Lead Generation for B2B Sales: Transform Your Strategy with RevBoss

B2B sales are a strategic dance between being sharp, forward-thinking, and deeply in tune with your customers’ needs. 

What does this mean, exactly?

Knowing your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and sending out a few finger-crossed cold emails is no longer enough to close deals. The field has evolved into a much more intricate playground where your competitors are also sharpening their strategies, and your prospects are more discerning than ever. 

How do you break free from this tug of war? By thinking beyond basic targeting and freezing cold outreach, to name a few common approaches. 

In this article, we’ll explore a few non-obvious ways lead generation can transform your B2B sales from a game of chance into a calculated, winning strategy.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM)

We’ve seen our fair share of businesses focusing on tooting their own horn. We’ve achieved this, we’ve done that. We, we, we.

While highlighting achievements is valid and encouraged, this approach can overshadow what the customer cares about. Mass marketing often misses the plot – it aims wide but connects shallowly.

With ABM, it’s the complete opposite. It flips the script by focusing on the most promising potential clients. It fishes with a spear to target specific companies with personalized messaging and offers, making every touchpoint count. 

That makes for immense lead-gen power. First, it increases the quality of your leads because you’re targeting prospects who are already a good fit for your services. 

Second, it boosts engagement by providing personalized experiences that drive deeper connections. 

And finally, it improves conversion rates because you’re nurturing leads more likely to convert rather than casting a wide net and hoping for the best.

We discuss this practice in more detail in the article The 1-2-3 Guide to Account-Based Marketing (ABM). But here’s a quick refresher on the key steps to making ABM work for your team.

• Align sales and marketing
• Define clear ICPs and buyer personas
• Use technology tools (CRM platforms, sales prospecting tools, content distribution tools)
• Identify target accounts
• Create personalized content
• Invest in one-to-one email outreach
• Track and report performance

Automate Lead Nurturing 

In some companies, lead nurturing and onboarding are still jobs for sales reps. They manually contact leads, answering their questions and holding their hands until they’re ready to buy. While that approach has merits, it’s a recipe for burnout and inefficiencies, especially as the number of leads grows.

B2B buyers aren’t about that approach, either. Not in 2024 and beyond. They prefer finding information, placing orders, and getting support through digital platforms rather than having their hands held by a sales rep. This shift means businesses need a stronger, faster digital strategy to keep potential customers engaged throughout the buying process.

Why Automate Lead Nurturing?

In short, that allows you to nurture more leads without overwhelming your sales team. Every lead gets the same high-quality experience, and your team can handle a growing number of leads without sacrificing that personal touch.

To borrow from the RevOps team, “With automated lead nurturing, you can address a variety of evolving factors in the modern sales process, including an audience purchase journey that doesn’t follow a linear path, multiple distractions along the buyer journey, and audiences with multiple stakeholders.” That’s B2B in a nutshell. 

Ways You Can Automate Lead Nurturing

Lead Scoring + CRM Integration 

Use a CRM system that automatically scores leads based on their behavior (think email opens, website visits, and content downloads). When a lead reaches a certain score, the CRM system can automatically move it to the next stage of your nurturing process or flag it for a more personal touch.

Retargeting Ads

Set up automated retargeting campaigns that serve ads to leads who have interacted with your brand but haven’t yet converted. Personalize these ads based on the content they have engaged with or the stage they are in.

Automated Social Media Engagement

Tools like social media schedulers and bots can automate responses to common inquiries, follow-ups, or even like and comment on posts from potential leads. You can also schedule regular content sharing that aligns with your lead’s interests.

Chatbots for Instant Engagement

Invest in AI-powered chatbots on your website or messaging platforms to interact with visitors in real time. These chatbots can answer common questions, guide them to relevant resources, or connect them with a sales rep when needed. You still move the visitor down the funnel even without a human on the other end.

Personalize at Scale to Balance Automation and Human Touch

Despite automation tools making our lives a lot easier, it’s easy to worry that sales might lose their personal touch. The fear is real – what happens when everything’s automated, and nothing feels personal anymore?

But here’s the good news: personalization and automation aren’t mutually exclusive. They can – and should – coexist. The trick is to find ways to harness automation without losing authenticity. Here are some of our favorite personalization strategies:

Video Prospecting

Send personalized video messages to connect with leads on a deeper level. Nothing says “I care” like a unique video. We have a great guide on video prospecting, so be sure to check it out. 

Share High-Value Content

If a lead mentions a specific challenge or interest, share relevant content from your library. It shows you’re listening and ready to help. For example, For example, if a lead expresses concern about cybersecurity, send them an eBook or blog post on recent security threats and solutions.

Making Meaningful Gestures

Remember personal details shared during conversations (like hobbies, family, or events) and reference them in follow-ups to build rapport.

Customized Content

Personalize emails with dynamic content based on the recipient’s behavior or stage in the buyer’s journey. For example, if a lead has recently downloaded a white paper, follow up with a tailored email offering a demo or consultation.

Video Templates with Personalization

Create a video template with a general introduction and CTA, then customize it with the lead’s name and specific details about their business.

Omnichannel All the Way: Keep Prospects Engaged Across Platforms

Today’s B2B buyers are omnichannel creatures. They hop between devices and platforms like it’s a game of Frogger. 

Google Research shows that 90% of multiple device owners use an average of three devices to complete a task. Your sales strategy needs to keep up with this cross-device, cross-platform behavior across all touchpoints.

An omnichannel strategy can look like…

• ● A potential customer watches your webinar and then explores your social media for additional details. Keep their interest alive by building on what was covered in the webinar in your social posts.
• A lead gets a follow-up email with related case studies or tips after the webinar. These should tie in with the webinar content and add extra value.
• The journey of a lead from initial curiosity to making a decision. Start with light, educational content. As they get closer to a decision, offer more detailed insights. But keep in mind that what they want to see can vary, so it’s important to know your leads and what they like.

By being everywhere your prospects are and delivering a consistent experience, you’re making it easier for them to choose your product or service when they’re ready to buy.

Measure Performance to Stay on Track with Key Metrics

If you want to know whether your sales strategies are worth your team’s time, you’ve got to measure performance regularly. This helps you spot trends and catch any issues early, allowing you to tweak your strategies in real time.

In B2B sales, here are a few important metrics to track:

• Lead conversion rate to measure the percentage of leads turning into customers.
• Sales growth to track the increase in sales over a specific time period.
• Customer acquisition cost (CAC) to calculate the total cost of bringing in a new customer.
• Customer lifetime value (CLV) estimates the total revenue a customer is expected to bring during their time with your company.

Or, if you want to get more specific…

For Increasing Lead Volume

• Number of new leads to track how many new leads your campaigns generate over a given period.
• Lead generation rate to measure the percentage of visitors or contacts that turn into leads, giving you a snapshot of how well your lead gen strategies are working.

For Improving Lead Quality 

• Qualified lead rate (MQLs/SQLs) to measure the percentage of leads meeting your qualification criteria, such as those more likely to convert based on behavior or firmographics.
• Lead-to-customer conversion rate to track the percentage of leads that become paying customers, helping assess the overall quality of the leads generated.

For Speeding Up Conversions

• Sales cycle length to measure the average time it takes for a lead to move through your sales funnel from initial contact to closing the deal.
• Time to conversion to track how long it takes for leads to become customers, providing insight into the efficiency of your nurturing and sales processes.

These are great metrics to measure, but always align them with your specific goals. Regularly analyzing sales data helps you stay agile and on top of your targets.

Should You Outsource Lead Generation?

Outsourcing lead generation to a specialist can greatly benefit your sales team. When you partner with experts whose sole focus is lead generation, you tap into their streamlined processes and deep expertise, often achieving quick results.

It means you can get your lead gen up and running in no time. With RevBoss, for example, that can be in under two weeks. 

Our RevBuds bring specialized knowledge and expertise that’s hard to match in-house. Plus, it’s easy to scale your efforts up or down as your needs change without the overhead costs of hiring and training a full-time team. 

You’ll also get dedicated support with detailed performance reports. So you can optimize your strategies for better results, clarity, and control.

However, to maximize your partnership, be prepared to work closely with your lead generation partner, especially in the early stages, to ensure the strategy aligns with your business goals.

Ready to supercharge your B2B sales? RevBoss is here to help. With our expert team and powerful tools, we streamline your sales process – from generating leads to closing deals. Let’s chat about how we can support your goals. Schedule a call with us today!