Lilian Portheine
There is much debate within B2B sales about how best to engage new customers. One thing is certain: the more you know about the potential customer, the greater the chance of a good entry. To do this, the entire customer journey must be on your radar. This takes time but if you get through it, the chances of a lead are significantly higher.
Of course, in telephone acquisition, you have good days and not so good days. Yet success in sales generally does not rest on luck. So are good knowledge of the proposition, proficiency within sales conversations and tenacity are important factors in getting to the table. However, it starts with the question: how well do you have your (potential) customer in mind? Here are some tips that will help you lay a good foundation for efficient B2B lead generation:
Find the name of your prospect
At this blog we paid attention to figuring out the decision making unit, or DMU. To get a good and up-to-date picture of the DMU, you can purchase databases or engage an agency that enriches data on a daily basis. If desired, this agency can already record a (call) appointment (lead generation) and further ‘feed’ the customer case (lead nurturing). If you go to work yourself, Google, LinkedIn and other online channels are your dream assistants for finding out names.
Deploy other online lead channels
To know the customer better, the use of multiple on and offline channels is also important. Especially in these times when many people work from home, emailing, for example, is a good tool. Information you retrieve after sending an e-mailing, newsletter or white paper, provides new names and knowledge for your customer database.
View of the customer journey
If a mailing falls well, chances are that a prospect will go to your website or facebook page. This provides important information about a prospect's stage and needs. By having visibility into the customer journey, you can adjust your pitch and come in stronger, guaranteed.
Also read: ‘The importance of structural market approach’.
Time indication building customer contact
Nice all around, but how much time does this take? Building a customer contact does indeed take quite a bit of time, and it is an ongoing process. As a B2B lead generation specialist, we see that on average we need at least 3 substantive conversations to build a customer contact, and then generate a lead from it. Yet we see that a well-qualified lead leads to significantly more conversion leads. The time spent prior to customer contact pays off handsomely.