Do You Want More Leads or Good Leads?

What is it that will help marketers achieve their goals: more leads, or better leads? That leads to the question of whether quality or quantity is more beneficial when it comes to lead generation.

In a recent report from Ascend2 and HIPB2B, three-quarters of the 183 B2B marketing professionals asked said that they needed to increase the number of leads they receive in the next year to meet their goals. Additionally, they expressed that generating quality leads is more challenging (42%) that generating enough leads (33%).

Quality Leads vs. Quantity of Leads

Some marketers out there believe the more leads they get, the better. In theory, that makes a lot of sense because the more leads you have, the more likely you are to make sales. Also, it probably sounds better to say that you generated 10,000 leads last month than to say you only generated 150, but they were all good. As a result, casting the net wide is a popular marketing tactic. However, it’s important to note that it’s likely that out of the 10,000 leads generated last month, only a tiny percent of those will actually become customers. And it’s going to take the sales team a lot of time and effort to find that few quality leads among the thousands. Therefore, targeting high-quality leads instead of just any leads will help reduce the time and expense of getting your target audience to your site.

What Makes a Lead High-Quality?

If you’re going to target high-quality leads, you have to know what they are. When talking about lead quality, it’s sometimes easier to define what isn’t high-quality. The leads that are not quality leads are those that have no interest in talking to someone in sales. These low-quality leads may be captured for a number of reasons. Some leads may be performing research on your product, service, or industry, but they have no intention of making a purchase. They may simply not have the budget to make a purchase now. Whatever their specific reason, these leads are not likely to buy anything from you.

Conversely, high-quality leads are well-informed, highly motivated, and ready to act sooner than later. These leads have the influence and organizational power to approve budgeting to make a purchase. The key is having the motivation and the power at the same time.

When these key attributes are present, the leads will be more responsive to sales efforts. There is a greater likelihood that quality leads will buy quicker and at a higher rate, which is great for your bottom line.

How can marketers find these leads? There are some things you can do that will help you reach the high-quality leads you’re looking for.

Improving the Quality of Inbound Leads

The following steps will help improve the quality of inbound leads.

Ensure that marketing and sales are aligned. This might sound rather obvious, but many organizations operate with these teams each in its own silo. However, when sales and marketing are aligned and their goals are mutual, both sides will better understand what kind of leads the business is looking for. As a result, they will work together toward the same objective.

Target the right audience. If you don’t already know who your target audience is, you need to create buyer personas that summarize the customers you typically sell to. Now you need to determine where you will be able to reach that audience best. For example, it may be specific social media platforms or groups within those platforms.

Tailor your content to your audience. Once you know where your audience is, you have to create content relevant to them – something that actually interests them. Impersonated generic email isn’t the way to go. Your content needs to speak to your audience specifically. You need to know what they are talking about and what is important to them to do that. Do some research on the current trends for engaging your target audience.

Should You Focus on Lead Quality or Quantity?

Obviously, you want both – a higher quantity of high-quality leads. That means prioritizing both but focusing on attracting and acquiring the best type of leads for the business. With the steps above, you can use quality and quantity to drive the overall success of your lead generation efforts. Remember, generating quality leads will take some time. But if you trust the process you’ve put in place, you’ll see the benefits come in over time.