9 Dec 2021

The New Rules of B2B Lead Generation

As the world slowly adjusts itself to the COVID-19 pandemic, people find new ways of overcoming the situation. Although earlier, 60% of all B2B meetings were held in person, a recent study by McKinsey shows that 70% of decision makers in the B2B space now prefer digital self-service or remote human interactions. The traditional way of closing deals is no longer the norm, and those associated with B2B lead generation companies in Abu Dhabi have to work with a revised playbook for lead generation.

Decision makers can be found on Twitter and LinkedIn. It is meeting them halfway that counts. B2B sales personnel now must become thought leaders in their field and establish themselves as authoritative points of contact before they can approach anyone. Earlier, this was the domain of subject-matter experts, but now it has become a necessity. B2B sales personnel need to be ready with solutions even before they are asked. B2B sales team leaders need to empower their team members to become subject-matter experts in their field through learning (made easier now thanks to technology), research problems, and come with solutions on their own. This is new challenge thrown up the coronavirus, and it is how lead generation companies in Dubai that are able to rise to the occasion are better assured of success.

Build the right team

The classic approach is to either take the time to customize every instance of reaching out to a decision maker or use a standardized template. The former has greater chances of success, but takes time. The latter, on the other hand, saves a ton of time, but has a very low degree of success.

The new normal calls for an approach that will be able to solve 80% of all client needs. This means that everyone from sales to the content team, including copywriters and graphics designers, need to sit down and work together. This approach, which hits the target 80% of the time and misses out on the remaining 20%, still saves a lot of time and effort. As any good lead generation agency in Abu Dhabi will tell you, work smart, not hard.

Use simplified content

Most of the time, the marketing collaterals focus on specifications that don’t really mean anything to decision makers. The decision maker at a technology company is more likely to be an MBA than a tech specialist. This is not an uncommon scenario, as MBAs are headhunted for their ability to make good business decisions than being tech experts. Tech experts at companies don’t get promoted to these positions because their area of specialization is tech and not business. The point being, your marketing collaterals need to focus on the value your solutions can bring to the decision maker’s organization. That is the only thing that matters to them.

Make use of content marketing

B2B lead development has long been about establishing connections and then letting the experts take over. A direct conversation usually answers any questions that decision makers might have. But the absence of being able to establish direct contact poses a challenge now. Decision makers are not available for Zoom calls either – they have to meet with their own team more over Zoom these days. The trick is to get the experts at client organizations bring your solutions to the attention of the decision makers there.

Everyone is looking to solve the problems they face, and if you can boldly publish how your solutions can make a difference, you might be able to get the decision makers to come to you instead. The return on content marketing is a whopping 40x – for every dollar you spend, you get $40 in return on average. This makes it one of the highest-yielding forms of marketing, and it would be best not miss out on the new wave of content marketing that is currently in vogue. Lead generation companies in Abu Dhabi know this, and they are leveraging it to their advantage.

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Don’t separate lead generation and sales

Sometimes, when you engage in content marketing, a decision maker might share his/her contact information in return for an industry whitepaper. The problem is that this information remains in the background, with only the team behind the website ever knowing someone has submitted his contact information. This is not an uncommon scenario at medium-sized or large-sized organizations, where the team behind ensuring the smooth running of the website sits far away from the Marketing team. As the size of the organization gets bigger, there is more of a divide between the web admins and the Marketing department.

Get everyone on board. While lead generation specialists typically pass on leads to the sales team, sometimes sales managers fail to pass on leads to those in the field. The end result is that a valuable lead is wasted – and a sale along it. It is best if everyone in marketing and sales were brought together under one roof, preferably under the same manager so that there is greater accountability. On that note, the website admin team needs to be involved in all lead generation initiatives that involve the company’s website.

Measure performance

Use tools to measure the performance of content marketing. If you publish a post on LinkedIn, take a look at how well it did – do this over the week, and over a period of two weeks as well. If you find that someone has commented with an objection or a question, try to answer the objection or question instead of letting it be. This only establishes you as more of a subject-matter expert.

If you find that a decision maker has reacted to your post that is a sign that he/she has read it. It would now be a good idea to pitch him/her with your sales collaterals that focus on how your solutions can add value to his/her company. If he/she responds – any response is better than no response – you can move on to the next stage, such as passing on the lead to the pre-sales or demo team. Make use of all possible platforms for content distribution, because you never know where your next client may be.

Conclusion

Sales people are now navigating a new world which they have not done before. With better lead generation practices pioneered by B2B lead generation companies in Dubai and others, they could be better supported to make the most of the changed digital landscape.