Struggling to Generate Viable B2B Leads?

It’s a scenario many businesses will be painfully familiar with.

You’re finding yourself with a distinct lack of viable B2B leads. Which, of course, triggers an increased spend in sales and marketing activities to turn things around. The campaign appears to pay off, resulting in a noticeable uptick in the number of prospective clients heading your way.

But despite a significant increase in traffic, few (or none) of your B2B leads are converting.

To call this unfortunate twist infuriating would be a gross understatement. The more it seems as if things are going right, the more crushing it is when they ultimately fall apart.

The truth is, focusing too heavily on only generating leads is one of the most common mistakes businesses can make. It’s the same in B2B and B2C arenas, where brands become so consumed with generating traffic that they fail to consider the viability of the traffic.

You can attract all the prospective clients in the world, but it’s all for nothing without a strong conversion rate.

The Simple Missteps You Might Be Making

The key to generating viable B2B leads lies in taking a step back from your broader digital strategy to assess where you might be going wrong. There are several common reasons why businesses routinely fail to generate quality B2B leads. And thankfully, in all instances, these missteps are relatively simple to rectify.

Should any of the following apply, you have the best possible starting point to begin turning things around:

1. Focusing on the Wrong Demographics

It may sound obvious, but it could simply be that you are focusing on the wrong demographics to begin with. Putting together a buyer persona that describes your target audience is a vital step that too many brands overlook.

This hypothetical consumer bio should be at the top of your priorities when it comes to any form of marketing.

• Who are you targeting?

• What’s their age range?

• How do they spend their free time?

• What’s their financial and working situation?

• What are their attitudes to life?

Many brands baulk at the idea of getting so deep down and personal with audience personas. Well, get over it. You need to get comfortable with digging deep into this fictional persona. Most marketers give theirs an alliterative name that sums them up, like Frugal Fiona, for example.

The idea is to create a persona that’s easily referenceable and memorable. Something you can quickly ask yourself, “Would this message work for Straight-shooting Steve?”.

Always remember the adage – “try and appeal to everyone and you’ll appeal to no one.”

2. Not Taking the Time to Nurture B2B Leads

When you’re short on viable leads, the temptation to go in for the kill right away is understandable. It’s also one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Keep in mind, you often need to ‘warm up’ potential clients before closing the deal.

There are countless ways you can do this, but the best methods tend to involve one simple cornerstone: interact with your leads on a friendly, personal, and non-salesy basis.

Don’t forget, these are people, not just leads. Be patient, be courteous, avoid the hard sell, and take every opportunity you can to highlight the benefits to them for choosing you.

3. Wasting Time on Weaker Leads

This happens a lot. Worse still, it is often an instinctive response to disappointing conversion rates.

Through sheer desperation, you find yourself clinging to the hope that even your weakest leads can be converted. In reality, you know it’s unlikely, but still your chances and roll the dice.

The good news is, it’s easy to avoid this misstep. Create a lead scoring system and make sure you only prioritise the ones with genuine conversion potential. Where a lead does not fit your ideal buyer persona, don’t be afraid to walk away.

4. Failing to Prioritise Existing Customers

Finally, don’t lose sight of the fact that the most important and profitable customers of all are your existing customers. Not to mention, past customers and even those who may have lapsed.

It can be far easier and more cost-effective to focus on generating sales from those you have already done business with. Generating new leads is important, but not nearly as vital as doing everything you can to keep past and current customers on board.