Generating leads and qualified demand is the quintessential goal for any B2B company. Having a high-quality pipeline helps brands to meet their sales targets and drive sustainable growth. But many demand marketers and growth leaders fail to factor in a human approach to selling, preventing them from reaching their full potential.
Let’s double-click here. In this blog, we will explore underrated, yet powerful strategies to help you generate more leads. You’ll discover how to optimize your sales process with the help of behavioral science principles. By implementing these techniques, you can strengthen the effectiveness of your lead-generation efforts and experience tangible results.
Let’s dive in!
Low-Hanging Fruit: Start with the easy opportunity.
When it comes to lead generation, there are often immediate opportunities that can be easily tapped into. These opportunities, often referred to as “low-hanging fruit,” require minimal effort to convert into leads.
By focusing on these quick wins first, you can generate the momentum needed to support other initiatives.
Here are some pointers on how to identify and capitalize on the low-hanging fruit:
a. Engage with the Engaged:
- Analyze your existing customer database, website analytics, and lead tracking systems to identify contacts who have shown strong engagement with your brand.
- Look for prospects who have interacted with your content, downloaded resources, or engaged with your marketing campaigns.
- Segment and prioritize these contacts based on their level of engagement and their potential to convert into leads.
b. Retargeting Ads:
- Launch retargeting ad campaigns that specifically target contacts who have shown interest in your products or services.
- Display personalized ads to remind them of your offerings and incentivize them to take the next step.
- For example, if a user has abandoned a pricing comparison page, you can retarget them with a compelling ad offering a bonus to sweeten the pot.
c. Outreach and Follow-up:
- Reach out to contacts who have expressed interest in your products or services but have not yet converted.
- Personalize your outreach messages to address their specific needs and pain points.
E.g. “Choosing the right CRM platform can be difficult and at this point, you’re probably weighing the pros and cons of our solutions and that of our competitor. Here’s why we are head and shoulders above the rest:
- Name industry accolades
- Name the case study highlights from a customer who also felt torn between two options.
- Follow up consistently to nurture these leads and guide them through the sales funnel.
- E.g., If someone has signed up for a free trial of your software but hasn’t upgraded to a paid subscription, send them targeted emails highlighting the additional features and benefits they can access by upgrading.
d. Irresistible Offers:
- Create irresistible offers for contacts who recognize the value of your product or service.
- Share resources, tools, bonuses and services that make it hard to pass up the opportunity.
- Develop exclusive discounts, limited-time promotions, or free trials to entice potential leads.
- Craft compelling messaging around the unique benefits they will gain by taking advantage of these offers.
- E.g., A marketing agency can offer a free website audit to businesses that have expressed interest in improving their online presence.
By focusing on these low-hanging fruit opportunities, you can leverage existing engagement and interest to drive conversions.
“The key is to identify these prospects, personalize your approach, and provide them with enticing offers that make it difficult to resist taking the next step.”
Once you have successfully captured the attention of potential leads and they have taken an initial action, such as signing up for a trial or downloading a resource, it’s crucial to nurture their engagement and guide them toward conversion.
By sweetening the pot, you can build upon their initial engagement and increase the chances of qualifying leads as opportunities.
e. Next Step Campaign:
- Launch a targeted “Next Step Campaign” to invite contacts to build upon what they’ve already started.
- Provide a clear and compelling call-to-action that encourages them to take the next logical step in the customer journey.
- For example, if a user has signed up for a free webinar, follow up with an email inviting them to a more in-depth training session or offer an exclusive resource related to the webinar topic.
b. Leverage the Ovsiankina Effect:
- The Ovsiankina Effect is a behavioral science principle that taps into the discomfort of leaving tasks incomplete.
- Craft your campaign messaging to leverage this effect by highlighting the sense of progress and accomplishment they can achieve by continuing the journey.
- For instance, if a user has started filling out a form but hasn’t completed it, send them a personalized email emphasizing how close they are to accessing valuable information and encourage them to finish the form.
c. Personalized Recommendations:
- Analyze the user’s previous actions and interactions with your brand to offer personalized and practical recommendations.
- Suggest additional products, services, or resources that align with their interests and needs. Bonus if you can help them achieve a goal based on their recommendation.
- Use dynamic content and automation to deliver customized messages that resonate with their specific preferences.
By sweetening the pot for engaged contacts, you can motivate them to take the next step to engage further with your brand.
Leveraging the Ovsiankina Effect, personalizing recommendations, and offering exclusive upgrades or rewards are effective strategies to encourage continued engagement and conversions.
Remove the Blockers: Overcoming Obstacles on the front end.
To generate more leads and drive higher-quality demand, address the internal and external factors that may prevent prospects from investing in your products or services.
By removing these blockers, you can streamline the sales process and make it easier for your sales reps to win more deals.
Here are some pointers on how to remove the blockers:
a. Internal Objections:
- Identify the common objections or narratives that contacts may have about why they cannot invest.
- Conduct customer surveys, analyze feedback, and engage in one-on-one conversations to uncover these objections.
- Work closely with your sales team to develop targeted content that directly addresses these objections.
- E.g., if a common objection is the perceived complexity of your product, create educational resources, tutorials, or FAQs that simplify the understanding and usage of your offering.
b. External Objections:
- Determine the external factors that may prevent prospects from investing in your products or services.
- These factors can include economic conditions, competitive alternatives, or lack of awareness about the benefits you provide.
- Develop marketing campaigns that specifically target these external factors and position your offerings as the ideal solution.
- E.g.: if your target market is hesitant to invest due to economic uncertainty, emphasize the long-term cost savings and return on investment that your product offers.
c. Content Development:
- Work with your content team to create a comprehensive content development plan that directly addresses internal and external objections.
- Develop blog posts, whitepapers, case studies, or videos that provide evidence, testimonials, and success stories highlighting the value of your offerings.
- Optimize your website and landing pages with persuasive copy that overcomes objections and provides clear solutions.
- E.g., if a common objection is the perceived lack of scalability of your software, publish a case study showcasing how your product has successfully scaled alongside a growing business.
d. Create a Playbook including Proactive Processes:
- Create a playbook of proactive processes that you can implement to drive leads and fill your pipeline.
- Establish clear guidelines and protocols for lead generation, nurturing, and follow-up.
- Monitor and analyze data to identify potential blockers or bottlenecks in your lead generation process, and iterate on your strategies accordingly.
- Continuously optimize your processes to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
Hot Take:
Implement lead scoring to prioritize high-quality leads and allocate resources effectively.
By actively addressing internal and external objections, developing irresistible offers, and implementing proactive processes to prioritize engaged contacts, you can generate more leads and drive higher-quality demand for your business.
Conclusion:
By implementing the strategies outlined above, you can prime your lead-generation process and experience significant business growth.
And if you need help implementing these ideas or would like to brainstorm further,
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