You send out a cold email to a list of prospects. Then, you wait. And wait. And wait. Finally, you get a response. But instead of the excited reply you were hoping for, the email opens with, “Who are you again?” and asks how you got their contact information. Ouch. This awkward scenario highlights an essential step in generating B2B leads: getting your emails noticed. After all, if nobody opens your emails, it won’t matter what you write in them. In this article, we’ll walk you through how to generate B2B leads from cold email. You’ll learn to attract and nurture high-quality B2B leads that drive conversions and business growth.  

Email infrastructure helps get your cold emails noticed. With the right email infrastructure, you can improve your cold email deliverability to ensure your prospects receive your cold emails. 

Table of Content

• What are B2B Leads?

• How to Generate B2B Leads

• Measuring the Effectiveness of B2B Lead Generation

• Start Buying Domains Now and Setup Your Email Infrastructure Today

What are B2B Leads?

B2B leads are contacts at businesses that are potential buyers of your product or service. They can be individuals or organizations. In either case, they’re qualified prospects that allow you to hone in on the right target audience for your sales efforts. 

B2B leads aren’t just any contacts, though. There are different types of B2B leads that all have unique characteristics. Understanding the differences between these leads can help you qualify them and improve your chances of conversion. 

B2B Leads vs. B2C Leads

B2B leads differ from B2C (business-to-consumer) leads, focusing on businesses rather than individual people. While B2C leads target everyday consumers, B2B leads focus on the companies that buy products and services to help them: 

• Operate

• Improve

• Grow

B2B leads can be much harder to find and qualify than B2C leads because they often require a more thorough understanding of the organization’s:

• Structure

• Decision-makers

• Purchasing processes

Finding and converting B2B leads can also be challenging because many traditional lead generation tactics yield only generic contact information. For instance, if you executed a strategy and received a contact for “info@company.com,” reaching this email address with a cold message isn’t likely to yield results. The recipient is likely a generalized inbox that no one actively monitors. If you do connect with someone at the organization, they may not be the ideal target for your sales efforts.

Your sales team can only work with B2B leads that have a person at the other end of the line. That’s why generating leads isn’t enough—you need qualified leads from promising sources. 

Different Types of B2B Leads

B2B leads are: 

• People

• Organizations

• businesses 

They can become customers for B2B (business-to-business) products or services. Unlike business-to-consumer (B2C) sales, these leads are generally other companies rather than individuals. Specific personal contacts and self-led small businesses can occasionally be B2B buyers.

B2B sales leads aren’t necessarily harder to find than B2C leads, but they can be harder to qualify and convert. While B2C leads will always be individual people, B2B leads can be somewhat of a mystery. Most traditional B2B lead generation tactics only lead to general contact emails, and let’s face it, no one responds to anything sent to an info@company.com address.

Marketing Qualified Leads

Marketing qualified leads (MQLs) are potential leads identified by the marketing team as likely to purchase a product or service based on crucial target criteria. They are typically not ready to buy but have shown interest in the company. Perhaps they’ve subscribed to your website or downloaded gated content.

MQLs are passive leads (or outbound leads) that should be passed down the lead funnel for nurturing to determine whether they’re ready for a sales representative.

Sales Qualified Leads

A sales-qualified lead (or SQL) is an active lead (or inbound lead) that has directly engaged with your company and sales team in some capacity. They may have requested a demo, called your sales department, or sent an email/message indicating their interest in a particular product or service.

These leads are essential for B2B lead generation and must be followed up with. Any lead that reaches out to you before you reach out to them should be fast-tracked through your sales funnel. Treat your SQLs as a top priority, and your sales statistics will soar.

The B2B Lead Gen Process

While the lead generation process varies depending on the particular organization, industry, target audience, and more, B2B businesses generally follow these common steps:

1. Identify B2B leads

The organization must find contact information for leads by executing specific marketing and sales strategies. The identification phase usually falls on marketers’ shoulders and might include: 

• Developing gated content on the company’s website

• Collecting company details via an interactive web tool

• Encouraging a particular audience to subscribe to an online event

2. Begin outreach

With contact information in hand, marketers and sellers can begin reaching out to leads to evaluate their level of interest. They can do so by using cold calls and emails, LinkedIn, and other social media messaging or by replying to questions submitted on the company’s site.

3. Qualify leads

Of course, only some leads fit the profile of an ideal customer. To be truly qualified, a lead should (among other specific criteria) be ready and: 

• Willing to buy

• Have the proper budget

• Decision-making power

• Have pain points that the seller’s products or services can solve 

To determine the proper next steps, marketing should bucket leads into three separate categories: 

• Research/awareness

• Consideration

• Decision 

Depending on where they fall on this spectrum, marketing or sales should select and share: 

• Appropriate content

• Execute product demos

• Conduct meetings with different decision-makers to move each lead through the pipeline.

4. Close leads

Once a lead purchase and the deal is closed, they officially become a customer. This can take several weeks or months to complete and requires: 

• Multiple conversations

• Negotiations

• Collaborative efforts from:

• Marketers

• Sellers

• Buyers

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How to Generate B2B Leads

15 Strategies to Generate B2B Leads Fast

Experienced B2B sales managers and reps understand how difficult the process can be. B2B lead generation is about much more than creating alluring content that catches the interest of every passerby. Marketers and sellers must employ intelligent strategies that help them appeal to the right potential customers at the right time. Casting too wide a net will waste the company's time and resources and lead sellers down a fruitless rabbit hole. 

But focusing all their efforts on the proverbial white whale (i.e., that ever-elusive, enterprise-level deal with a mega-budget) is just as risky since it ties up valuable time and resources that could be better spent pursuing multiple leads. A strong B2B lead generation process should leverage a variety of support strategies. 

Here are 15 strategies your organization can use to take their lead gen efforts to the next level: 

1. A/B testing and optimizing sales materials

There is no one-and-done secret to generating quality leads. Marketers and sellers must consistently tweak their approach to improve results. But it's equally important not to change too many things at once or too quickly, which will make it impossible to accurately measure what's working and what's not. The key here is to conduct A/B tests to find the sweet spot. 

Set a baseline for a specific area of improvement (like email open rate). Your baseline in this instance, would be the current open rate. Test different variables at different times and measure their impact on the overall open rate. Some variables include subject lines, calls to action (CTAs), tonality, send schedules, and link sharing. Equally important is A/B testing sales copy and enhancing UX on the company's site, which are crucial for attracting leads. 

Intelligent tools can speed up and make the testing and optimization process more effective. Some sales engagement tools, for example, use machine learning (ML) to identify what's working across teams so marketers and sellers can scale their lead-generation efforts easily. These technologies automate key sequences, making lead generation a more efficient process that yields positive results.

2. LinkedIn

Establishing genuine, timely connections on LinkedIn is a great way to get in front of leads, but getting it right requires some finessing. Sending out a generic InMail message blast to every potential lead likely won't get your team very far, but the platform is a precious lead gen tool when you engage with leads at a proven cadence over time. 

LinkedIn Sales Navigator can help sellers properly identify and research decision-makers and connect with them at the right time. Some sales engagement tools offer integrations with Sales Navigator, so reps can access everything they need (and the ability to execute lead gen activities) in a user-friendly platform. This saves the time it would otherwise take to toggle between various apps to: 

• Research

• Engage

• Follow up with leads                   

Within their centralized workflows, sellers can find: 

• New contacts

• View profiles

• Send connection requests

• Message leads

Ask a mutual connection for a warm introduction without ever leaving their engagement platform. The result is a more efficient sales lead gen engine with the power of LinkedIn at their disposal.

3. Referrals

A whopping 92% of buyers trust word-of-mouth recommendations from their peers; so its no secret that sellers bend over backward to build the trust and rapport required for a custom referral. In today's increasingly remote B2B sales landscape, referral selling is more valuable than ever, enabling sellers to attract high-quality leads without leaning on in-person interactions. This strategy is best used for larger accounts since it requires more resources to get it off the ground. 

Sellers and marketers can identify strong referral opportunities by finding existing relationships across a few notable categories: 

• Internal employees

• Partners

• Board of directors

Prioritize those connections based on the strength of that relationship. From there, the teams can: 

• Coordinate

• Organize

• Execute on a referral request plan. 

Modern sales engagement software eases the burden of this complex process using individual email templates and longer sequences. These enable referrers to send introductory emails and follow-ups with the click of a button.

4. Cold calls

Cold calling is a tried-and-true (albeit frustrating) strategy for generating sales leads. Most sellers cringe at cold calling, but the right tactics can make the process easier, faster, and more effective. In addition to leveraging some best practices like striking the right balance between quality and quantity, adopting a customer-centric mindset, using positive language, and verifying that they're speaking to the right decision-maker, sales teams should also use the right technology to take the pain out of cold calling. 

For instance, an intelligent sales engagement platform can track when reps connect with leads and when they don't. The right tool can help sellers identify: 

• The best time to dial

• Instantly identify and prioritize already-engaged prospects

• Automatically flag high-priority calls

Reps can focus on what matters: making genuine connections with high-quality leads.

5. Researching customer needs

Nine out of ten B2B companies agree that account-based sales (ABS) is a practical approach to the sales process. The foundation of a successful ABS strategy includes deep research into customer needs, sales and marketing alignment, and a large library of custom-targeted content. ABS is highly scalable and replicable, so focusing your team's outbound lead gen approach on various decision makers at a particular company can help them convert more leads at a faster pace. 

With ABS, all go-to-market teams play an important role for each lead in: 

• Researching

• Creating

• Identifying

• Executing highly-personalized strategies

This enables them to collaborate, target, and reach key stakeholders at crucial phases of the sales process, which helps to convert those leads into customers to: 

• Customize content

• Engagements

• Messaging

A strong ABS program heavily depends on a high level of personalization, collaboration across departments, custom-built messaging, and more, and getting it right requires the right tools for support. Using a sales engagement platform, sales teams can build: 

• An impressive library of email templates

• Call scripts

• Other content

Then they can: 

• Curate

• Categorize

• Share that content across all relevant teams

That way, each individual within the go-to-market team has everything they need to develop effective messaging for every touch point.

6. SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) has become a buzz-worthy phrase for salespeople and marketers alike, though many still need to start using it to their full advantage. Effective SEO helps get more eyes on a business's content and enables that business to demonstrate its knowledge in a particular space. For example, a B2B technology consulting company can drive more organic traffic to its website and generate more leads by creating optimized content that provides value to its intended audience. They might know that many customers are looking for holistic IT solutions that break down communication barriers and speed up operations. 

So they start by conducting competitive keyword research around relevant phrases, like technology solutions for operations and how to improve communication in the workplace. Depending on each term's search volume and the search engine results on its surfaces, the company can build helpful, thoughtful content that serves the appropriate user need (or optimize their existing content for organic search). Over time, they'll amass a large library of fully optimized, helpful web content that shows potential buyers they're thought leaders and understand customer pain points, which appeals to leads looking for empathetic, knowledgeable solutions partners.

7. Email 

Email marketing is a core element of lead generation and can be a valuable touchpoint in the sales cycle. Since 31% of salespeople say that sending one-to-one, customized messages is extremely effective, utilizing personalization throughout your email marketing campaigns can help generate better leads that turn into buyers. Thorough research into target accounts, social media, existing solutions, pain points, and more can help get the ball rolling on a winning email marketing campaign. 

But to generate higher-quality leads at a break-neck pace, sales and marketing teams need powerful tools that help them measure the success of their personalization efforts and repeat them at scale. Sophisticated sales engagement tools go beyond traditional CRMs like Salesforce by accurately measuring buyer sentiment, which leads to an emotional response to an engagement. They can categorize reaction buckets to better inform the next steps into:

• Positive

• Rejection

• Referral

• Unsubscribe

The result is a sales team that better understands its leads and can tweak its communications to move deals faster.

8. Reviews, Social Proof, and Testimonials

Social proof refers to the theory that people will mimic their peers' behavior regarding the solutions they purchase. Because peer recommendations are undeniably influential in selling, highlighting social proof is a no-brainer for generating leads. There are countless techniques for implementing social proof, but some common tactics include: 

• Featuring customer reviews on your website 

• Filming and sharing customer testimonials on your site and social media pages (with the client’s permission). 

• Building case studies that demonstrate how your product or service has solved specific problems 

• Mentioning your work with similar businesses

9. Events and Webinars

Hosting webinars and events (both in-person and virtually) provides a unique opportunity to identify high-value leads offer in-depth information about your: 

• Industry

• Company

• Solutions

It also connects with potential buyers. When people sign up for a webinar or event, they pass along contact information while also acknowledging their interest in your organization and/or its offerings. Since webinars and virtually hosted events are relatively budget-friendly, they're often a cost-effective way to stir up interest and get a pulse on companies in the market for a new solution. Armed with their contact details (and the assumption that they either want to make a purchase or learn more), marketers can execute post-event follow-up to convert those leads to opportunities. 

This step is infinitely easier with the right sales engagement technology, which can qualify leads, segment your audience, and determine whether they're ready to be contacted by sales or should continue to be nurtured by marketing for the time being.

10. Remarketing

There are countless reasons why a user might visit your site only to jump off the page. People get:

• Distracted

• Overwhelmed

• Decide they're not ready to make a purchase

• Start researching competitors. 

With remarketing tools, you can target visitors who land on certain pages with highly relevant ads on another website. If, for example, a user lands on (then navigates away from) a field service management software solutions page on your site, you can advertise an ebook about why field service management software is essential on another site. This encourages users to revisit your content and warms them up before you even attempt to reach out.

11. Warm sales calls

Speaking of warm leads, implementing a warm sales call strategy can push potential buyers closer to the finish line. Your lead gen process should carefully note those who have already engaged with your content or with whom sales and/or marketing have already been in contact. Instead of letting them fall through the cracks, reps should call those warm leads as their free trial approaches expiration: 

• A week or so after they've downloaded a piece of gated content

• A few days after, they attend a webinar

• When they cancel a product demo

The right technology can help teams fire up those warm leads without wasting time digging for information on previous touchpoints, responses, and more. Intelligent sales engagement platforms track and store all this information in a centralized place, making it easy for reps to determine how best to proceed.

12. Press releases

Issuing a press release is a fantastic way to generate buzz around your company, your products or services, and even your social efforts. News sources, digital media firms, and social media influencers can publish and share your press release to drive traffic to your website and social media profiles. You'll want to save this strategy for essential moments to avoid turning potential leads off, so consider the press release play when you: 

• Launch a new product or service 

• Earn an industry award 

• Announce an important event 

• Unveil a new integration or partnership 

• Are directly involved in a merger or acquisition 

• Make clear, genuine contributions toward social or charitable initiatives

13. Free incentives

The word free tends to capture the interest of an audience, so why not use it to generate leads? Free incentives can mean many things, so choosing the right ones is crucial for helping your team reach the right potential buyers. For example, while offering a free pizza to the first 500 people who subscribe to your email list will undoubtedly get people to sign up, it likely won't generate high-value leads that fit your ideal customer profile - unless your company sells pizza. 

A B2B technology solutions provider, for instance, will likely generate better leads by offering one of the following free incentives in exchange for a users contact info: 

• A downloadable guide for evaluating your existing tech stack 

• A user-friendly, interactive tool that calculates the ROI of digital transformation 

• A product demo 

• A trial for one of their basic SaaS solutions 

• The key here is to provide value that's directly tied to what your company has to offer

That way, you can be sure users aren't signing up strictly for an unrelated freebie and can more easily identify the interest level of those who choose to participate.

14. Diversified content strategy

As how buyers seek out, research, learn about and compare solutions evolve, so too must the types of content organizations create. While printing out product brochures and passing them out door-to-door may have been a practical approach for sellers in the past, today's B2B salespeople would likely find it hard to generate real leads using this same method. Today's purchasers consume various content before buying a product or service, so it only makes sense for marketers and sellers to mix it up to appeal to a broader audience. A healthy combination of these elements can help your team reach your intended audience wherever they are: 

• Ebooks

• Blog posts

• Emails

• Social media posts

• White papers

• Press releases

• Webinars, guides

• Case studies

• Video content

• Podcasts episodes 

Powerful sales engagement tools can even help your marketers and sellers determine the best time to share each type of content (based on buyer sentiment, historical data, etc.) and measure the recipient's response. Over time, your teams can make smarter decisions about which types of content yield the best results and which ones simply aren't worth the effort.

15. Chatbots

Chatbots, which are virtual assistants that typically communicate with human users through a website's interface, and invaluable tools for generating better-quality leads with less effort from your team. These savvy chatbots can categorize leads based on the information they provide and their questions. Suppose a user is interested in a demo. In that case, the chatbot can route them to the right resource or rep to answer if the customer has questions regarding a particular product or wants to understand better how your solutions can solve specific pain points; this increases the likelihood of conversion and gives your team a greater understanding of whos coming to the company website and what they're looking for.

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Measuring the Effectiveness of B2B Lead Generation

Conversion Rates: The Key Metric for Effective B2B Lead Generation

Conversion rates are critical for measuring the effectiveness of B2B lead generation strategies. Effective B2B lead generation significantly improves conversion rates, ensuring more potential customers take the desired action. For instance, increasing sales from a targeted email campaign from 5% to 10% means that B2B lead generation efforts helped double the conversion rate. 

Effective lead generation strategies: 

• Attract interested prospects

• Boosting sales

• Revenue by converting them into customers

With accurate data and personalized outreach, B2B lead generation maximizes the chances of turning leads into paying customers.

Return on Investment: Assessing the Profitability of Lead Generation Strategies

Return on investment (ROI) is a crucial metric to consider when evaluating the effectiveness of B2B lead generation strategies. Businesses can measure the money they make from lead generation to see if it's worth it. Positive ROI shows that resources for lead generation are resulting in more sales and revenue, making it crucial for business growth. Focusing on ROI helps companies find the best lead-generation tactics and improve their marketing efforts. 

Businesses can enhance their lead generation strategies by analyzing data on:

• Cost per lead

• Conversion rates

• Customer lifetime value

This analysis helps reduce acquisition costs and attract more qualified leads. This improves efficiency and maximizes profitability. It ensures that every dollar invested in B2B lead generation brings a big return for the company.

Lead Quality: Why It Matters More Than Quantity

High-quality leads are crucial for the success of any B2B company. These are potential customers who are genuinely interested in your products or services and are likely to become paying customers. By focusing on the quality of leads, you can ensure that your sales team is using their time and resources efficiently. This will result in more successful sales and overall growth for your business. 

Having high-quality leads means targeting the right audience with a genuine need for your offerings. This increases the chances of converting them into customers and improves customer satisfaction and retention. By attracting high-quality leads, you can improve your marketing and gain loyal customers who support your brand.

Start Buying Domains Now and Setup Your Email Infrastructure Today

At Inframail, we are revolutionizing cold email infrastructure with unlimited inboxes at a flat rate. 

We provide: 

• Microsoft-backed deliverability

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This helps customer outreach efforts efficiently like: 

• Agencies

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The main benefits of using our service: 

• Automated SPF, DKIM, and DMARC setup

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Unlike traditional providers that charge per inbox and leave you wrestling with technical configurations, Inframail streamlines the entire process. We handle the complex infrastructure setup while you focus on reaching more prospects. 

InfraMail provides the robust email infrastructure you need without the usual technical headaches and per-inbox costs, whether you're: 

• An agency looking to scale outreach

• A recruiter connecting with candidates

• An SDR driving sales

Start buying domains now and set up your email infrastructure today with our email infrastructure tool.   

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