B2B sales can feel like a constant battle. The relentless hunt for new, quality leads to fill your pipeline is a non-stop process. You’re fighting to hit climbing quotas with limited time and resources. Getting prospects to return your calls, emails, and LinkedIn messages is a daily struggle. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and start […]
B2B sales can feel like a constant battle.
The relentless hunt for new, quality leads to fill your pipeline is a non-stop process. You’re fighting to hit climbing quotas with limited time and resources. Getting prospects to return your calls, emails, and LinkedIn messages is a daily struggle.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed and start throwing strategies at the wall to see what sticks.
But there is a better way.
With optimized, repeatable processes, you can turn yourself into an efficient lead-generation engine.
Becoming a lean, mean, lead-generation machine
Sales pros are being asked to do more with less. It sounds like a big ask, but with the right strategy you can increase your efficiency with scaleable processes.
You don’t have time to waste on activities that don’t drive results, so instead follow these steps to boost the quantity– and quality–of your leads.
1. Make inbound leads actionable
Having “lead magnet” content is only half the battle when it comes to generating inbound leads you can turn into sales. Generally, when people are filling out a form to download content or ask for a demo, they’re put in as little information as possible. And if those leads came from a trade show, you might have even less info.
Sure, these leads are warm – they’ve indicated interest in your product, haven’t they? But they might not actually be a good fit for what you’re selling. Chasing those irrelevant leads is just going to waste time you could be spending nurturing leads that are more likely to buy.
That’s where data enrichment comes in. Using a tool like Lusha’s Enrich, you can take the information in your CRM (or CSV doc) and squeeze more out of the little you receive from inbound leads. With just a name and email address, you’ll get more info like company size, revenue, and location that can help you qualify those leads based on your ICP.
2. Identify “trigger events” and other buying signals
Just because someone fits your ICP, it doesn’t mean it’s a good time to contact them. Save time on wasted efforts by figuring out what “trigger events” turn someone from just an ICP fit to a prospect.
Company events like new funding or leadership changes can indicate potential upcoming opportunities. Use Lusha’s funding filter to identify companies in your ICP who’ve recently received funding – chances are, they’re going to be ready to spend it soon. And when you’re looking at potential prospects based on job title, use the job change filter to find leaders who are new to their role. They’re likely to be working on new initiatives and open to your pitch.
In addition to figuring out those events that can trigger a desire to purchase, you can also pull out a secret weapon that gives you a glimpse into a company’s potential readiness to buy, even without the presence of more obvious triggers – Intent. Lusha’s intent data combines a bunch of signals companies leave when they’re researching a solution. Prioritize companies with high or rising intent scores – it means actively researching solutions you can provide.
3. Renew abandoned opportunities
Lead generation isn’t just about finding new contacts. It’s about finding opportunities wherever you can – including with contacts already in your CRM.
Here’s how you do it: find old, abandoned opportunities in your CRM. Think at least 6 months old, depending on the length of your average sales cycle. You can even revisit churned customers or closed/lost deals, especially if your solution has changed since you last talked to them.
Then use data enrichment to make sure everything is up-to-date: relevant contacts based on job position, phone numbers, etc. That way, you make sure you’re reaching out to the right person. Plus, any significant changes can give you extra leverage when you reopen the conversation. Maybe your champion end-user has been promoted to a decision-maker. Or maybe a previous decision-maker who said no has left the job, meaning you can start fresh.
With data enrichment, old leads are new again – and you’ve got a quick way to revitalize your pipeline.
4. Leverage existing contacts
Some of your best resources are the customers you already have. If you want to find new leads, ask the one’s who’ve successfully converted. 91% of customers would be willing to give referrals, but it’s an untapped resource – only 11% of salespeople ask for them.
And if you have a new product to sell, your existing customers should be first on your lead list. Compared to brand-new leads, your existing customers are 50% more likely to try a new product from you and 31% more likely to have a higher order value.
How do you know which customers might be open to an upsell or cross-sell opportunity? You can always ask during regular check-ins and renewal conversations, but you can also get a hint with intent data. Keep an eye on your current customer base and look out for rising intent scores on topics related to offerings. Are there any client companies with surging scores for a topic related to something you offer but they don’t currently buy from you? That’s an opportunity for you to pitch account expansion to them.
5. Use the right technology
The lead generation tools you use can take you to new heights of efficiency – or drag you down with cumbersome processes.
It’s a given that you need to use tools that will help you identify accounts and prospects, automate your outreach, and simplify follow-up. But not all sales tools are created equal.
Some of them can be unwieldy and unintuitive. If it takes you just as long to figure out how to use the tool as it does to find prospects, then is it really saving you time? As you select your lead generation and nurturing tools, don’t just look into what they can do. Also consider what the onboarding process looks like and how steep the learning curve is.
Take Lusha as an example: we’re intuitive and easy to use, and a whole team can be up and running on our platform in minutes. It’s free to start using our prospecting platform and go-anywhere extension. And you can add any contacts you find right to an automated email cadence. Plus, we integrate with all your favorite tools – another must for efficient lead generation.
Step 1 of becoming a lean, mean, lead-generation machine? Starting with Lusha for free. Sign up today!
