Leads are the foundation when it comes to the growth of any business and there’s no doubt about it. But, before digital marketing became the norm of B2B marketing approaches, the concept of lead generation was limited to a few tools only. It was more like “advertising” than a strategic approach back in those days. However, today, the goal of any B2B lead generation process is completely different. Businesses are trying to attract leads that can be easily converted.
This crucial factor of a well-functioning marketing funnel is often the reason why marketers find it a bit challenging also. According to a recent survey, more than 37% of B2B market leaders find it challenging to get quality leads for their businesses. Even a Hubspot report states that 61% of the marketers are considering generating leads and traffic to be one of their biggest pressure points. Particularly in today’s time, B2B lead generation process is getting more challenging than ever for some companies.
So, in this article, we will take a closer look at the reasons why B2B companies are struggling to get leads in today’s market scenario. Let’s continue reading,
Reasons Why B2B Companies Face A Lot of Hardships In Generating Leads
Here are a few reasons we’ve found that put B2B companies in a lot of hardships. Let’s take a look at them,
- You’re Relying On a Stagnant Marketing Strategy
We have seen how technological advances are changing the course of leading industries and the B2B marketing sector is no exception. The strategy you want to put in place for generating leads should cover the entire process of the buyer’s journey. This includes entering the leads into the funnel, delivering relevant content to nurture the leads, and eventually converting them into customers. As we can see, this is rather complex and time-consuming when we compare it to other marketing techniques. Also, an effective marketing pipeline needs an ample amount of resources. This is exactly where many B2B companies struggle to keep up.
So, in this ever-evolving digital marketing space, you need to keep adapting to the changes to stay in the game. You cannot expect to implement the same strategy over the years just because it was successful. Earlier, the majority of their B2B marketing strategy used to depend on advertising. But, with the growing costs for paid ads, many B2B companies are facing a shortage of resources. On top of that, the pandemic has recently forced offline businesses to shift online, which has resulted in increased expenses on ads.
This is why the B2B landscape has become saturated. It’s the primary reason B2B marketers find it more challenging than ever to create a unique strategy to attract leads. They are noticing a drastic downturn in the effectiveness of lead magnets and conversion rates compared to what they were a few years ago. These challenges are more relatable to the businesses that were solely offline before the pandemic. Moreover, the lead generation tactics in B2B companies have stalled as a result of the current situation and the rising cost of paid advertising.
- Unable to Analyze What The Market Needs
Another challenge that you might face when generating leads is understanding what the customer wants. You need to ask what their pain points are and what they are expecting from your product or service. And the best way to do so is to conduct thorough research. So, examine the market, understand what the customers are looking for as a solution, and see how companies are addressing them.
The fact is that your chance of making a sale is close to zero when you approach each and everyone with the same marketing message. Let’s assume you have targeted everyone without determining who your ideal persona is. This strategy will, at best, get you one in a thousand leads. In the worst-case scenario, you may present your marketing strategy to prospects as spam and this is an absolute no-no in maintaining your brand’s reputation.
This is the reason why the leaders in this industry pick the top-rated sales engagement software platforms like Vanillasoft to help them engage with leads with personalized sequences and close more deals. Basically, this sales engagement software provides a detailed overview of each call you made with it so that you understand your customer in a better way. Also, there are other features such as lead routing, and auto dialing which are proved to be helpful in this B2B landscape.
- You’re Stuck Between “More Leads” and “Quality Leads”!
“Quality or quantity?” is a classic dilemma that we all face in our lives, and it is the same in B2B marketing as well. Whether it is about generating leads or creating content, it is common to get stuck between “more” and “quality.” But, what exactly are the quality leads that we are talking about? Basically, leads are the potential customers who have expressed interest in your brand, service, or product via an action. These actions can be anything from downloading a freebie to signing up or subscribing to a particular service in exchange for their email addresses.
Leads are the basis for successful marketing. When we talk about high-quality leads, it simply means those particular ones that have a higher chance of converting into customers. You are more likely to make a sale with high-quality leads in a shorter span of time. According to a recent survey, seven out of ten marketers say that getting high-quality leads is the most crucial aspect of their lead generation strategy. Whereas, according to 54 percent of marketers surveyed, it is attracting a lot of leads created that matters the most.
So how can lead quality be more significant than lead quantity? It all comes down to your business culture and which KPIs are significant to the executives of your organization. Where most marketers struggle is striking the balance when planning strategies. This sort of challenge is more common if your focus is on a linear lead generation approach. A linear lead generation strategy will prioritize simple numbers over complex data.
- Desperate Approach as a Salesperson
What would your reaction be if you entered an appliance store and the sales rep started talking about their own kitchen remodel without asking what you are searching for? No matter how ridiculous it sounds many B2B sales professionals tend to do so. They make the whole thing about themselves rather than addressing the pain points of their clients.
Think about this: Have you ever sent out a proposal to potential customers without understanding and addressing what challenges they are facing? Then you are probably losing out on the best opportunities to create long-term relationships with your customers. And, without strong relationships, it is difficult for the marketing team to meet long-term goals. In fact, your company could have the highest quality of service in the industry, but if you don’t prioritize relationship building in your sales approach, it will be challenging for you to close deals at all.
You will tend to lose high-convertible leads if you try too hard to focus on the product or service you are offering, instead of having meaningful conversations with the key decision-makers. This is why the top-rated B2B companies in the industry use various cold calling software that provides actionable and meaningful insights through call recording features. This data provided by the software may be used to refine your proposal, create more personalized interactions, and increase conversion rates. It actually helps your salespeople to build relationships with your potential customers by eliminating their mistakes.
- Failing to Leverage the Right Tools & Software
The next and one of the most common reasons why most B2B companies struggle to get quality leads is that they have a hard time getting the most out of the right lead generation tools and software. In almost all the leading industries, we can see the growing trend of using automation in the B2B sector as well. A recent report says that a majority of marketers are able to generate more leads – both in terms of quantity and quality – with the help of automation of tools. The percentage is as high as 450 compared to the ones that don’t use automation in their marketing strategies. Therefore, given the number of marketing issues in the B2B arena, you may need the right tools that can help you fill the gap.
So make sure whatever tool you use, is based on a detailed database. Because it is important for you to stay ahead in the game, and it’s only with the right B2B database software that you can achieve the same. Whether it’s automating marketing campaigns, connecting closed revenue to prospects, or organizing posts on social media, using the ideal software can always help. Whereas an outdated database will only waste your time and money without any sound results.
However, with so many tools out there, don’t get overwhelmed when choosing the right software, like many B2B marketers. It is because marketers often overlook the basic factors like what they are struggling with the most when generating leads, how they can improve the marketing strategy, and what exactly they need to get there.
- Lack of Coordination in Your Team
Do you know what makes B2B lead generation different from B2C? It’s the coordination between your sales and marketing teams in your organization. In a standard marketing approach, both of these teams are separately responsible for different aspects of attracting leads, nurturing them, and eventually converting them into customers.
Your sales development team will take care of everything from engaging with the prospects to converting them into making a purchase. Studies have shown that meaningful engagement with potential buyers increases your chance to convert the leads by a whopping 56 percent. It’s clear as day how crucial the role of sales is in the lead generation process of your company.
However, it is only one side of the coin. For you to get leads, your sales team needs to be well associated with inbound marketing operations. Your marketing team will be in charge of content marketing, social media, SEO, and more in a typical lead generation process. These strategies generally lack the participation of the sales department for getting leads.
To simplify the process, you can have your marketing and sales teams collaborate to answer the following questions to determine what content you want and what you lack:
- What content do you currently have in place to help with a sales strategy?
- Who is now viewing the content — and who should be? What kind of content can you generate to draw in that target audience?
- What content is out of date and needs to be updated?
- Should the sales team be more engaged in contributing content ideas?
- What are the most common doubts that leads have for the sales team?
Since we know how lengthy and complex B2B marketing can be, it is important for the sales and marketing teams to be in sync and work towards the same objective. This is where many B2B companies struggle.
Final Thoughts
As you’ve seen, there are a number of key challenges to consider when it comes to generating quality B2B sales leads. Not everybody can establish the framework—research, strategy, and streamlining the process—to convert those decision-makers into customers. Just as every B2B marketer experiences certain similar difficulties, there are a few all-encompassing techniques that can help you overcome these obstacles with ease.
For example, account-based marketing is another advanced method of B2B marketing that many B2B businesses are considering. This marketing approach enables you to focus on highly targeted prospects with hyper-personalization techniques to form meaningful relationships with the accounts. You can keep track of where your leads are in the funnel and respond to their needs effectively. The sooner you include ABM in your lead generation process, the easier it will be for you to get high-convertible leads.
However, it’s pretty difficult to get hold of everything or ensure that you’re following every entire customer experience if you have a lot of leads in the funnel. When you use marketing automation software, and various others lead generation software it’s easier to monitor customer information, nurture prospects through the funnel, and maximize income. And, once again, we’d like to remind you that a data-driven strategy is your ideal option. Data-driven tactics eliminate the opportunity for mistakes and protect the company from a huge loss in the long run.