Simple and Inexpensive Ideas to Generate B2B Leads for Your Sales Team

Finding simple and inexpensive ways to generate b2b leads can be challenging. We have selected a few low-budget ideas and tactics that you can start using today to generate leads for your sales or marketing team.

Referral marketing

Gaining new business opportunities that are high-quality can be difficult. When 9 out of 10 purchasing decisions are based on peer recommendations, referrals are pure gold.

The problem is, many of us are too scared to ask, worried we’ll place our newly found clients in an awkward position, it might put them off our brand and damage retention – right?

Apparently not – in fact, a whopping 91% of B2B buyers said they would be happy to provide referrals for a product they think is good and have gained ROI from.

This is a great sign, yet only 11% of salespeople ask for referrals, making it a highly underrated B2B sales technique.

I’m sure you’ve already got a happy customer or two in mind, so give them a call, talk about how they’re enjoying their new solution and ask if they would refer anyone – the worst they can do is say no!

You can also tap into your customer base and discover who has left you 5-star reviews or sent communications of praise and thanks. They obviously believe in your product and have no reason not to share it with others – especially if you offer them an excellent incentive to sweeten the deal!

Make the most of online communities

Identify online communities where your ideal customers are spending their time; this could include LinkedIn groups, forums, Facebook groups, etc. Connecting with these users by providing helpful content and answering their questions is a great way to earn trust and develop relationships – it’s likely that some of these people will start doing business with your company or refer others who do.

Sell paper for printers? Engage with forum posts about printing problems, or LinkedIn groups for companies that print posters, manuals, etc.

Sell software to small businesses? Engage in Facebook groups where small business owners are asking for recommendations on products/services they should buy.

Lead nurturing

Don’t stop once you’ve generated leads! Once you have an interested lead, it’s important to move the relationship forward by nurturing them through the sales funnel. This process often involves drip marketing – sending relevant content at consistent intervals using email or other communication channels designed specifically for marketers (i.e., HubSpot).

Lead nurturing is an excellent way to build brand awareness and trust, which is invaluable when attempting to convert leads into sales. For this reason, more companies are putting lead nurturing strategies in place regularly.

In general, lead nurturing is the process of continuing to engage with potential customers over time. In a home-based business environment, this could manifest through ongoing contact via phone or email.

When nurturing leads through B2B email marketing, try to automate your lead-nurturing efforts as much as possible. Automated processes allow you to save time and keep a consistent message going out to leads, even if no one is actively managing the campaign.

If you’re part of a small startup without dedicated B2B marketing resources, it may seem like there’s not enough time in the day to nurture leads. However, with the right tools and bandwidth, nurturing leads can be an efficient process that creates larger conversion rates down the line.