B2B Lead Generation Tactics For Success

Most reps and marketers search for the silver bullet that’ll increase B2B leads. Unfortunately, such a thing doesn’t exist. Even the experts can’t agree on what the best B2B lead generation strategy, tactic or channel is... I spent 30 years developing these strategies for large financial institutions before founding my own firm to provide this much needed but often misunderstood service. Although they usually need adjustment to be the most productive for different businesses, they can be very successful in your lead generation. I use these exclusively in lead generation for my business and haven't made a "cold call" in years... they're all qualified leads that know me by the time I call.

You know that B2B lead generation is the process used by sales and marketing to turn prospects into live business customers. What are those steps?

Finding B2B leads

The first step towards generating B2B leads is finding the contact information of potential buyers.

This information is often sourced in-house, generated by a third-party “lead gen” company, or bought from a lead database (not advisable for B2B lead generation).

Reaching out to leads

With a list of (hopefully) high-quality leads, reps reach out to leads through cold outreach, social media, or by replying back to inquiries.

Qualifying & prospecting high-quality leads

While interacting with leads, reps measure how likely leads are to buy.

They’ll do this by gauging the stage leads are at during the buying process. These stages include:

1. Research & awareness: The customer is aware of a solution they need, or problem they face, and they begin to learn more about it.

This is the stage where they’ll consume content like blogs, whitepapers, and case studies.

2. Consideration: The lead knows the exact service/product that is needed. He/she will now detail their specific needs before researching and “opening up” to vendors.

3. Decision: Filtering through vendors that best suit their needs, the buyer will have multiple meetings and check-in with other decision-makers to complete a purchase.

Depending on what stage a lead is at, reps will initiate nurturing campaigns or focus on getting the prospect to book a call or demo.

Step 4: Closing leads

Success! After multiple meetings with different vendors, the prospect picks you and the deal is done. They’ll now be transferred to customer success for onboarding.

1. Use Website Visitor Tracking to get B2B leads without email forms

Generating a list of leads is one of the early hurdles of lead generation.

By showing you which companies visit your website, even if they never fill out a form or contact you, We use Leadfeeder, it speeds up the prospecting process.

You will be able to see what landing pages a company was looking at on your site.

You will then be able to find the decision-makers on LinkedIn so your team can follow up.

2. A/B test your pages

With visitors browsing your site you can increase B2B sales by tweaking your homepage.

Split test background images, deliverable content, testimonials and call to action. You'll be surprised by some of your discoveries. A simple color change may dramtically increase results.

3. Stop sending B2B leads to broken pages

404 pages, broken links, and slow loading speed will kill your site’s ability to generate leads.

You get penalized by Google, they cost you organic traffic, and cause visitors to bounce. Try a tool like Screaming Frog to fix this. They have a limited free version. There are several good choices for this.

4. Optimize for mobile

With more buyers on mobile it's important to optimize you site for mobile. It not only makes you look more professional, it also increases conversions.

• 80 percent of B2B buyers are now using mobile at work

• And more than 60 percent of these buyers report that mobile plays a critical role in their purchases.

5. Generate leads with a landing page

When it comes to increasing B2B sales, your landing pages is the most transformative point for your buyer. It sounds counterintuitive but sending prospects to you home page isn't the best way to gather leads. A landing page is where the selling is done. It's like herding cats, prospect want to be shown and told what to do.

1. Back up your copy with social proof.

2. Make your call-to-action (CTA) copy more relevant.

3. Upgrade your headline to catch the attention of buyers.

6. Rate leads to increase sales

70 percent of visitors to your site are not ready to buy.

To increase sales without wasting time, rate the leads that land on your website.

This lets you focus on the few leads who are prepared to buy versus the many who won’t.

7. Give your leads a frictionless experience

Friction is the bumps, barriers, clunky menu, broken button or an image that's too small to see... any experience that visitors encounter on your site that makes it harder to buy or download.

It’s the broken search button, clunky menu, or image that’s way too small to see.

Friction is your enemy.

8. Earn trust with testimonials and social proof

Buyers doubt claims about product/service on websites, but they’ll look for testimonials to make a decision.

The more social proof you on your site, the easier it becomes to build trust and increase sales.

9. Reach high-quality leads with content

Today you'll be hard pressed to find a buyer that doesn't do his homework. Most buyers encounter multiple content pieces on a site before purchasing. I use multiple content pieces on our site, they not only show authority but they're excellent devices to gather emails for your funnel.

10. Create hard-hitting lead magnets and deliverables

A lead magnet is anything that you can offer a prospect that has enough perceived value in exchange for their contact information, like an email address. If you want to create an effective lead magnet, you need to focus on your buyer personas and a specific challenge that they have and that you can address.

• In-depth guides.

• Comprehensive how-tos.

• And detailed case studies.

11. Create “The Ebook” in your industry

Pick one main topic in your industry that’s related to your product or service, then write an extensive guide on it and promote it everywhere.

12. Use an effective email marketing strategy

A strong email marketing strategy is the backbone of B2B lead generation.

Because unlike other lead generation channels, you control how you interact with leads.

And once subscribed, you’re also better equipped to track how leads respond to different sales content and cadences.

Done right, a solid email marketing strategy will help you increase B2B leads “at will.”

13. Pepper opt-in CTAs throughout your content

Calls-to-actions (CTAs) are critical to getting leads to subscribe to your email list.

Get them to generate more leads for you by blending them with your content. Starting with content that gets the most traffic, add a

• Bottom of the post-CTA.

• Built-in CTA. (A CTA that appears mid-content)

• Or sidebar CTA.

This will help you turn hard-earned traffic into permanent leads on your email list.

14. Follow up with B2B leads religiously

Reviewing our outbound sales emails, I've found that email campaigns with 4-7 follow ups had a reply rate of 27 percent. That's 3x higher than those with only 1-3 follow-ups.

If you want to generate more leads from your outbound emails, internalize the follow-up.

15. Create sparkling subject lines

Fail to convince leads to click on your email, and your chances of closing them drop down to zero. To create compelling subject lines that leads will click:

1. Make them short.

2. Trigger curiosity.

3. Personalize whenever possible.

16. Use power words in your emails for persuasive copy

A single word can have a dramatic impact on perception.

Choose your words carefully. Once you’ve written your email, inject vigor into your writing with these evocative power words.

17. Use emojis and to emotionally engage buyers

With so many companies taking a “tight upper-lipped” tone in their messaging, a dash of humor can covey authenticity and fun that gets leads to pay attention. According to Campaign Monitor, businesses using emojis in their emails can see up to a 56 percent increase in their open rates.

18.Fill up your pipeline with a powerful paid advertising strategy

This is where I come in... Abacus Strategic offers the only paid advertising platform that targets your prospect one on one with offline data. Specifically target just the group you want to do business with. It gets you past the "gate keeper" without breaking the bank.

19. Retarget to recapture lost leads

Here’s how it works:

1. A visitor lands on your website.

2. That visitor is then “tagged” by your site with a tracking code.

3. When that person browses elsewhere, ads to your site appear because you’ve tagged them.

4. And, because they’ve already interacted with you, they’re now more likely to revisit your website and buy from you.

Remarketing is a great way to generate B2B leads because buyers will consider multiple vendors. They’ll hop in and out of your funnel in parallel with your competitors.

By reaching back out to leads who’ve drifted away, you create multiple “touchpoints” and inspire them to interact with you again.

Now that you've got the basics...

Take your business lead generation to the next level. Download your complimentary copy today.