How To Manage B2B Contacts - Filters For Qualifying B2B Lead Generation
Generating high-quality leads is indeed essential for the success of any business. However, lead generation is not enough. Businesses need to nurture these leads and convert them into customers by identifying the relevant ones and building a sense of trust.
According to Invesp, only 35% of companies have a dedicated lead nurturing strategy to boost their lead generation efforts.
So, what is the first step towards a successful lead nurturing process? It is managing B2B contacts. To qualify the leads, you need to have an excellent contact management strategy. This will help you identify the relevant leads while keeping the non-relevant ones at bay. It will also help you focus your marketing efforts in the right direction.
Let us now understand various criteria to qualify B2B contacts as strong leads.
1. Customer Behavior
You can tell whether a lead is interested in purchasing from you based on their behavior. Although the demographics of the leads play a major role in determining whether or not they are the right fit, it is their behavior that contributes to planning the lead nurturing strategy.
Customer behavior provides a comprehensive view of how potential customers engage with your company before making a purchase. Another important reason to consider customer behavior for qualifying leads is that this metric changes rapidly over a short time, unlike the other parameters that usually stay as they are.
With deep insights into behavior information, you can understand what the leads are looking for and customize your strategy in a way that meets their requirements. For example, leads who want to purchase a graphic designing tool will surely check out the tool’s pricing page. You can offer discounts or design a custom plan for them by observing what subscription plan they are looking at.
Monitoring customer behavior helps you build a winning approach for interacting with the leads and significantly boosts your win rate.
Check out this screenshot below. Our lead generation tool, LeadsChilly captures a detailed activity log from the leads and presents them in their lead profiles.
2. Company Size
The next important criterion that determines lead qualification is the company size. It is easy to tell how closely a lead fits your ideal customer profile (ICP) or target persona based on the size of the company.
According to a study by ReferralRock, 17% of businesses consider company size as an important factor for finding high-value B2B leads.
For instance, a B2B organization serving small and medium businesses would not wish to have an enterprise business as a lead. Hence, understanding the company size is essential for lead qualification
3. Valid Information
Verifying the information about the leads is a must to understand if they fit in the ICP. No matter what medium you use for capturing leads, checking the authenticity and accuracy of information is mandatory for lead qualification.
Here are a few details every lead you capture must have:
- Full name
- Valid email
- address
- Contact number
- Postal address
- Job title
- Company name
- URLs of social media profilesespecially LinkedIn
If the listed information is incorrect, the lead profile should be updated with correct information, if possible.
For example, every phone number must have a certain number of digits as per the standards. If the lead’s phone number has different digits, then that information is of no use. In such cases, it is ideal to connect with the lead via a different communication channel, such as email or social media, and request the correct phone number.
4. Behavior on Website
The number of times a lead visits your website is a crucial indicator for determining how they connect with your brand online. The more time a lead spends on your site, the more likely it is that they will be interested in collaborating with you. In addition to website views, sessions are an essential indicator for qualifying leads.
Here are some ways to observe the lead’s behavior on the website:
- Track the page views
- Monitor the length and frequency of their visits
- Check if they have subscribed to your blog, offers, or email lists
Monito the lead behavior for a period of 30, 60, and 90 days to gain deeper insights into their behavior. This data can be leveraged by AI-powered tools in predicting their actions and crafting a fool-proof marketing strategy.
To build long-term client loyalty, you must ensure that our customers are happy with your service.
5. Lead Engagement
You need to pay great attention to how the lead responds to your content and marketing efforts. You might see a chance for conversion if a lead has been interacting with you for an extended period by opening emails from you and downloading your lead magnet content.
6. Revenue/Value Potential for Lifetime
Lifetime value is one of the most crucial indicators to use (LTV) to find high-value prospects. A company’s lifetime value is based on how much money a client spends with them throughout their relationship with the company.
It’s not enough that a lead is valuable right now. Investing your time and effort extensively in them usually makes sense if they are likely to add value to your company over time.
7. Budget
Another key measure to monitor while filtering leads is the budget. When it comes to a purchase, the majority of companies have a certain spending limit in mind. Spending time on a lead who does not have the required budget for making a purchase is a complete waste of effort.
For example, if you are offering HR software at a monthly subscription cost of $150 and the lead has a budget of $50, it would not be an ideal customer for you. However, if the lead is ready to increase the budget to $100, you can offer them some discount on quarterly or annual plans. You can also convince them about the benefits your software offers and motivate them to make a purchase.
8. Completion of Form
Lead capture forms are a great means for understanding the lead’s interests. Design the forms to ask for more information in addition to asking for the lead’s name, phone number, and email address. Besides, you need to put in some effort and upfront disclosure on your form which will, in turn, help you determine the lead’s purpose and participation.
If a lead does not fill the form, in other words unresponsive, they are unlikely to purchase from you.
Summing Up
Lead qualification helps you shortlist the ideal customers from a huge database of leads. LeadsChilly offers an all-in-one tool to capture leads, qualify them for the sales process, as well as nurture them. It boosts your inbound and outbound sales efforts while providing the right details of the prospects.
Remember lead generation is a crucial process and it requires the right tools. Sign up for your LeadsChilly account today and kickstart your lead generation efforts.