Ask B2B marketers and sales professionals what’s on their wish list, and most will include a request for more qualified sales leads. It’s a common reason why business leaders from a variety of industries reach out for support to professional outbound call centers and outsourced inside sales teams like Volkart May.
Whether you manage lead generation and sales prospecting in-house or through an external contact center resource, we’ve compiled our top three ways to get more sales leads.
Spoiler alert: There’s no silver bullet for maximizing B2B lead generation.
But, there are definite ways you can improve your lead generation performance and results. It’s a combination of strong hiring and onboarding, great training, measuring what matters, and of course, using cold calling effectively.
Here are our top three ways to get more sales leads
1. Call prospects consistently
Infrequent outreach is the number one reason most sales prospecting efforts fail. It’s not enough to make one or two outbound call attempts, or to engage a medtech or B2B prospect just once a year. Yet studies show salespeople routinely give up after just 3 call attempts—even though 6 or more are usually needed to convert and qualify a lead.
Maintaining a thriving sales pipeline that’s filled with qualified sales leads means ongoing and consistent outreach to your target market.
- Outbound calling needs to occur weekly.
- Callers need the bandwidth to make multiple attempts.
- Sales managers need technology to track progress and measure results.
The more consistently you call B2B sales prospects, the stronger your lead generation results will be.
2. Keep your prospect list current
A complete and accurate prospect lists is a second surefire way to get more qualified sales leads. But, unless dedicated resources actively manage your sales and marketing database, this can be a tall order.
A poor-quality list impacts all aspects of lead generation and inside sales. Outdated contact information wastes time. It decreases productivity for salespeople. Even worse, it hurts sales team morale. For your prospects and potential customers, it disrupts communication and leaves a poor brand impression.
There are many ways to optimize your sales database and conquer the challenges of purchased lists. What’s most important is realizing that a quality prospect database forms the foundation of every sales and marketing effort. Unless you’re investing time and resources in keeping it current and comprehensive, you’re likely wasting money. Tighten up your data and you’re guaranteed to get more qualified leads with future campaigns.
3. Ditch the script
Deploying the power of one-to-one human conversation is our final recommendation. We all recognize that even though B2B buyers make sales decisions on behalf of their companies, it’s still about people buying from people. Warmth, empathy, curiosity and great listening skills are vital to engaging busy decision-makers, understanding their challenges and building strong relationships. This is particularly essential in B2B industries where complex sales and buying committees can extend the sales cycle for months.
When you’re setting up your inside sales or outbound call team for lead generation, sales prospecting and lead nurturing efforts, make sure your target audience remains front and center. Ditch your script and end robotic calls; instead, create a business development call guide that allows your outbound callers to engage authentically. Training and role play will also bolster your lead generation results.
Outsource to professionals. Using these three proven tactics will help your medtech or B2B company get more sales leads. You can also turn to dedicated, professional resources like Volkart May for ongoing sales prospecting and support. We’d love to chat about your needs! Contact us to schedule a discussion.
