When you employ a sales team, effective lead generation is critical to their success. It takes a steady flow of qualified opportunities to meet your medtech or B2B company’s sales and revenue goals.
However, most sales and marketing leaders have experienced at least the occasional lead generation campaign that falls flat.
If your lead generation and sales prospecting efforts are failing to deliver the anticipated results, you’re likely wondering:
- What causes lackluster results in healthcare and B2B lead generation?
- Why do lead generation campaigns fail?
- How can you avoid common lead generation mistakes?
Asking these questions means you’re on the right track. Improving results starts by evaluating your current lead generation processes and addressing the issues affecting your sales prospecting efforts.
Improve your medtech or B2B lead generation
During our 30+ years of professional outbound calling and lead generation, we’ve seen a number of lead generation pitfalls. As a result, we’ve tailored our processes to help our valued medtech and B2B clients avoid common lead generation mistakes.
If you’re experiencing challenges with sales prospecting, cold calling and lead generation, see if one of the issues below could be the culprit.
Or, consider outsourcing your sales prospecting and lead generation to experts like Volkart May. Every day, we represent leading brands across the country, helping identify sales-ready prospects, generate leads and book sales appointments.
Avoid these common lead generation mistakes
For success at medtech and B2B lead generation, make sure none of these issues are derailing your lead generation result.
Focusing on a single channel. It can be easy to rely heavily on one or two channels for lead generation, and assume you’re reaching the full potential of your market. But, it’s best to create integrated campaigns that share consistent messages across multiple channels.
This lets prospects follow their own preferences for interacting with your brand and learning about your solution. Some will gravitate to digital experiences like social media and your website; others will appreciate finding your message in trade journals, at events or even in their mailboxes. Make sure your lead generation campaigns occur in a variety of media and locations so you can maximize your reach—and don’t neglect the power of outbound calling.
Winging it. Whether you’re using email, social media or outbound sales calls, don’t press “go” and wish for the best. Instead, make a plan and establish a process for your lead generation campaigns. Some core elements to address include: What’s the best message for you target audience? How will you measure success? Who will follow up with incoming leads and how quickly can they respond?
When it comes to sales prospecting calls, know your target audience and tailor your approach to specific audience segments. Create call guides (not scripts) to keep your sales reps on track and ensure authentic conversations. The more you test, measure and learn, the greater your lead generation success.
Hit and miss timing. Ongoing and consistent lead generation makes a huge impact at the top of the sales funnel. Don’t wait until your B2B or medtech sales pipeline is dry to launch a lead generation effort. (By that time, it’s could be too late to impact your immediate needs.)
Instead, make time for regular outbound lead generation calling and email campaigns. Run programs like SEO and advertising year-round. Keeping your brand front-and-center with your target audience ensures you’ll always be there when the time is right to buy.
Relying on your gut. Unless you’re analyzing campaign data, it’s hard to diagnose and improve your lead generation efforts. Anecdotal feedback from the sales team is helpful, but it’s no substitute for tracking real-life campaign metrics.
For example: Are you counting brand impressions, opens, clicks and shares on your digital channels, and call volumes, decision-makers reached and list usability on your sales calls? What is your cost per lead and cost per sale? How do responses compare across types of companies, industries and prospect lists?
The more you know about your lead generation performance, the faster you can adapt your campaigns and increase results.
Using the wrong resources. A final lead generation failure occurs when responsibility for lead generation sits within the wrong team. This is especially true with outbound calling and sales prospecting. Cold calling is a specialized skill that’s essential for generating leads. It’s also an activity where not every sales rep will excel.
Instead of burdening your best sales closers with top-of-the-funnel activities, consider the impact of dedicated lead generation resources. Using a business development team or an outsourced lead generation firm like Volkart May adds capacity and produces an ongoing stream of qualified leads.
Generate leads with outbound sales prospecting calls
Regular outbound calling should be a core part of any medtech or B2B company’s lead generation program. There’s simply no substitute for the power—and value—that a human touchpoint can make with potential buyers.
Volkart May’s professional callers can keep your sales pipeline filled with sales-ready leads. Contact us to learn more.
