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Effective B2B Lead Generation Process To Attract Qualified Prospects

13 Platinum B2B Lead Generation Ideas. I read this article by direct marketing expert, Ray Jutkins. Nice work. This Baker's Dozen Collection is based on 3 decades of B2B (lead generation) experience. [B2B Lead Generation Blog]

These business-to-business lead generation strategies come from Ray Jutkins practical experience, summarized for you here with minor commentary.  I highly recommend his original article 13 Platinum B-2-B Lead Generation Ideas for additional details on implementation.

1. Establish what you and your buyer needs to know.  It's just as important to know enough to make a customer as it is to educate your prospect enough to become a customer.  Your sales people don't have to know everything, but should have a firm grasp of your products value to a prospect.
2. Identify those things that would be nice to know.  Just as there are things you need to know, there are more things that aren't necessary to close a deal.  This include personal details about the prospect that help the long-term relationship, but aren't necessary to know for this transaction.
3. Gain support from your sales (and marketing) staff.  If you lead the marketing team, then make sure sales supports your efforts and vice-versa.  Both sales and marketing must work together for lead generation to be effective and profitable.
4. Determine a media tool that reaches the most buyers.  I like how Ray describes media as a tool.  Choose your media not by your own preference, but by how your buyers can be most effectively reached.
5. Coordinate with advertising, PR, and marketing staff. "Your marketing efforts should look like they've been planned."  Brief your entire team before launching a new campaign, make sure all parts of your company will work together to make this program successful.
6. Determine where you will receive leads.  Central control of leads will give you the best results, but can delay your response.  Work with a system that provides the fastest turn around without burdening sales with lead source tracking.
7. Decide how you will accept leads.  The more means of communication you offer, the better your response rate.  This means collect leads by telephone, email, web form, response mail, and fax when possible.
8. Define what makes your best leads.  Not all prospects are created equal so you'll need to know exactly what your best ones look like.  Use your profitable customer profile to identify those closest to making a buying decision.
9. Decide the best process to qualify leads.  Develop a process that qualifies buyers for specific offers based on their need, desire, and ability to purchase.  Apply this process to every lead to determine which solution is best for them.
10. Know how you will service your best leads (and second best.)  Your qualification process should identify which leads have higher priority than others.  Categorize and respond to leads in a way that pays more attention to "hot" leads ready to buy.
11. Determine what your fulfillment package will be.  Not every lead will get the same fulfillment package, but each package must answer the right questions for the right prospect.  Look at issues of urgency, readiness to make a decision, and what prospects need to know to buy.
12. Decide how you will analyze success. "As in any program, if you can't measure it you can't improve it."  Measure leads from capture to purchase determining which leads were more profitable, and what characteristics would help you find more of the same.
13. Now, what else do you need to know?  Before your lead generation campaign is closed, it's critical to analyze each step to see where you can improve.  Ask about factors that influenced your success (or failure), incorporate those points in your next effort.

Now take action. It's not enough just to read these points, but instead take them into consideration during your next lead generation effort.  Lead generation is your first step toward profitable customer relationships.

/ lead-generation | 101-strategies /

By Justin Hitt at May 5, 2004 7:39 PM  Subscribe in a reader