Lead generation efforts whether online,social selling or via sales team can be one of the most underestimated activities in a business in terms of cost,time and the resources needed. The reality is that before a sale transaction happens (even if your B2C business is on-line), there is a process of generating leads (web traffic, inbound,outbound,on-line, events,shows, etc) and in many cases nurturing these leads over a period of time to turn suspects into prospects into sales. So before any sales happens, a business especially in the B2B environment needs a healthy and continuous pipeline of new prospects to sell to.

Generating leads is challenge for most companies 

Generating sales leads is a daily challenge for most companies and according to Forbes Magazine, more than 60% of the marketers polled in a recent marketing survey said their greatest marketing challenge for the year ahead was generating more sales leads to fuel the sales engine, and nearly two-thirds (63%) reported that their marketing mix either doesn’t meet sales demand or they’re unsure of whether their mix is effective. Nearly 40% of those polled cited accurate measurement and attribution of on-line marketing as their biggest challenge.

Remarkably, a quarter (26%) of respondents said they do not track leads to any marketing program at all or they only attribute leads to one program. The old saying about “They know half their marketing spend works but not which half” seems to still ring true more than ever.

Lead generation can be costly (clicks, CPL, sales hunters) so the business needs to educate everyone that without lead generation there is no customer acquisition and probably no sales. It must be the role of every sales and marketing leader in a company to boost sales leads and reduce the cost of filling the pipeline funnel. This needs to be attacked on two fronts, on-line marketing (push,pull,inbound, lead nurturing) and good old fashioned sales work as lead generation cannot be the function of marketing alone. There is now B2B automated lead generation solutions on the marketplace which radically reduces the time sales agents have to spend identifying prospects.

However, lead generation is more than just implementing passive activities like social media, inbound marketing or on-line marketing tactics, the lead generation effort must work hand-in-glove with the sales teams work including social selling, hunting activities around customer acquisition and channel development. Successful companies know how to build a lead generation machine using multiple networks and sources and then fill the sales funnel with qualified prospects on a continuous basis. Most small companies fail not because of product or they can’t sell but because they can’t build a big enough sales funnel of quality prospects in a timely,cost effective way to work the sales process to drive revenue.

There are multiple lead generation tools and resources, for social selling there is LinkedIn, Crunchbase, Owler and other business forums. For on-line inbound lead generation, communities like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr can deliver leads. B2B lead generation solutions which cut down on sales peoples time trying to get lists of prospects are provided from companies like Connectors Marketplace, Insideview, Sales Loft and Lead Genius.

Cost per Lead Generated

Regardless of where or how a business sources its sales leads, the cost per lead in customer acquisition needs to be measured across all the channels. The goal is to try and work back which channels delivered not quantity of leads or lowest cost per lead but the channel which delivers the best lead to conversion cost. An example of this is while the good old fashioned trade show might be considered very effective in generating high-quality leads, they are also expensive (maybe as much as €10,000 per lead) and what is the lead to conversation cost?.

So build a lead generation process, score or segment every lead, cost every lead and educate all the sales team that when they get handed a lead it has cost the business money to get to the point of just talking.