32 Best Practices for Generating B2B Sales Leads

B2B sales leads are qualified prospects who can be contacted and sold to by salespeople. Lead generation is difficult, and it can take a long time to convert these prospects into clients. In the right hands, it can make a significant difference to your business and help you beat your competition.

The quality of sales leads is one of the most important factors to consider. You will only end up spinning your wheels if you increase the volume without qualifying the leads. A business makes 20% more income if it can increase its volume of leads by 20% without reducing its quality.

It is difficult to generate B2B leads. Lead generation is the top challenge for 85% of B2B marketers.

To generate as many new B2B sales leads as possible, here are some of the best account-based strategies.

1. Speak To As Many People As You Can

It is dangerous to rely entirely on your website, blog posts, or videos to get leads for your business. In sales, building relationships is key; you want to have as many real conversations as possible with your prospects.

If a lead emails you about a feature, don’t just link them to your website. Respond to their question and offer to call them or video call them to walk them through the feature’s functionality.

2. Identify Business Contacts Who Are Relevant To Your Project

To generate new B2B sales leads, it is essential to generate a targeted list of B2B leads. Using cold emails, you can reach out to a large number of potential buyers easily.

Unfortunately, not all lead databases are created equal. In many databases, you will find:

• Inaccurate or outdated information

• Job titles, company sizes, locations, and industries that don’t match your target

• Your CRM’s existing leads

• A lead that is already a customer

3. Send Cold Emails to B2B Sales Leads

Personalize your cold emails with merge tags and customize them. Your emails will look completely personalized to each lead when you use merge tags to replace the first name or company name in each one. Getting a response from the recipient is more likely with an email that is targeted and personalized.

4. Make Warm Phone Calls

A cold call is a call you make to a prospective customer that you are not familiar with and have never spoken with before. In warm calling, you contact someone who has heard about you in the past. It is possible to achieve excellent results with warm calling if it is done correctly. This approach will be discussed in detail here.

5. Nurture B2B Sales Leads With Marketing Automation

You can segment customers using marketing automation programs once you have collected email addresses so that you can target specific messages to them for conversion. Similarly, Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) can be converted from leads in the marketing funnel.

A good outbound automation tool will enable you to send personalized emails to leads at scale and nurture them into SQLs.

6. Make Your Website Live By Adding A Live Chat Feature

Customer support questions are most often answered via live chat, according to studies.

You can engage with your customers immediately using live chat tools like Intercom and Drift. More B2B sales leads can be generated if you collect and nurture email addresses as well.

7. Embed A Promotion In Your Email Signature

Your email signature should include a link to a promotion for relevant content on your site. Adding a link to your landing page will increase your sales leads and provide valuable information at the same time.

8. Become Part Of Relevant Social Media Groups

Reaching and engaging with more leads is made easier by participating in relevant Facebook and LinkedIn groups. Introduce yourself by asking an interesting question and offering your unique insight in response to comments.

9. Add Your Company To Directories

B2B companies need to be listed in online software directories if they sell products or services. By doing this, you’ll be able to attract leads who are searching for similar products to yours.

Here are a few online directories:

• G2Crowd

• Capterra

• GetApp

• CabinetM

• Software Advice

• SaaS Genius

10. Generate More Leads With Online Forums

It is an excellent way to meet new leads and get to know your existing customers better through industry forums. Showcase your expertise and build trust by sharing your views and answering questions.

11. Take Part In Q&A Websites By Answering Relevant Questions

New sales leads can be found on websites such as Quora. By finding the right questions and answering them, you can reach potential customers. Your customers should be seeking solutions to the same problems that your service solves. Identify relevant questions for your business by researching existing ones.

12. Increase Your Online Reviews

Before making a purchase, 87% of B2B decision-makers look online for honest reviews. You can likely generate more sales leads if you have customers who leave good reviews. The most likely customers to give good reviews are those with a high NPS score.

13. Make Use Of Facebook Or Twitter Lead Generation Ads

You can collect email addresses through Facebook and Twitter lead-generation ads. If you promote different types of content, your results may vary.

To capture email signup information from your social media visitors, send them to specific landing pages. Another way to get email addresses is to allow people to subscribe to your newsletter on your Facebook page.

14. Increase Website Traffic With Google Adwords

Traffic can be increased through paid ads, but depending on your industry and competition, it can be tricky and expensive. Take a look at the user intent and keyword search volume to determine which B2B sales leads to target.

15. Remarket To Visitors To Re-Engage Them

To remarket/retarget your past visitors, you can use remarketing/retargeting tools. A visitor can see a case study about what they read if they land on a specific page. A subscription to an email list that offers more information could also be advertised.

16. Improve Website Traffic With Seo

You can increase your website’s search engine ranking by using search engine optimization (SEO). When people search for your service or product, you should target the keywords they use. It is possible to increase sales leads from SEO by setting up lead capture on a page.

To rank well with low-quality content, you should not try to hack Google’s algorithms. You should instead focus on creating great content since Google search is always improving.

Building good backlinks will help you increase your SEO rank by providing insights and answering questions your sales leads may have. In addition to understanding which keywords are important, you should create content related to them.

These tools will help you optimize your website for search engines:

• Serpstat

• Screaming Frog

• Hit Tail

• Ahrefs

• SEO book

• Google Search Console

• Google Analytics

• Moz

• Scrape Box

17. Create A Landing Page That Is Optimized For Your Website.

To get the most out of keyword searches or Google advertisements, the landing page should be unique. There should be a solution on every landing page that the visitor is looking for.

To increase sales leads, conversion optimization, such as a call to action (CTA), is essential. An eBook can be given away free of charge if the visitor leaves their name, email address, and phone number.

You will not increase your SEO ranking by using a third-party landing page, so host your landing pages on your server to ensure traffic goes directly to your site.

18. Generate More B2B Sales Leads By Blogging Or Sending A Newsletter

The content of blogs and newsletters should be rich and interesting so that readers will want to read them. In addition to generating sales leads, you can also build backlinks when you post on other websites with a high-quality blog. Your existing customers can be kept in the loop by creating a newsletter.

19. Use Webinars To Generate More Leads

A webinar is an online conference where a presenter discusses a relevant topic with an audience. Slideshows or interviews are most commonly used for webinars.

The following tools are commonly used in webinars:

• Cisco WebEx

• Webinato

• ClickWebinar

• GoToWebinar

• BrightTalk

20. Improve Sales Leads By Using E-Books

Sales leads can benefit from an eBook if it offers useful content and displays your expertise. When visitors download the eBook, ask for their email addresses so your sales team can contact them.

21. For Your Blog, Interview Decision-Makers And Influencers

Interview decision-makers for your blog, eBook, or guest post. You should ask unique questions to allow them to share their expertise. As a result, you will be able to build your network and showcase your expertise to other sales leads.

22. Leads Can Be Grown By Using White Papers

Visitors to a website or business can be attracted by white papers. It is possible to generate interest from future clients by creating a report or guide on a particular subject.

23. Use Another’s Audience By Guest Posting

The best way to reach new audiences is to share relevant content on other blogs.

You can outsource your work to freelancers if you don’t have time. Bloggers and other publications often hire freelancers to ghostwrite and pitch articles. You should, however, give them very specific guidelines and review the content to ensure that your brand’s tone is maintained.

You can quickly reach out to influencers by using tools such as justreachout.io.

24. Generate Leads With Press Releases

It will help you generate more leads if you issue a press release to drive traffic to your website.

You can find press releases on the following websites:

• Cision

• Business Wire

• Marketwired

• NewsWire

• PR NewsWire

25. Build Your Network Always

People invest in networking for a particular purpose, which is why they do so in general. Establish your goals, such as gaining new contacts, producing new sales leads, or getting invited to exhibitions.

When others can assist them, people respond generously. Help others in creative ways so they will be more willing to help you achieve your goals if you are creative in the ways you help them.

26. Generate Referrals From Current Customers

You can ask your current customers for introductions if you build trust with them. The introduction can be made to another office, vendor, or even another company they know.

27. Get Customer Recommendations And Referrals

Customers may refer your business to friends and peers when they have a positive experience. B2B sales leads are often generated by these customer referrals. Your tool can be promoted more effectively by using the NPS score or similar methods.

According to research, recommendations generate more qualified leads than any other source. To get started with partner, employee, or customer referrals, here are some software solutions:

• Extole

• Incentivit

• Vocal References

• Everfave

• Influitive

• InviteBox

• Invite Referrals

28. Get Introductions Via Linkedin

It is difficult to reach large numbers of people on LinkedIn, which is a huge source of sales leads.

The first step to getting started is to create a free LinkedIn account. You can connect with all your contacts from that place, as well as see who their contacts are connected to. Many users have several hundred connections, which allows them to easily introduce new leads to others.

29. Identify The Unsatisfied Customers Of Your Competitors

You might be able to find a similar product from a competitor. What is the price difference or the performance difference between their solution and yours?  Get in touch.

Find people complaining about their solution on Twitter and contact them directly.

30. Form An Advisory Board

Advisory boards provide businesses with advice and a network of contacts. An advisory board is often used to help tech startups and small businesses succeed.

Members of the most effective organizations are influential and well-connected. Fees or stock options are usually provided in exchange for more sales leads.

31. Participate In Industry Events

Meeting new customers at industry events is a great way to grow your business. As a general guideline, you should follow the following:

Attend events where you will also have a booth and speak. By doing so, you can establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Get contact information from leads, such as email addresses or phone numbers. Renting lead capture equipment is available at many events and trade shows.

Get introductions to new customers by networking with existing customers.

32. Launch Partner Sales Channels

Identify non-competing businesses with similar customer bases. If you are a lawyer, you may have the same clients as accountants or financial planners.

Partner relationships will give you an edge over your competitors in terms of sales leads.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is A B2b Sales Lead?

Prospective B2B customers are people or companies who are interested in doing business with you. To maintain a stable sales pipeline, they are critical to starting the sales process.

Leads are generated when a company or individual expresses interest in your products or services. Creating awareness through lead generation is usually the responsibility of marketing. Prospecting through the Internet and other sources can also generate leads for sales.

What Is The Ideal B2b Sales Lead?

Several attributes influence the purchasing behavior of the ideal customer, including:

• Industry/vertical

• The company’s yearly sales

• Geography

• Marketing Technology

• Job title

• Number of employees

• Website technology

• Currently using a competitor product/service

What Is The Difference Between An Mql Vs. Sql?

Marketing qualified leads (MQLs) are marketing sales leads with a strong likelihood of becoming customers. An MQL is a visitor to your website who shows interest in the content on the site. A person could, for example,:

• Forms can be filled out online

• Receive our newsletter by signing up

• Organize your shopping cart by placing items in it

• Content can be downloaded

A lead score is then assigned to each activity. Marketing and sales use the lead score to determine a customer’s buying stage. The marketing team should nurture a lead who is at the beginning of the buying cycle.

Buying your products is the immediate goal of a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL). MQLs, on the other hand, might need more education and follow-up.

What Are The 3 Types Of Leads?

Leads Can Be Classified Into Three Types:

• A hot lead is someone ready to buy and has the money and budget to close the deal.

• People who are warm leads are those who want to buy, have already done a trial, or are already locked into a contract with a competitor.

• Cold leads are not familiar with who you are, or what you do, or are seeking information alone.

How Can I Create A Great B2b Marketing Campaign?

Lead generation for B2B sales can be accomplished through advertising, cold outreach, and referrals. B2B marketers generate leads for sales teams as their primary responsibility.

To generate qualified sales leads, less savvy marketers may draw attention by using basic tricks.

To generate B2B leads, one must handle the entire selling cycle. As a result, each customer won’t have to be approached from scratch by the sales team.

The following are characteristics of a good campaign:

• It is the list of targets that determines success the most

• Having a compelling and relevant offer is essential

• Choosing the right medium – to reach the intended audience in their preferred way

The effectiveness of single-touch campaigns such as white paper downloads has decreased over time. People who have downloaded information usually don’t want to be contacted by salespeople. That’s not a lead today, that’s a name.

Lead generation is the key to a successful marketing campaign, not simply generating names. By focusing on the following, you can increase lead generation effectiveness:

Multiple channels are used to create campaigns that have many touches

Compelling offers

Your campaign should include a human touch

1. Creating Multi-Touch Campaigns

Implement integrated media campaigns using a variety of channels, including:

• Creating a targeted series of emails that contain relevant information

• A vertical-specific ad campaign to warm up the accounts

• Prospects who have downloaded specific content should be contacted

• Emailing directly (if relevant)

• Multi-touch campaigns take time to develop. 

• Ensure leads convert and ROI are positive by iterating and optimizing over time. 

2. Creating A Compelling Offer

Know what your customers’ pain points are. Make sure to adjust your pitch based on the industry or size of your company. Customizing the pitch to meet the customer’s specific needs is an important part of the sales process.

3. Giving Your Campaign A Human Touch

Building relationships is the key to sales. Prospective clients should be spoken to by your sales reps. After an account is warmed up, one-on-one calls remain effective even if mass calling is past its prime.

When planning your campaign, make sure to work with your sales team as well. Leads are less likely to be ignored by the sales team if they are more involved.

It is important to be resourceful when getting B2B sales leads. It is possible to keep your business growing with B2B leads by experimenting with different account-based strategies.