B2B Lead Generation Costly Mistakes To Avoid

Generating leads is one of the primary goals for any online business (the same also applies with an offline business). There are several methods of generating prospects but B2B lead generation is deemed as one of the most effective ways to produce high quantity and quality of leads. However, there are right and wrong ways to do it. And if you fail to identify which is which, then it can be costly for your business' future.
Below are ten of the common mistakes that most professional lead generation services commit. If you want to make the most of your investment on their service, then you need to stay away from those that commit these mistakes:

1. Investing time and resources on marketing activities that do not produce a return of investment. This is one of the most common mistakes by lead generation services. It usually springs from lack of research and understanding on what marketing activities will bring maximum profits. As a result, they are investing on the wrong places and that could be deadly for your business.


2. Having unrealistic expectations that are not aligned with the marketing tactics employed. The methods you use in your lead generation campaign has a direct result in the response you can generate. So, don't expect results if your marketing tactics do not compel action.


3. Lack of efficiency in decision-making concerning the right lead generation strategy to use. Too many experts coming up with one strategy can't be a good thing sometimes. Thus, it is important to come up with a definite plan and decision on how the lead generation campaign is to be executed. If not, you could end up wasting both time and resources.


4. Lack of long-term implementation and sustenance of methods. Buying lead generation services will always take time no matter how much you want to shorten the cycle. In addition, you need to nurture your leads in a long-term basis to ensure that you can benefit from them in the long run. This is where most professional services fail because they tend to focus on gathering leads NOW and not think of it in the long term aspect. You need to sustain it for several months and focus on improving over time.


5. Employing one marketing tactic and lacking diversity. Another costly mistake that professional services commit is to use one particular marketing tactic. As a result, when the method fails, the entire lead generation campaign fails as well. Opt for services that can combine the use of several methods so you can get more results in the same amount of time.


6. Good plan, bad execution of marketing strategy. There is a huge gap that exists between planning and execution of lead generation campaign. Thus, you need to find an experienced professional service to do it for you because then you can ensure that they have proven to implement their plans effectively in the past. It is not enough that they can lay out a good strategy if the implementation process is done poorly.


7. Inability to nurture leads due to an overwhelming amount or lack of systematized approach. A report issued by a marketing research company has revealed that 80% of leads gathered by a company is never followed-up on or are not nurtured. Imagine how many potential customers you could have missed! Make sure that the professional service you've hired are adept not just in pro-actively gathering leads, but also in turning them into customers.


8. Failure in communicating the value of your marketing system to your leads. Do not make claims in your marketing campaign, but instead let your marketing system speak for itself. If you can offer something of value to your target prospects, then it will be easier for them to respond to your marketing message. Also, it is better for you to under-promise and over-deliver instead of the other way around.


9. Insufficient integration of marketing tactics. Lead generation is not a one-way street but rather a multi-step process. Thus, you need to nurture each step of the process before you can expect to see results or get responses from your prospects. It also requires proper planning to ensure that all the factors work seamlessly together instead of being counter-productive n your campaign.


10. Poor planning of lead generation campaign. There are so many aspects to integrate with B2B lead generation - consistent message, marketing value, targeting, and lead nurturing, among others. However, all of these will fail to no avail unless you can plan your integration well enough.

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