Every B2B or B2C business dreams of having a lead generation strategy that fills their sales pipeline on overdrive.
It’s not impossible to achieve these days with all the lead generation services available as well as the technology on hand.
But why are businesses still complaining of trickling sales and low revenue? Not to mention the amount of money and time they pour into lead generation.
The truth — it’s not a problem to generate leads but…
All they churn are low-quality leads that do not really need their services. Or the leads haven’t been qualified and nurtured properly. As a result, they end up abandoning the cart, so to speak, when asked to buy.
In this post, we’ll go over the three steps that make up a winning and high-converting lead generation process.
The Anatomy of a Lead Generation that Converts
Every strategy has a foundation, a basis from where all tactics are created. If you’re not able to nail the foundation, everything else will fail.
Basically, every lead generation process revolves around these three steps:
- Attract
- Engage
- Convert
Attract
Here’s the million-dollar question: how do you attract your target market?
This step has nothing to do with your product or service. Why, you might ask.
It’s the step where you have to define who your ideal client is. Before you can start attracting your market, you need to be very specific who you want to deal with.
It’s a very vast market out there. And if you’ve been wondering why you keep on getting low-quality or non-converting leads, go back to your buyer persona.
How specific are you?
Let’s say your business is in the healthcare industry, which segment of the industry are you targeting — psychologists, dentists, surgeons?
You can also add how much they’re making in a month. If you’re targeting psychologists, how much should they be making monthly to qualify?
Related: 25 Best Lead-generating Marketing Strategies for B2B Companies
Engage
What do you do when you engage your prospects? You communicate with them.
And we know that communicating is more than just talking to them. Effective communication is being able to understand and be understood. It’s about being able to convey your message clearly and the other side feels heard.
With that said, let’s take a look at your message. Is your message relevant to your target? Does it resonate with them?
The only way for you to create a message that speaks to your prospect is to listen to them.
According to a survey conducted by the RAIN Group, buyers are influenced by sellers who listen to them. Sadly, only 1 out of 4 salespeople know how to listen and these are the ones who close the sales.
The same principle applies to your lead generation strategy. Learn to listen in order to create content that will engage your future buyer.
One way to gauge whether your message is appealing or not is to read it to yourself. Put yourself in your prospect’s shoes.
- Do you find the piece of content you created engaging?
- Is it compelling enough for you to respond to the call of action?
Here’s a tip — you are your number one customer. If you are not convinced or engaged, don’t expect your prospect to do otherwise.
Related: Engaging Different ABM Buyers: From Executives to CxOs
Convert
Now, we come to the final stage of the lead generation funnel. It is where they make a decision — to buy or not to buy.
So what’s your unique selling proposition? What is that X factor that makes you stand out against your competition?
Whether you like it or not, you’re not the first in the niche or the industry you’re in right now. You have a lot of bigger competitions that have been in that space longer than you. But that doesn’t mean you cannot thrive. You can and you can even grow.
Let’s take a real life example from Blue Bottle Coffee, a small coffee startup that became a $700-million brand.
Their unique selling proposition was selling literally freshly roasted ground coffee. Second, their simple and unique logo (the blue bottle) is a head turner in itself.
The coffee restaurant industry is already crowded with Starbucks dominating it. But because Blue Bottle decided to go the extra mile, they soon expanded to 75 chains both local and abroad. It attracted celebrity investors to invest and soon Nestle bought a bigger share that boosted Blue Bottle’s value to $700 million dollars.
So again, here’s the question — what makes you stand out among the competition?
Related: 2 Surefire Strategies that Increased My Conversions by 70%
Are You Up for the Challenge?
An effective lead generation process is not only one that converts. It should also be dynamic and flexible. But no matter what new strategy you’ll add, don’t forget these three core foundations — attract, engage, and convert by:
- Clearly and specifically defining your buyer persona
- Creating a message that resonates to your prospects and,
- Having a unique selling proposition
Nail these three and you’ll find your sales pipeline filled with high-converting prospects.