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Faced with a lengthening buying process, overcrowded purchasing committees and (above all) buyers who are moving forward underwater, sales and marketing departments have to deal with a new microenvironment, turbulent but full of opportunities, where there is no room for approximation, banality or trial and error.
More than ever, sales representatives need to be able to rely on a well-oiled lead generation system to carry out their (delicate) job.
Companies have understood this very well since they allocate at least half their marketing budget to lead generation, and this is the top priority for 85% of them.
This does not stop the majority of salespeople from criticising the quality of the leads they receive. A rebellious project? More like a problem of alignment
Even if the saying goes that sales reps are never satisfied with the quality of the leads they receive, the overwhelming majority of them believe that LeadGen will never be obsolete… as long as it doesn’t blow hot air.
In this feature, we bring you a series of exclusive articles on this issue, which is crucial to the sales performance of B2B companies.
You’ll find analysis and practical advice from LeadGen experts in three expert articles, a webinar, an interview, infographics and an ebook.
B2B Lead generation: the lead you’re trying to generate has changed
It may be chestnut in the B2B sales and marketing press, but the buyer you’re trying to engage no longer responds to the tactics of a decade ago.
Sales cycle benchmarks have taken a hit, with the average buying journey gradually moving away from the traditional 6-month average and more towards 12 months, driven by three main factors:
- Infobesity, accentuated by the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022;
- The expansion of purchasing committees (from 14 to 23 people);
- More exogenous factors such as the intensity of competition, technological developments and the fall in budgets during the pandemic period.
🔗 To find out more:
- You can read our analysis of the context, issues and challenges of LeadGen in 2024 ;
- Our interview with Maxime Chouin, Director of Advertising at Infopro Digital, gives an overview of LeadGen in 2024.
Prospecting remains limited by the quality of leads and the autonomy of buyers
In addition to the challenge of extending the sales cycle, there are the ‘business’ constraints faced by sales departments, in particular the shortage of talent, a familiar theme that entered the HR literature in the 1990s and has never really left.
And even if companies succeed in recruiting and retaining their sales force, they will still have to undertake in-depth work to prepare the ground for the new prospecting:
- Complete or, at the very least, initiate the digital transformation, to be able to accurately quantify the contribution of marketing to sales performance in the broadest sense;
- Give yourself the time and resources to align marketing and sales. On average, the degree of alignment between sales and marketing is no more than 16%;
- Give salespeople the resources they need to perform effectively in the face of the B2B super-buyer: Sales Enablement, Data, training, coaching, AI, etc. The aim is to avoid the trap of the “quotation-giver”, who only intervenes in the last third of the sales process, and instead play the role of a “sense-maker”, capable of helping the buyer move towards solving his problem.
🔗 To find out more, take a look at our analysis of the context, issues and challenges of LeadGen in B2B in 2024.
In addition to the basic work, what levers can you use to generate leads quickly?
Aligning the Sales and Marketing teams is a fundamental task that will probably keep the company busy over the long term.
In the meantime, you need to create value and generate revenue.
Decision-makers will need to activate the levers that are most likely to improve the quality of leads passed on to the sales force. The composition of the toolbox should be guided by objective and, if possible, sector-specific indicators, such as the average ROI, the average cost of customer acquisition, the timing of the first results and the difficulty of implementation.
🔗 We have done this work based on recent studies. Check out our top 5 LeadGen levers in 2024.
[Webinar] Experts give you the roadmap to reinventing your lead generation
Once you’ve decided which levers to use to generate leads in the short term, you’ll need to implement them properly.
To help you, Hafid Ouchene, Managing Director at BBC Bircher Smart Access, and Axel Huyghe, Director of Digital Development at Infopro Digital Media, give you a roadmap to deploy today in this webinar.
Speaking of webinars, they are indeed an excellent way to generate leads when integrated into a well-thought-out strategy. Discover all our best practices to make them a key lever:
[eBook] Solutions to reconcile your sales teams with leads
Your company dedicates a significant portion of its budget to lead generation. It may even be the top priority for your marketing department.
Yet, your salespeople continue to lament the poor quality of the leads they receive. This results in a direct loss on your budget, creating friction and undermining your commercial performance. How can you reconcile your sales force with the leads? How can you provide them with the fuel they need to showcase their talents and close deals? Find the answers in our eBook.