainable. As such, they have a good handle on how much it costs to generate an inquiry, a lead, an opportunity and a new customer acquisition. Most often, lead generation masters are tightly aligned with sales and have a service level agreement in place.
  4. They know how to communicate to their prospects and motivate them to action in language that is clear, compelling and targeted.
  5. There is a strong call to action in all their outbound communications. Even social media tools like Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs can generate sales leads if there is a call to action.
  6. They stay up to date on most/all of the relevant lead generation media and techniques, and are always looking for the next way to boost effectiveness. Whenever possible, pull marketing is replacing push marketing as a strategy.
  7. Masters understand that lead qualification and lead nurturing are as important as lead generation. They are committed to building an opt-in database of potential future purchasers and reap the benefits of low-cost, highly-qualified B2B leads.

As with everything else in life, mastery in lead generation does not come easy. Lead generation is both an art and a skill, and there is always something new to learn. (Just consider the overwhelming number of new online and social media.) The good news is that all your efforts in learning and applying these seven principles will be well rewarded. Lead generation masters are seldom out of a job, and smart companies will reward them handsomely. In fact, becoming a lead generation master is a great path to the chief marketing officer (CMO) position, or even the CEO chair. We talk about this subject quite often at our Great B2B Marketing website. Come join the discussion.

Republished with author's permission from original post.

Christopher Ryan
Christopher Ryan is CEO of Fusion Marketing Partners, a B2B marketing consulting firm and interim/fractional CMO. He blogs at Great B2B Marketing and you can follow him at Google+. Chris has 25 years of marketing, technology, and senior management experience. As a marketing executive and services provider, Chris has created and executed numerous programs that build market awareness, drive lead generation and increase revenue.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Great advice! I’d love to see this flushed out into a whole guide that includes tools, techniques and practical examples for each!

    The only thing I see missing is content. Content is the key in establishing credibility and gaining trust. Although these are things only discussed in business development and relationship building, they certainly have their place in lead gen too. You can mix the two clerverly.

    I think every bit of marketing should contain something that makes people think, “Really? Wow, I didn’t know that”….or, “That’s good to know…”. You can always follow that with a call to action and custom landing page for metrics.

    Example (making these facts up):
    99% of email providers don’t offer video options
    85% of email platforms don’t offer any metrics beyond open rates
    92% of email providers don’t help you score

    Want to know what else your probably missing?
    visit – http://www.KnowYourEmail.com
    The first 100 to enter their email will receive a password for the beta version of EMAILXPRESS which can do all the above and then some!

    (content + marketing + metrics + call 2 action)

  2. Points 2, 4, and 5 really got me thinking. How many times have we feverishly worked with our team to push out customer-facing collateral on deadline and completely forgotten to make sure we adhere to these important marketing basics? Maybe I should tattoo this on my forehead. Maybe everybody should. Good post, Chris.

  3. Nice write up Chris!

    LinkedIn has become my go2 for getting some talking points. My targets haven’t really adopted Twitter, which would be awesome to get some sense as to what is going on inside the head of the prospect.

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