Lead generation can be a complicated part of the sales process, even for veteran businesses. How it relates to marketing, customer service and the rest of your sales team can become muddled at most organizations.
Unfortunately, these unclear relations have created a lot of myths about the lead generation process, and like all myths, they need to be demystified. Here are the seven most prominent – and dangerous – myths about the lead generation process that you need to demystify at your company:
Myth #1: Complete Product Knowledge Is Necessary
Loading down your sales team with comprehensive details, demos and particulars about your software doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be better at qualifying leads or setting initial appointments. While product knowledge is important, it’s not the single pivot point for lead qualification.
Most lead generation experts have enough experience in the sales process that they’re able to seek out and qualify new leads for almost any software product or service imaginable.
Myth #2: You Need Plenty Of Your Own Success Stories
There’s no doubt that storytelling is one of the most powerful tools in the lead generation and sales process. Yet, many companies falsely believe that they need their own success stories in order to effectively win over new sales leads and close deals.
Instead, you should be sharing and spreading your customers’ success stories through client case studies, product reviews and user-generated content.
Myth #3: Partners Provide Plentiful Leads In The First Month
Any lead generation vendor that’s providing you with an abundant number of leads in the first month of your engagement probably won’t be doing so for long. Not only does a quick-and-easy approach often burn through relationships and harm your company’s reputation (resulting is less leads over time), but the leads they provide probably won’t match the quality you’re looking for (see Myth #4 below).
A proper lead generation provider shouldn’t just be a vendor, but rather, they should be a partner to your business, offering suggestions and building up long-term relationships with both you and your prospects. While initial ramp up might be slower, this relationship-based approach generates more revenue in the long-term.
Myth #4: Qualifying Leads Doesn’t Matter
While most businesses believe in qualifying leads, they usually don’t push lead qualification to the necessary level. Using the BANT method (Budget, Authority, Need and Timeline) isn’t enough when it comes to warming up a lead and qualifying them for a closer.
Remember that when it comes to B2B sales leads, quality always outweighs quantity. Quality leads convert, whereas a large quantity of non-converting leads wastes your time.
Myth #5: My Buyer Persona Should Be Set In Stone
Establishing a picture of the ideal buyer for your business software or product is always a good idea, but you can’t let your buyer persona become a permanent fixture. If your business is never flexible or adaptive when it comes to possible customers, you miss out on potential revenue.
Instead, you need to look past any myopic views you have of your current customers and search for leads in new areas or industries in order to discover new opportunities.
Myth #6: Lead Generation Doesn’t Require Customer Education
Just as we covered in Myth #4 above, establishing prospects’ BANT doesn’t mean they’re about to buy. In fact, BANT criteria are just the beginning of a long journey of customer education when it comes to B2B lead generation.
Whether you are teaching customers about your industry, addressing prospect pains or handling sales objections with a particular lead, educating your prospects through a variety of touch points is an absolute necessity throughout the lead generation process.
Myth #7: You Can’t Track Lead Generation Success
Tracking the success of your lead generation efforts is not just an unrealizable ideal – it should be a top priority for your sales team. Whether you’re tracking lead generation ROI, your lead-to-close ratio or a customer feedback loop, you need the metrics and analytics in place to help you make the right decisions for your business.
No matter if you have an in-house lead generation team or you’re using an outsourced partner, make sure they have access to quantitative data on every aspect of the lead generation and sales process to keep them – and your company – on the right track.
While there are plenty of other myths still out there regarding B2B lead generation, these are certainly the most critical to dismiss and demystify. Once these myths are busted in the minds of your sales team, they’ll be better prepared to generate qualified sales leads and close more deals for your business.