While filling up the top portion of the sales funnel may sound good, this technique is no less than a waste of resources when those leads do not convert to sales. Obviously, this happens when leads are not qualified. One reason some companies do not derive much result from their lead generation campaigns is that they overlook the fact that lead quality has a direct impact on the success of a sales campaign.

To serious marketers, b2b lead generation, whether done through telemarketing or by any other marketing method, is not just a numbers game. To maximize your marketing effort, you need a system which is not only effective in producing leads, but sales-ready reads. Consider the following tips you can incorporate to your existing marketing infrastructure to improve your lead generation program:


1. Know your Market.
This may sound like common sense but worth mentioning anyway. Some marketers run a marketing campaign hoping to generate sales leads but end up wasting money and time selling to people who do not need their product. Know your market and identify who’s going to buy your products.

In addition, you must monitor your market to seek out excellent business opportunities. This includes relevant organizational changes in a company, business expansion, job changes / new appointments, or new businesses. New companies, growing / expanding businesses, newly-appointed decision makers and senior business people within your market are more likely to respond to new ideas and offers than others.


2. Define “qualified sales lead”.
Before launching a cold calling campaign, sit down with your team and decide on a satisfactory set of criteria that would constitute a qualified sales lead. Having a clear definition of a qualified sales lead will have a huge impact on the result of your lead generation program. It will also ensure that you will not get sidetracked by leads that do not match up with your prerequisites.


3. Put your best reps forward.
Once you have sufficient information about your market and have a clear understanding of what you are trying to achieve, choose the best people from your team who will implement your lead generation strategy. Do not just grab some unfortunate admin assistants or interns to sit on the phone and start making blind calls while you pray. Choose people with proper training, experience, and passion for the job, and give them a targeted list of prospects to call.

If you don’t have an in-house sales team, you may outsource lead generation to a reliable b2b marketing provider with excellent track record of calling into your target market or industry.