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The Beginner’s Guide to Lead Generation

business concept of lead generation user guide
Reading Time: 7 minutes

Sales are the bread and butter of every business. Without an effective sales process, there are no leads, no conversions, and no revenue. It’s best to never stop exploring everything there is to know about lead generation.
Are you ready to discover how to create leads? This guide to lead generation and how to use it to increase your sales.


Lead generation is attracting and leading prospects from the awareness to the buying stage. It may also mean engaging strangers to convince them to become your buyers. People usually have unique interests and needs. Not everyone who visits your business wants your product on the spot. 79% of leads never convert into buyers.

Lead generation companies address low conversion by assisting in enhancing and elevating engagements. It’s different from demand generation, which focuses on raising brand awareness. Lead generation is all about ensuring you’re converting more qualified prospects. Lead generation companies look at each lead’s intent to inform engagements and boost conversions. 

 
A qualified lead is a potential customer who is aware of the benefits of your products. There are three different types of qualified leads these are:

  • Information qualified leads
  • Marketing qualified leads
  • Sales qualified leads

One big lead generation mistake you can make is to lump the needs of qualified leads together. This is where most lead generation firms and sales teams may come to blows. The sales team may target a bunch of leads who are not ready to buy.


An informational qualified lead is a prospect interested in your business but whose main intent is to learn. Please provide them with relevant information and gather their contact data to dip them into your nurturing pool. 
Marketing qualified leads are in the middle stage of your sales funnel, but they’re not ready to buy. These users are usually invested in your business because they regularly consume your content. 

The vast majority of qualified leads are MQLs. If you’re receiving a lot of traffic and engagements, you probably have a lot of them in your sales funnel. Just because they’re not ready to use your product doesn’t mean they’re trash. 

Sales-qualified leads are usually hotcakes for lead-generation companies. These leads are ready to buy and are probably only waiting for a product demo to take the crucial step. You’ll get more out of your sales team by ensuring your marketing team provides more SQLs. 


Improving your lead generation process is about ensuring more prospects become SQLs. This may call for a revamp of your entire sales generation process. 
You’ll increase sales if your entire sales funnel is designed with the user in mind. Here’s what your lead generation consultant recommends to boost leads. 


Buyer personas are a key part of your lead generation campaign. Personas assist you to understand your leads better and know how to engage them. 

A well-defined buyer persona gives you a better picture of what your leads are looking for. As a result, you can develop relevant content to assist your lead in addressing their pain points. Check data to define your buyer’s demographic, interests, behaviours, wishes, and values. Read reviews to understand your prospects’ pain points and expectations.

Understanding your buyer persona assists you in plugging the leaks in your sales funnel. You can attract the right prospect, which will assist you in increasing conversions. 


The crucial stage in lead generation is actually segmentation. To increase sales, you should send the right message to the right audience. And this is where segmentation assists. 

Segmentation assists in decluttering and bringing some order into your campaigns. It enhances lead nurturing by ensuring your message reaches people who are likely to embrace it. Segmented campaigns have 14.31% higher open rates than non-segmented campaigns. 


Personalisation is an integral pillar in a successful lead generation campaign. 60% of marketers say personalisation assists them to improve the quality of leads. Get familiar with your audience’s pain points and problems to get the results you want. Create data based on your segments rather than a generic content marketing approach. 

The key to sparking your prospect’s attention is to be empathetic and friendly. Remember, your prospect is a person, and they respond best to humanised content. Develop engaging content so that you can keep them looking forward to your next email.


A landing page is a tool you’ll use to convince leads to give you their contact details. You can sustain engagement and nurturing campaigns once you get their contacts. 

Many new prospects may find your website and fail to return for more content. Capturing their emails allows you to continue reminding them about your business. These prospects can trust you and agree to subscribe to your offers in the long run.

You need good copywriting skills and a lead magnet for your landing page to work. People need a meaningful reason to share their contacts. A lead magnet is an incentive to encourage people to take this crucial step. 

Some of the popular lead generation magnets include:

  • Ebooks
  • Case Studies
  • Webinars
  • Industry reports
  • Free trials
  • Giveaways

You may gate your content, especially if you’ve established authority leadership in your industry. Users may not feel welcome on your website unless they know you provide valuable content. 


A key part of building a landing page is crafting your call to action. A CTA tells your prospects what to do once they find your landing page. 

A good call to action is short, straightforward, and convincing. It uses active and personal language to encourage prospects to take action.


Now that you have a blueprint of how to generate leads, you should know the best B2B lead generation strategies. A well-planned marketing strategy can make a world of difference in your lead-generation efforts. 


Web and search engine optimisation are the foundation of a successful lead generation strategy. You’ll have more prospects transitioning to buyers by increasing traffic and boosting dwell times. 

Your website and content influence your prospect’s perceptions. Many users may not return if they have a rough experience on your site. The top reasons people leave a website are outdated design and bad content. 


All lead generation companies agree quality content is the lifeblood of a successful lead generation. If there’s one tool to bet all your money on for more leads, it’s good content.

Content marketing will assist you in sharing your thoughts and conveying your messages to your prospects. But they will only transition from the awareness to the buying stage if your message resonates with them. 

B2B Lead generation companies like Sales Focus Advisory will assist you in creating relevant content for your audience. You need high-quality content marketing assets to drive meaningful engagements with your prospects.


Email marketing is also one of the most valuable B2B lead generation tools. 78% of marketers say email is important to their overall company success. 

Email marketing is the best lead-nurturing tool, especially if you’re using email marketing software. It allows you to segment audiences and personalise messages which assists you in increasing conversions. 


As a B2B marketer, you’re leaving money on the table if you’re not actively engaging prospects on LinkedIn. LinkedIn by itself brings you close to thousands of global business professionals. The platform can allow you to build connections with key decision-makers in your industry. 

LinkedIn’s high level of user granularity is another reason to consider it for your lead generation strategies. LinkedIn ads can assist you in attracting more B2B qualified leads than any social media marketing platform. 


Paid search ads like Adwords can assist you to appear on the topmost part of the first search engine results page. They can assist you in attracting qualified leads to your website. 

Paid ads are the best for reaching out to buyers in the bottom stage of your sales funnel. Your prospect only needs a little nudge to convert into a buyer at this stage. 


According to the marketing rule of seven, prospects have to hear a message seven times before buying. Remarketing is one of the perfect lead-generation strategies for reinforcing your brand. 

For users who may bounce off your website, remarketing is a great way to draw them back. With a lot of distractions online, you can’t write them off. Retargeting can boost conversion rates by 150%. 

Try This Easy Way to Increase Your Leads
Building successful lead-generation strategies takes a lot of research and planning. It’s important to analyze your audience and determine their needs before building your strategy. 

Do you have the skills, tools, and patience to build an effective lead generation for your business? Contact us to get assistance from people with a proven background in building successful lead-generation strategies. 

If you found this article interesting, follow us on LinkedIn or subscribe to Our Insights on the right-hand column of this page to make sure you don’t miss new posts.

Articles you may also be interested in reading:

  1. Demand Generation vs. Lead Generation
  2. B2B Email Marketing
  3. B2B Content Marketing

 

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About the Author: Adele Crane

A leader in Implementation Consulting.
CEOs and Managing Directors have relied on Adele Crane to solve challenges with the performance of their sales and marketing since 1990. Her consulting experience in delivering results in 90-120 days is unprecedented by any other known sales and marketing consulting professional in the world. As an author of 3 acclaimed books, appearances on major media, and publications in USA, NZ and Australia, Adele’s experience brings fresh thinking and contemporary practices to business.