The Lead Generation Process
This article about the lead generation process is very detailed in outlining the necessary steps for a comprehensive lead generation system. Using a B2B telemarketing service can help with what may seem as the more daunting part of the process making — those necessary outbound phone calls. If you’ve been collecting a lot of leads, It’s Your Call can help with qualifying and scoring them too!
What is the lead generation process?
We know it’s complex!
First off, lead generation costs money. You have to factor in the costs involved in creating content or campaigns to generate leads.
Secondly, it takes time to pay off. How much you spend and what return on investment you’ll see depends on the lead generation strategies and channels you choose.
To cut a long story short:
Lead gen works best when you create an omnichannel lead generation strategy that targets the right audience with the right messaging. It allows customers to engage with your company in ways that work for them.
The lead generation process involves several steps to attract, capture, and convert potential customers.
Here’s an overview of a typical lead generation process:
- Identify your target audience
Start by conducting research to understand your target audience’s needs, preferences, and challenges.
Then develop detailed profiles of your ideal customers. Include elements like demographics, technographics, interests, pain points, and buying behaviours.
Tip! Find out how to find free leads for your business.
- Attract online visitors
In this step, you must create and distribute content that addresses your audience’s needs and interests.
Try a mix of content marketing (blogs, videos, podcasts, eBooks), SEO, social media and pay-per-click.
- Capture your leads
Follow these online strategies for capturing demand:
Create dedicated landing pages for specific campaigns. Include clear and compelling calls-to-action (CTAs).
Use forms on your landing pages, website, and blog to collect contact information from visitors.
Offer valuable resources (also called lead magnets) in exchange for contact details. Examples are eBooks, whitepapers, webinars and free trials.
Implement pop-ups and slide-ins on your website to capture lead generation data.
- Qualify your leads
Lead qualification is a crucial step in the lead gen process. Here, you have to work out if the prospect is right for your company.
There are several ways of qualifying leads:
Ask qualifying questions
The best qualification questions to ask your leads are:
What challenges/pain points are you/your team experiencing?
How urgently do you need to solve these challenges?
What solutions/vendors are you/your team using?
Who is involved in the decision-making process and what steps do they follow?
What budget/financial constraints are you/your team currently working under?
Use a qualifying framework:
BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timing):
Budget: Does the lead have the financial resources to purchase your product or service?
Authority: Does the lead have decision-making power? If not, are they an influencer in the purchasing process?
Need: Does the lead genuinely need your product or service? Can it effectively solve their problem?
Timing: Is the lead ready to make a purchase within a reasonable timeframe?
Score your leads
This is a process where you assign scores to your leads based on their behaviour, engagement, and fit with your ideal customer profile.
There are several lead scoring methods:
Demographic scoring: Assign points based on demographic information, such as job title, industry and company size.
Behavioral scoring: Score leads based on their behavior, such as website visits, email opens, content downloads, and event attendance.
Engagement scoring: Measure the lead’s level of engagement with your brand across various channels.
Fit scoring: Evaluate how well the lead fits your ideal customer profile (ICP).
- Nurture your leads
This step is all about growing relationships with your leads. You must engage and educate them about your product, as well as continually assess their readiness to buy.
Follow these lead nurturing strategies:
Send personalized and relevant emails to engage and educate leads over time.
Set up automated email sequences to guide leads through the sales funnel (this is also known as drip email marketing).
Provide additional valuable content and resources to keep leads engaged and interested.
Continue to engage with leads on social media by sharing relevant content and responding to their interactions.
- Hand off to sales
In this step in the process, marketing transfers qualified leads to the sales team, including all relevant information.
Then, sales representatives follow up with the leads, with the aim of moving them further down the sales funnel.
For this step to work, your sales and marketing teams must be aligned on the lead generation process, especially the qualification criteria.
- Convert your leads
This is what you’ve been waiting for – the conversion stage!
To effectively convert leads, follow this sales process:
Use personalized outreach (calls, emails, meetings) to address leads’ specific needs and concerns.
Offer product demos or free trials that showcase your solution’s value and benefits.
Present proposals and negotiate terms to convert leads into paying customers.
- Analyse and optimise
In this step, you must track lead generation KPIs such as conversion rates, lead quality, and ROI.
It’s a good idea to A/B test different elements of your lead generation process (CTAs, landing pages, email content). That way, you’ll identify what works best.
You should also collect feedback from leads and customers. This can help you improve your lead generation strategies and processes.
Use the data (and the insights you gain from it!) to refine and optimize your lead generation efforts.
- Retention and up sell
Lead generation doesn’t end when leads become loyal customers!
To start with, you must provide an excellent onboarding experience. This ensures that new clients succeed with your product or service.
Make the buying journey smoother by engaging with your customers. Newsletters, product updates and personalised offers are all worth a try.
Finally, don’t neglect upselling and cross-selling! Always be on the lookout to upsell and cross-sell products or services to your existing customers.
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