Whether you are looking to overhaul your lead generation and nurturing or just looking to ensure your these processes are optimized, there are several steps you can take to get a better look at what is working and what needs to change.
In this article, we take a look at tips to freshen up or revive your B2B lead gen and nurturing process.
Step Back from the Process
When you are in the day-to-day process of responding and qualifying leads from your B2B website, it’s easy to miss the overall picture or to get stuck in a routine that may not be working. First, examine anything that falls into the “We’ve always done it this way” mindset. It doesn’t mean that what you are currently doing is wrong, but it allows you to ensure your process is optimized and potentially A/B test ways to improve what you are doing.
Next, look for areas to streamline the lead generation and nurturing process. Can you take steps to automate the data entry? Do you have a standard template that you customize for first response emails? Is your team prioritizing lead responses over outbound lead generation?
Provide multiple opportunities and methods for prospects or clients to get in touch with you. A great resource you should be utilizing is by integrating lead generation into your B2B website design. Enable prospects to call, complete a contact form, and email your sales team directly from the website.
Don’t just look to speak to sales-ready leads. Build up a funnel of leads by creating top-of-funnel conversions. These are things like ebook downloads, webinar sign-ups, and newsletter signups via your B2B website. A lead may not be ready to talk to your sales team directly or set up a call, but they may be kicking tires and starting the buying process.
Read more: 3 Strategies to Close B2B Website Leads.
Don’t Overthink It or Spend Too Much Time Qualifying
This step is a continuation of the “step back from the process” section above. We often see salespeople spending too much time evaluating a lead rather than working the lead. Unless you are inundated with too many website leads, you should respond to every lead. Even if you don’t think they are the right fit, always respond. We’ve often heard salespeople say that responding to a lead that doesn’t appear to be qualified is a “waste of time.” Instead, they should look at every lead as a potential sale – even if it’s a few months from now or a year from now. Sales are about relationships and responding to a lead starts to build that relationship.
We always advise sales teams to book a preliminary call for info and to learn more about the company and the prospect’s needs. These calls don’t need to be long and if a salesperson determines their product or solution isn’t the right fit for the prospect, they should not be afraid to refer the prospect to companies that are a better fit. People always remember who helps them (especially when they change jobs or roles) and they will definitely remember a salesperson who was rude or unkind to them.
This may seem like common sense, but it’s important to listen more than talk when a prospect is on the phone. These calls are an opportunity to learn more about your prospect’s needs, what your competitors are offering, how they use certain products or services, and how you can connect with them or answer their questions.
Look at Your Lead Attribution/Closes
Anecdotal information is rarely indicative of the majority. For this reason, you can’t go on what you think you remember about leads. Generalizations like “none of the leads were any good” or “the website leads don’t close” are not helpful in optimizing the lead generation process. Instead, we recommend looking closely at the data surrounding your leads and your closing rates.
To do this, assemble all leads in a spreadsheet from the last six months and determine where they came from (if you are tracking data). Once you have compiled the B2B website leads and the sources of those leads, update the current status (closed/won, closed/lost, proposal) and assign a dollar value (what the actual proposal quote was/is). If you do this process once and then update it weekly or monthly, you’ll have a better view of where the leads are coming from, where the best leads are coming from, and where you can expand your lead generation opportunities.
Continue to do this monthly and look for patterns. For example, you may find that the more blogs you write and post to your B2B website, the more organic search leads you are getting on your website.
Read more: Why Does Sales Ignore or Mismanage Website Leads?
Review the Data
There is excellent data you can extract from your B2B website to inform your lead generation and lead nurturing processes. Start by looking at the metrics and identifying the most visited pages on your website. Is there anything surprising here? Is a particular blog topic drawing in quality traffic? If certain pages or content pieces are resonating with website visitors, these might be content pieces you can leverage in your lead nurturing process. Or you may be able to create additional content around these pieces to give more information.
If you aren’t leveraging content or assets on your B2B website, you should start. When nurturing a lead, be sure to offer something of value (not a demo, but real value). Something of value to your prospect will answer questions they have, explain information about specifications or requirements, walk them through the process of integrating your product or service, or simply explain what the terminology related to your products and services mean. For example, a glossary of terms is often helpful for all job positions and is a great takeaway that a prospect can hang on to and reference.
Read more: How to Define a B2B Website Lead.
Try Something New
If the lead generation and nurturing processes you are using still aren’t working after several months, try new approaches. If your first touch is always a call and prospects don’t respond, try email as a first touch instead. You may find that if prospects complete a website form, they only want to be contacted over email to begin with.
Try changing up your messaging. If you’ve been working leads by focusing on a certain aspect of your product or services, try a different angle. Or, you can try to be less sales-focused and more educational – offering blogs and guides instead of demos or calls.
If a prospect reaches out to you via your B2B website, they’ve likely identified that your company can help them. Don’t squash their interest by overselling in your first email. Keep it short and to the point.
Prioritize Inbound Leads
If your B2B web design is optimized for conversion, your sales team should be receiving a good flow of inbound leads. The first step to convert those leads into new clients is to prioritize those inbound leads. Why? Inbound leads have already demonstrated interest in your product/service and will not need convincing. Often, they may just need to see if your firm is the right fit, see if the specifications are right, and if get pricing information.
Always respond to these leads before you do anything outbound or start cold-calling. This is the equivalent of talking to the customer in the store with cash in their hand rather than trying to grab people outside the store to come in.
