You don’t need more leads. You need better leads.

“We need more leads” is a familiar refrain heard in B2B meetings all over the world. What they really mean is we need growth, and “more leads” is seen as the way to achieve this. 

But “more leads” is an expensive trap that typically means: 

• More low-quality conversations
• More wasted time for sales teams
• More CRM clutter
• More follow-up that goes nowhere

Let’s face it. No one needs “more leads” – they need better leads that drive revenue and profit growth. 

What bad leads do to B2B sales teams

When leads are poor quality, sales teams:

• Spend time chasing unqualified buyers
• Waste hours on wrong-fit prospects
• Get demoralised
• Lose trust in marketing
• Lose confidence in the CRM
• Slow down follow-up efforts because it doesn’t feel worth it

If this sounds familiar, the issue isn’t your team. It’s the fact that you are chasing volume over quality. 

The dangerous myth of lead volume 

Lead factories and low-cost marketing providers have pushed the idea that quantity is the goal of lead generation. 

“We delivered 400 leads to you this month!” they exclaim. Well yes, they did. But 399 of them can’t buy, won’t buy or shouldn’t buy. So what exactly has been achieved?

All you’ve done is load up your sales team with a lot of legwork and pointless effort that will get them nowhere. You’re left with a frustrated team, eroded trust and you’re no closer to delivering revenue and profit growth. 

It’s not to say that those other 399 leads will never be a buyer in your category. It’s just that they are not ready right now (for any number of reasons). And pushy phone calls if they are not sufficiently educated, engaged and nurtured will push them away, not warm them up.  

The key is finding better leads to call – those that are in the category now and are actively looking for your solution. Quality beats quantity every single time. 

Unfortunately, the lead factories are one-trick ponies – they aren’t built to do the hard work of turning prospects into buyers over long B2B purchase cycles.

What exactly is a “better lead”?

A better lead is a prospect who ticks all the following boxes:

• In your ICP
• In the right revenue band
• In the right market
• In the right role
• Has an actual problem you solve
• Is showing signs of interest or buying intent

This is not just a list of nice to have qualities. It’s the difference between a 5% close rate and a 25% close rate.

Better leads are ready to buy

The likelihood of turning a prospect into a buyer hinges on a range of critical factors. A prospective buyer:

• Knows your category
• Understands the problem they have
• Sees themselves in your messaging
• Has been educated, engaged and nurtured
• Is close to taking action
• Converts faster and spends more

They need less convincing and more time having the right conversations. 

How ‘always-on’ demand drives lead quality

‘Always-on’ demand is the consistent activity that gently but assuredly moves prospects through the buying cycle at their pace. It is a multi-faceted but integrated approach that is built with growth in mind:

• Attract the right prospects who match your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile), not just random contacts that meet basic firmographic criteria. You define the prospect pool before you begin.
• Warm them up with content and nurture to drive awareness, education, consideration and intent. 
• Track buying signals such as engagement, revisits, opens, topic interest etc. There’s as much art as science to this part of the process. 
• Send only the best prospects to sales for qualification. 

It’s the exact opposite of what the lead factories do. That’s why we built The Demand Stream – to take a more discerning and less desperate approach to demand and lead generation activity. 

We’re all about helping you find better leads, not just more leads. If you want to spend less time taking more productive meetings with buy-ready prospects, talk to us today.