The Benefits Of Outsourced B2B Lead Generation

Did you know that 61% of marketers say lead generation is their biggest challenge? As a result, marketers spend a large portion of their budget on lead generation, sometimes with little result. Not seeing a return on your company’s investment is discouraging, frustrating, and often detrimental to the financial health of your business.

Thankfully there is a solution that many companies find successful and worth their while. This solution is outsourced B2B lead generation. In this article, we will discuss the when, what, and why. So keep reading to learn everything you need to know to make the best decision for your company!

What Is Outsourced B2B Lead Generation?

First things first, let’s review the term lead generation. If you have a B2B company, you most likely know what this term means. However, if you are starting up, it is important to do some research. Leads are individuals or businesses that are interested in your services or products. But there are also different types of leads.

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

This is the beginning stage of making a sale. However, this lead may not be ready for a sales call. A good example of an MQL is someone who clicks on your ad and shows interest in your product. They will need some more information and time to enter the next stage.

Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)

An SQL is a lead that is not just browsing anymore but is showing definitive interest in your products or services. At this point, it is smart to follow up with the potential client and go the extra mile to make the sale.

Product Qualified Lead (PQL)

A PQL is a person that has tested your product and services and is ready to become a client. Make sure to follow up with these clients to make the sale. Free trials and materials are a great way to generate leads. However, without follow up your company may lose the client if they are on the fence.

Outsourced B2B Lead Generation

Now that we know what a lead is, what types there are, and roughly what to do with each lead, we can discuss what outsourcing is. Outsourced B2B lead generation means an external company takes care of the different types of leads for you.

So what does this look like? A great example is cold calling—an outbound way of generating leads. The company you hire will do the calling for you, and once the potential client is ready to make a sale, the lead will be sent to your sales team. This, however, is shown to be less effective each year.

Studies show that cold calling is only successful 2% of the time versus a warm call with a success rate of 30%. A company that specializes in lead generation gives you the benefit of generating the right leads. Many leads are great, but if your sales team can’t close the deal, it is a waste of money.

Why Outsourced Lead Generation for Your Business?

A company that specializes in getting the results you want is invaluable. However, as you read on, you’ll see that it is also a cost-effective way to set your team up for success.

Let’s dive into why outsourced B2B lead generation is the best way to get sales.

The Best ROI

ROI, or return on investment, is the most important factor in spending any money on marketing. Most large companies can afford to have a large marketing team. However, if you are a small or medium business, the costs of hiring, training, and managing a sales team are costly.

Only 20% of an average sales team meets their quarterly quota. Additionally, the sales industry often has a significant turnover, requiring more resources to train and hire.

Outsourcing your marketing is an excellent solution. You can hire a company for a fraction of the costs of maintaining a large sales team. In addition, because of the expertise of a specialized lead-generating company, you’ll quickly receive better results. Your sales team, in return, can focus on selling and meet the targets of your company.

Increases Exposure

Studies show that a large majority of consumers will choose a brand they are familiar with. People often don’t like change and are hesitant to try a new, or seemingly new, brand to the market. This is the same for B2B marketing. You will have difficulty convincing retailers to put your product in their store if they never heard of you.

Billboards are a great way to increase exposure for consumers, but not so much for B2B scenarios. Outsourcing and consulting a lead-generating company gives you the best marketing strategies to find the correct direction for your company.

Multi-Channel Marketing Campaigns

Managing a multi-channel marketing campaign is overwhelming and frustrating at times. You need an expert in the many different ways to generate inbound leads.

Let’s take social media, for example. Each platform is different and has different users. LinkedIn B2B marketing would require a separate approach from Twitter B2B marketing. So you need a social media guru to run campaigns on social media. But that is just one of the channels to run a campaign?

What about email campaigns? Advertising? Your website? You need an expert in all of these areas to run successful campaigns. Unfortunately, navigating these channels is time-consuming and requires a lot of resources.

Outsourcing your lead generation campaigns gives you the best result in each channel. A good marketing agency knows what avenues to take and can guide you and your team to make the right calls.

Increases Sales Conversions

The expertise that a marketing agency provides helps your team identify qualified leads. We discussed the different types of leads. Some leads are not ready to become a client. They are doing their research or are just browsing. Your team will waste their time contacting these leads. Additionally, you may lose the sale because the client feels they are being spammed.

When your team can identify which leads to contact and communicate with, your potential client feels welcomed instead of annoyed. This leads to better customer service, and ultimately, satisfied clients.

Targets Your ICP and BP

Marketing agencies have a plethora of resources and trained professionals to identify your ICP. An ICP, or Ideal Customer Profile, is a review and report of your clients. This profile helps your team determine what businesses they should target in order to make a sale. This research is essential to choosing the proper channels, marketing, and lead generation techniques.

A BP, or Buyer Persona, is a report that shows buying habits, behavioral patterns, and traits. This report will help your sales team determine the needs of your potential clients.

Your in-house team may not have the resources to build this report. But it is crucial in finding quality leads that ultimately turn into sales. Outsourcing this task can set your team up for success and gives your company the best result.

Opens up New Markets

New markets are necessary to generate new leads. As a company, your goal should be to grow each year and create more revenue. Sometimes, the market you are working in is depleted or has too many competitors.

A marketing agency can help identify new markets, create inbound and outbound leads for those markets, and help you expand your business in new and innovative ways.

More Sales Less Time

As professionals, the outsourced marketing team you hire has a deep understanding of which tactics work and which do not. This results in faster sales from good leads, less time spent on casual browsers, and more time on leads that actually lead to sales.

Additionally, your sales team will spend all of their resources making the sales instead of finding leads. Therefore, dividing up the tasks between outsourcing and in-house leads to more productivity and better results.

Lower Overall Costs

Many businesses feel that outsourcing their B2B lead generating will cost more money.

Perhaps upfront, yes. However, keep in mind that when you have an in-house team, your company needs larger office space, more insurance, payroll costs, provide sick days, and more. That is not to mention the cost of hiring managers, training, HR, and the turn-over you have within your sales team.

When you outsource your marketing, you can eliminate or reduce these costs. Your sales team will do what they do best.

Sets Your Team up for Success

As you can see, there are many excellent benefits to outsourcing your lead generation. First, helping your team provide great results is the best way to support your team. With higher results comes higher morale, less turnover, more profits, and an overall successful business.

When to Outsource Lead Generation?

We mentioned before that large companies often have the resources to hire an in-house marketing team. However, SMB, small and medium businesses, are usually better off outsourcing their marketing campaigns. However, there are some exceptions to the rule.

Using In-House Lead Generation

To generate quality leads, you will need the right resources to become profitable as a business. You will need a full-time team that focuses solely on lead generation.

This team should use inbound methods to generate leads and know which channels they need to use for the best results. Once you have a dedicated team that focuses on inbound marketing, your company has a good chance to become profitable and successful.

Outsourced Lead Generation

Considering the benefits above, you may feel that your team is better off with the support of an outsourced lead-generating firm.

To review some of the reasons why you should hire a marketing firm:

• Not enough resources
• Explore new channels
• Penetrate new markets
• Focus on sales instead of leads
• Your business needs to generate more sales

Hiring a marketing agency whose expertise lay in marketing can result in a life-changing experience for you, your team, and your business.

10 B2B Marketing Tips

Marketing is a tough nut to crack. We all know by personal experience that marketing is key to generating sales.

Think of the last time you bought a new product? Let’s say it was a TV. You did your research and looked at the different specs of each TV. You landed on the size, quality, and model that you were interested in. Then, you noticed that a popular brand offered the same as a brand you never heard of? Which brand did you end up buying?

Even if you do not own any other products of that brand, you likely went with the popular one. This is because marketing is everything. Without proper marketing, your client base will never know what great products you offer or how you can better their lives.

There are essentials to marketing, but a lot of it comes down to the skills of your team or the marketing agency your choose to hire.

1. Research

Research needs to be the foundation of your marketing campaigns. As mentioned above, you need an ICP a BP, but you also need to be aware of what your competitors are doing. In order to stay ahead of the game, you’ll need to look for scientific data and studies.

During your research, you need to evaluate the advantages you have on your competitors and highlight this in your marketing. Listen to what your clients say through surveys and reviews, and discover the weaknesses of your company.

The research will also show you how your company is performing, not only internally but also compared to the rest of the market. Marketing agencies have access to many of these resources and are able to cut the research time exponentially.

2. Explore Your Niche

We’ve heard the saying; less is more. Specializing in a specific area and provide the best product is much better than delivering a mediocre product across many fields.

Just as your sales team specializes in making sales, your products should be similar. However, for your marketing strategies to work, your company needs to be experts in said market and industry. Once you have become a leader in your niche, you can expand into other areas, but often it is best to stay within your niche.

3. A Great Website

As much as we tell ourselves not to judge a book by its cover, we often do. You can say the same about a website and your business. In today’s world, many consumers check out the website before purchasing services or products. B2B scenarios are no different.

Websites are the face of your business, so it goes without saying that you need a high-performing website. What does that entail? A high-performing website first and foremost needs to be user-friendly. Do not frustrate your clients by creating a maze they seemingly cannot escape because they can and will go to your competitor.

Other things to keep in mind to create a high-performing website are:

• Design
• Format
• Engagement
• Professionalism

Do not underestimate the importance of developing an excellent website. It can go a long way in creating inbound leads.

4. SEO

SEO goes hand in hand with a website. You might be asking what SEO is. SEO is a key factor in generating traffic to your website and is one of the top tools used for inbound lead generation. SEO uses keyphrases researched by your team to bring clients to your site. Then, search engines such as Google use “crawlers” to scan your website in search of these keyphrases.

In short, when a client enters your product name, you show up in the first three links of their search. As these are most likely links used. The key phrases, among other things such as performance and links, tell Google that you have what your clients want.

5. Social Media

Social media is here to stay. The world nowadays runs on platforms such as Reddit, LinkedIn, and Facebook. It is an excellent way for your company to show what you are all about and interact with your client base.

Social media is tough to navigate, as mentioned before when we discussed different media channels. In addition, many clients use multiple platforms but use them during different times of the day. It is safe to say that for B2B social media marketing, LinkedIn is a favorite. However, exploring other platforms is crucial to your reputation and engagement with your clients.

6. Advertising

Obviously, advertising is a clear and traditional way to create leads. However, now that the world is mostly digital, you can do this on different channels and avenues.

SEM is an excellent online advertising solution. SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. Common platforms for SEM advertising are Google Ads, Bing, and Yahoo. Again, if you want to reach a certain audience, it is best to consult an expert. Most individuals use Google as their favored search engine. However, Yahoo and Bing should not be left out.

Retargeting is another digital form of advertising and is quite effective. It is a cookie-based software that tracks and follows audiences around the internet. This allows businesses to target audiences that are likely interested in their product.

These advertising methods are helpful in business-to-consumer scenarios but can serve quite effectively in B2B businesses as well.

7. Referral Marketing

Referral campaigns can bring increases not only your reputation but also increases customer satisfaction. Offering a discount to those who have referred you is an excellent way to start, especially in the B2B industry.

However, eventually, your reputation should be the driving factor of referrals. Once you have a satisfied client base, let them know the benefits of referring others to you and your company. It is crucial in creating a reputable brand that is recognizable by your ideal customer base.

8. Marketing Automation, CRM, and Lead Nurturing

Technology continues to make leaps in bounds. This year alone, we have seen innovative ways to overcome difficulties and struggles we have never seen as a society.

Marketing automation is an excellent tool that brings together each channel you use for marketing. One platform allows for an easy overview of each channel and where your weaknesses and strengths lay.

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is software that allows you to track and organize information. This can be highly beneficial in your research and decision-making going forward. CRM helps significantly in lead nurturing and making a deal in future interactions with your clients. Your reports and research will show how to interact with each client and what they want.

Additionally, you can create a personalized relationship with your clients with optimal customer service because of the collected data. It’s the little things that count, and remembering those little things can eventually lead to a sale.

9. Test and Revise

A successful company always looks for ways to improve its marketing approach. Research is the foundation that we build on, but testing and revising is the maintenance and upkeep of your strategies. You will need the right tools to test and revise your marketing strategies. Alternatively, the right marketing agency can do this for you.

A marketing agency should have the proper resources to tell you and your team which strategies work and which do not. They will use tools such as A/B testing of emails and landing pages. While using this method, you can see which leads are more likely to convert to sales. Scrap the ones that do not generate sales and optimize the ones that do.

10. Reporting and Data

Tools such as Google Analytics are beneficial to your team, whether you outsource or not. If you are hiring an agency, you can track how much traffic is generated to your site. Google Analytics is excellent for websites, but if you are looking for reports on social media, you can utilize the Hootsuite tool for detailed social media analytics.

Is Outsourcing Your B2B Lead Generation Right for Your Business?

You might fall in the category where you can manage an in-house team. However, as this article demonstrates, outsourced B2B Lead Generation effectively provides the best ROI.

There are many different ways to reach your audience, and lead generation can overwhelm you, your team, and your company. So leave it to the experts to generate leads and let us help your sales team do what they do best.

At David Taylor Digital, we can partner with your team to generate the best qualifying leads. Chat with one of our Marketing Superheroes today to see where we can help you!