I am going to make a brief review of a special report I read from BuyerZone, titled “B2B Marketing: The State of B2B Lead Generation.” The reason why it is worth writing about it, is because their findings are interesting and thought provocative. The important thing to keep in mind is that businesses are in a constant need of leads. Without them, they die as simple as that.
Leads are the fuel for the sales pipeline in B2B Marketing. Lead generation is not something static. On the contrary, it is in a constant state of change. New practices are discovered while philosophical perspectives evolve. There are various ways to generate leads or sell to others. It is always a good idea to track ROI in order to be in control of your budget. Making sure you’re spending in the right places.
Best Practices to Generate Great Leads in B2B Marketing
A survey of companies indicates that 74% of B2B marketers are using CRM platforms. This is a substantial improvement compared to 2012 where only 56% had a CRM in place. In the day-to-day operation of a business, it is easy to feel that you might be alone in using certain strategies in B2B marketing. But the fact is, that there are thousands of companies like yours 
who are experiencing that same things you are.
Customer Relationship Management or for short, CRM, for those who are new to it, helps the management and customer service staffs deal with customer concerns and issues. It involves gathering a lot of data about the customer to facilitate transactions. The use of CRM increases with larger companies as much as 91% of them use the system. Interestingly enough, 21% of those who took part in this survey said using CRM was a priority in their plan.
Strategy for lead generation, first qualify
It must be pointed out, that the fact that someone downloads a free report or a white paper, does not make him a lead. He is a prospect. Crucial point in the sales funnel process. In B2B marketing lead generation strategy, the prospect is the first inbound contact. Generally, all you have is his email address and perhaps his first name. This prospect must be qualified.
When someone comes into your website, he is a visitor. If he downloads a report and subscribes to your email list, that means he has an interest in you. At that point, he has moved from visitor to prospect. But you don’t know if your product or service is good for him. That is, you have not qualified him. Hence, you really can’t have a sales person call this prospect and try to sale him your product.
After qualifying your prospect, he will move up the marketing ladder, to become a lead. It is at this point that you can make an offer and bring him to the call to action.
And, if you want to learn more about B2B lead generation, be sure to check out my videos. You will find them by clicking the tab videos and leave comments, I will answer them.
