B2B Marketing Companies Must Perform Like Lead Generation Companies

Most marketing leaders have learned that wide-bore creative programs are only a piece of the ROI puzzle. Increased revenue performance is the other big piece. In B2B marketing, a host of highly niched players vie for your marketing dollar – some specialize in lead generation, others in social media, others in branding and awareness. Communications and marketing firms representing every possible combination of sub-specialty are also in the race. But without sustained lead generation, can any of them provide long-term advantages?

An improved leads process and increased sales revenue is the goal, and agencies that can synthesize best practices from across the spectrum and function like lead generation companies will separate themselves from more specialized companies that provide less quantifiable results.

B2B marketers focused on business performance can counsel their clients and help them set realistic goals for revenue, inquiries and qualified leads. There is a high-level leadership component to this, as sometimes multiple leaders and departments must agree to and be aligned around the new goals. Then design of a lead process can begin; conversion ratios that strike the right mix of qualified leads to overall incoming leads be determined.
Armed with this knowledge, companies can begin to analyze their processes for the best way to bring these leads into the sales funnel, assessing their people and processes to find weak points and maximize their chances for success. As the company generates leads, the ratios may need to be adjusted. The goal is to create optimized performance, managing lead flow and matching it to revenue while finding ways to spend less for every lead. Designing these processes within a company, once the purview of lead generation companies, can be done very well by a B2B marketing company with the right mix of skills and focus on results.

Armed with this knowledge, companies can begin to analyze their processes for the best way to bring these leads into the sales funnel, assessing their people and processes to find weak points and maximize their chances for success. As the company generates leads, the ratios may need to be adjusted. The goal is to create optimized performance, managing lead flow and matching it to revenue while finding ways to spend less for every lead. Designing these processes within a company, once the purview of lead generation companies, can be done very well by a B2B marketing company with the right mix of skills and focus on results.

Lead follow-up is also critical to ensuring the efficacy of this process. Working with leaders from multiple departments, a B2B consultancy can help a company implement the process working with multiple account executives, clients and vendor accounts. Quick follow-up is important to deciding how to categorize incoming leads, and act upon the ones that qualify. This initial qualification following a first follow-up touch should happen no later than 24 to 48 hours after the lead comes in. After data capture and inclusion in the appropriate CRM (customer relationship management) tool, you can then start to analyze the cost of a lead and the effectiveness of the entire process.

A B2B marketing company with a firm grasp of this process can then use its prowess in other disciplines – public relations, social media marketing, and partner relationships – to creatively bring leads into the funnel for its client. By thinking like a lead generation company, a B2B company separates itself from the pack and gives their clients a turnkey arsenal for improving their business performance.