Lead generation – Interesting facts
Each decision you seem to make about your brand or business surely affects the revenue cycle. Considering the extra time, you take or the effort you put in, it is best to hire a lead generation agency. This way, you can focus more on revenue performance and less on how to generate leads and prospects.
The truth is, many businesses seem to neglect lead generation and marketing. We all know from the fact that lead generation is a good factor for any business but what do the figures and stats tell us?
- 1 dollar spent on marketing generates 3 times more leads and prospects as compared to traditional marketing.
- More than 74% of the companies do not know anything about their prospects or the revenue cycle.
- Companies that value lead generation generates 50% more sales.
How to hire the best lead generation agency for your business?
There are obvious and potential benefits of working with a lead generation agency to restore your sales cycle. However, it takes time and effort to find a good one. Here are some tips that you can use to find the best one as per your company’s requirements and target audience:
- Look for an agency that has experience in the field
Hiring an agency without experience just because it is offering the services at a low cost is the biggest mistake you can make. While an experienced lead generation agency could lead your business forward, an inexperienced agency will only increase the hurdles that you face in digital marketing.
- Start looking for reputable agencies first
There’s a huge difference between an agency that provides quality and the one that provides services at a low price. To succeed, you need to look for reputable organizations but how can you find one? Look for their blogs, their websites, the testimonials, the reviews, the feedbacks, their packages, and the quality of services they offer.
Is their social presence good? Have they developed multi-channels to promote themselves? If yes, then it is a company with satisfied and loyal customers.
- An agency should have a variety of strategies for everyone
A good lead generation agency implements flexibility in every plan. There’s no ‘one-size-fits-for-all’ solution for all the businesses. The difference in the target audience, the market, leads search and lead generation tactics to have a huge impact on the revenue cycle.
One must implement digital marketing and SEO lead generation techniques according to your business. What worked for others might not work for you. So, hire a company that has worked with multiple organizations/businesses.
- An agency should work as per your values and corporate structures
It is good to hire an agency that has a lot to offer. Giving innovative and creative suggestions is not a bad thing unless it contradicts with your corporation’s values and reputation. Make sure that the agency values professionalism.
- Ensure that they provide realistic ROI estimates
Even the best lead generation agency cannot take your ROI to the peak. Being told that the strategy they implemented 100% is unrealistic. ROI estimates should be as realistic as possible. Chic sales presentations and estimates mean nothing if you see no progress in the return on investment rate.
- Make sure that the agency focuses more on ROI
Leads and prospects mean nothing if they do not contribute to your ROI in the long-term. When hiring an agency, consider the quality of the leads they generate. Do they provide life-time value leads? Are they going to get you repeatable sales?
- The agency must be tech-savvy
Digital knowledge is the most important factor to consider. Always hire an agency that knows well about all the SEO techniques, social media presence, and customer buying behaviors. The internet modifies itself almost daily. Check if the agency changes its strategies as per the latest internet technology.
- Look for licensed/certified agencies
Certifications show the experience as well as the specializations of an agency. It is the certificates and the badges that separate the best and worst lead generation agencies.
Look for an agency that’s a certified Google Partner. Google partners have access to the necessary training and courses so that they could improve their work. If you need help in a specific area, look for companies that have expertise in what you want.
- Look for the quality of services, not for the quantity of services
When it comes to lead generation, quality wind over quantity. Of course, businesses want as many sales as possible but what’s the point of generating leads that won’t benefit your business or your sales cycle in the long run? The majority of the leads provided will be of low-quality, regardless of how much they are in number.
Instead of hiring an agency implementing cold calling techniques, look for the one that focuses more on the target audience. The number of leads might be lower but they will make repeatable sales.
- Inquire about how they find leads and prospects
Inquire about the approach an agency uses to get you new leads and prospects. Some of the agencies use telemarketers to build a list of prospects. These kinds of leads are low-quality and are not sustainable at all. Their ultimate goal is to make revenue by selling large lists of prospects.
Look for agencies that work on long-term content marketing strategies to bring you high-quality leads. This factor will surely increase your sales, if not anything.
- Opt for the omnichannel approach
Most of the agencies go for content marketing strategies over one channel to produce leads. However, the method becomes more effective if they choose the omnichannel approach. The omnichannel approach is the one that uses multiple channels and ways to reach consumers and potential customers.
With an omnichannel approach, the prospects or consumers could easily reach the brand through the website, phone number, social media, etc.
- Make sure to check the reporting criteria
Reporting to the partner is a crucial factor to consider when hiring a lead generation agency. Businesses need to know the number of leads built and the rate of generation per month. It is essential for the agency to report the data back to the business so that they can monitor the sales and see if their strategy is effective enough or not.
Business owners should always look for agencies that are transparent in reporting.
- Keep the agency on the trial period first
Even if the lead generation company is not experienced, it can bring a lot of leads and repeatable sales for the business. There’s no harm in trying out various agencies before you can sign the long-term contract with the best one.
A year-long contract is the best way to find out if the agency is fit for your business or not. Use the trial period proficiently by observing the services that the agency is offering.
What to expect from a lead generation agency?
If you are already working with a lead generation agency, here’s what you can expect:
- Increase visibility
Every agency is concerned about increase your brand’s visibility on the internet for maximum sales. Using life-long SEO techniques will be their top strategy to bring the spotlight on your business. effective lead generation techniques bring organic ranking and traffic to your website.
- Smart solutions through automation tools
The aim of the lead generation agencies is to provide smart solutions to bring you the maximum leads. They leverage the automation tools as they are more efficient than traditional marketing strategies.
With powerful automation tools, you can level up your digital marketing game in a few days.
- Expertise on demand
By working with a lead generation agency, you can demand expertise in their area of specialization. You can gain access to their knowledge, tactics, and expertise relevant to generate sales.
Benefits of hiring the best lead generation agency
Here are some benefits of hiring an experienced outsider lead generation agency:
- Expert on-spot assistance
When working with a lead generation agency, you can have the assistance of the marketers, branding masters, social media strategists, conversion analysts, SEO experts, writers, copy editors and graphic designers.
To support your in-house marketing team and solve the complexity of your marketing campaign, a lead generation company provides you with expert assistance.
- No need for cold calling
Cold calling is not good for your business. Moreover, only 2% of cold calls go successful. With an agency, you will spend less time cold calling and more time talking to the prospects interested in your product.
- You can focus on other matters too
Working with a lead generation agency gives you the leverage of focusing on other things than getting prospects. With all the responsibilities on their shoulders, you can work more in increasing your ROI and establishing the revenue cycle.
- Fresh ideas for getting prospects
Lead generation agencies always come up with fresh ideas to increase the brand’s visibility and sales. You can try different techniques and expose your brand to various audiences for possible sales.
- Leads are handled the right way
Leads and prospects mean nothing if you can’t use them to improve your sales cycle. However, with strong content marketing strategies, the agency can use the quality leads the right way for the business, without having to build large lists.
Conclusion
Hiring an external lead generation company has many upsides. However, it comes with potential negatives as well. while considering a lead generation agency for your company, make sure that it will deliver long-term results for you in the future.
