B2B lead generation can help businesses gain more qualified sales leads and qualified appointments in no time at all.
But which service would be best for your business? Inbound? Outbound? A bit of both perhaps?
And once you choose the best option for your company, which agency do you choose?
You want to make the right choice as a business owner because you can end up paying between $2000 and $20,000 per month.
(Not to mention that some B2B lead generation services charge per lead. Which we don’t advise. Because you could end up paying between $31 and $908 per lead depending on the industry; As you can see, this can become pricey, and some leads might not even be a good fit for your business.)
You want and need a good return on investment.
Therefore it’s important to think about which form of lead generation would be the best for your business and then reach out to agencies that specialize in that specific field of lead gen.
In this article, we will discuss some forms of lead generation.
Such as:
- Linkedin outreach
- Cold email outreach
- Inbound Marketing
We will also mention some of the best lead-generation agencies according to their speciality.
(If you’re still at a loss of which form of lead generation to choose, feel free to hop on a free 15-minute strategy call with Salesbread, Our done-for-you lead generation service promises 20+ qualified sales leads per month or your money back.)
Inbound marketing vs outbound? Which to choose?
Inbound marketing has been said to be more cost-effective than outbound marketing.
This would include things like:
- Content marketing
- PPC
- Social Media Marketing
- SEO
- Linkedin paid Ads
When it comes to inbound marketing, you can expect to pay between $1000 and $10 000 in consulting fees, and inbound specialists can charge between $50 – $125 per hour, according to Upwork.
If you need to have a website designed, this can also increase your expenses.
And if you’re looking to outsource an experienced content manager, Payscale states that the average salary of a content manager is about $60 000 per year.
Social media specialists can charge between $200 and $350 per day, resulting in a cost between $6000 and $10 000 per month.
PPC can also become pricey over time, especially because of competition. Everyone wants to have the first spot on Google.
So when people say that inbound is cheaper, it’s not necessarily the case.
Yes, you could run your own social media pages or write your own blogs (which would be great.), but when your brand gets out there, you might need to outsource freelancers to help you out.
Comparing costs between inbound and outbound is much of a muchness depending on your needs.
The thing is to manage your inbound marketing campaigns strategically.
There are also some ways in which you can bring the cost down.
Remember, though, that inbound marketing can take time to generate leads.
This is especially true if you are a new startup and mainly use SEO to get your name out there. On average website optimization can take about 6 months – 1 year (or more) to really work.
So if you want your company’s name out there asap, then outbound is the way to go.
(At Salesbread 98% of our clients receive their first lead within 48 hours after launching the outreach campaign.)
Salesbread – Linkedin & Cold Email Outreach
Salesbread has been in the business of prospecting for over a decade. In the last 24 months we have generated close to 7000 qualified sales leads for our clients by using ultra-personalized Linkedin and cold email outreach.
Below we will discuss some of the services we offer and how we achieve our results.
Service 1: Linkedin Outreach
LinkedIn has proven to be a great source for generating B2B leads.
Why?
Well, for starters, this platform is excellent for targeting specific people, companies, or industries.
Not only are there tons of great lead generation tools such as:
- Linkedin Sales Navigator
- Clutch
- Expandi
- Bombora
But you can also use very specific filters to find your ideal target audience. You can get super granular with your prospecting lists and this ensures higher conversions.
Linkedin outreach is it’s a great way to send messages to people in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.
Everyone on Linkedin is there because they want to further their careers.
Therefore, if you send well-written, personalized messages that show the prospect that you are offering them something they can’t refuse (an excellent value prop because it will be useful to them), it can be easier to set up appointments.
People are also more likely to respond positively if these messages are personalized specifically for them.
Compare this to cold calling, for example.
How many times have you just said, “No thanks, I’m not interested,” even before the telemarketer began their pitch?
For me personally, it takes a REALLY superb SDR to get my attention over a phone call.
But stats have shown time and time again that people are more likely to strike up a conversation via LinkedIn messaging.
Have a look at some stats from Hubspot and other sources about LinkedIn lead gen:
And we have seen the exact same positive response when it comes to using Linkedin for B2B sales.
Look at some of the stats we have received from some of our Linkedin outreach campaigns.
Below are some replies that we have received:
You can read about how we received these replies in our case studies. One of the major reasons for the success of our marketing efforts is because of the amount of research that goes into finding qualified leads, building the perfect list, and reaching out with ultra-personalized messages. (Read here to see how we did it.)
How our Linkedin B2B lead generation strategy works
Our strategy is pretty simple and there’s no secret. BUT it does take time and tons of research.
(So if you are a busy founder and don’t have the time to implement this strategy yourself, hiring a b2b lead generation company like Salesbread might be helpful. It’s also good to note that we also help sales teams learn how to implement our strategy so that you can bring the entire process in-house.)
Our first step is building an ultra-refined prospecting list that is based on current buying data.
For example, we ask questions such as:
- WHO has been buying your product or service in the last 6 months?
- What patterns do all your buyers have in common?
Once you start seeing patterns it’s easier to build look-alike prospect lists based on data.
(This article: How to Build a Sales Prospecting List goes into more detail on how we do this.)
Next, we plug that list into Linkedin Sales Navigator and filter by our client’s 2nd-degree network and recently posted. This will help us to refine our list even further.
The reason for this – If your list is ultra-refined the chances of having more qualified business leads will be so much greater. There is no point in working along with an agency that promises thousands of leads, but hardly any agree to a booked sales meeting.
Once our list is perfect we will then research each prospect on the list and send them an ultra-personalized connection request.
We then follow up between 3-5 times and ask for a sales meeting.
NOTE: Our messages are written in such a way as to just get a foot in the door for further conversations. There are no sleazy sales pitches. We delve into deeper detail here.
Service 2: Cold Email Outreach
As mentioned above, we make use of LinkedIn and Cold email marketing campaigns.
By using a multi-channel approach to outreach, the chances of you engaging with potential customers will be higher.
Why?
Well, if you can’t connect with someone on Linkedin, you can always send them an email.
Our email outreach works in a very similar way to our LinkedIn methodology.
Step 1) Find the prospect’s email address/contact information
If a prospect did not reply to our follow-up messages on Linkedin, we would then look for their email address. (Note: You could also find their cell phone numbers and send them a personalized SMS, if they aren’t responding via email.)
Their email address might be listed on LinkedIn, or we will use other tools to find this information.
Some data mining tools and verification tools that we use to find potential clients’ emails are:
Step 2) Write a short personalized email
The next step is to write a short, personalized email.
People do not read lengthy emails.
You will need to think of something that will catch the prospect’s attention so that they actually open your mail.
Why?
- It shows the prospect that you have done your homework, and you’re not just a spammer.
- It creates better deliverability
- Personalization makes your cold email stand out
How do we do this?
Once again, by extensive research on the prospect.
Here are some examples of successful cold emails that we have sent in the past:
Step 3: Follow-up
We then send follow-up emails after three days. If they reply, great, you can then ask for a meeting.
If you need some inspiration on CTA’s, have a look below:
By following the above sales process, we are able to generate a minimum of a 12% reply rate.
Most of the time, it is usually higher than this.
See some stats below for some of our most recent email campaigns:
These sales methods have worked time and time again to add more leads to our client’s sales pipeline.
Lead nurturing, personalization, extensive research, well-written copy, and no sleazy automation tools are why many companies choose Salesbread as the go-to B2B marketing agency.
Pricing
For Linkedin and Cold email outreach, you can expect to pay between $2000 – $5000 per month.
And with this, we guarantee 1 qualified sales lead per day or your money back.
So if you need more buyers in your sales funnel, which will lead to higher conversion rates, we can cost-effectively help you without cutting corners.
Salesbread Reviews
Belkins – Appointment Setting
Belkins offers a variety of lead generation methods. From sales outsourcing to demand generation, b2b appointment setting and call center services.
They were founded in 2017 and also mention that they guarantee 20+ qualified leads per month.
Pricing
The minimum project size is $5000+ and you can expect to pay about < $25 per hour.
Belkins Reviews
Cience – Digital Marketing & Outbound Lead Generation
Cience offers a human-driven, AI approach to lead generation. Established in 2015 they have a large variety of lead generation services to choose from. They offer inbound, outbound and digital marketing services.
Pricing
The minimum project size is $5000+ and you can expect to pay about < $25 per hour.
Cience Reviews
Callbox – Telemarketing
Callbox mentions how they are one of the biggest and oldest b2b lead generation companies. They were founded in 2004 and offer full range lead generation services.
Some of their services include:
- Account-based marketing
- Telemarketing (call center services.)
- Event marketing
- Webinar and virtual event marketing
Pricing
Unfortunately, CallBox doesn’t list their pricing on the internet. You would have to schedule a call with them to find out which pricing option would be best for your business.
CallBox Reviews
If you want high-quality leads….
Do a bit of research on each company first.
This article:10 Questions to Ask a Linkedin Lead Generation Service is a good resource for questions to ask an agency before you partner up with them.
If you would like more qualified new leads and a lead generation process that guarantees 20+ sales leads per month, hop on a free 15-minute strategy call with us.
We would love to help you crush your quota.