Lead generation is commonly defined as the process of nurturing prospects with the ultimate goal of converting them into customers. Lead gen often gets a bad reputation, and many think it’s the tactics themselves, such as cold calling and email marketing, that are responsible.
However, it’s the bad practice of these tactics that is truly at fault. As a leader in the space, it’s frustrating to see other folks deliver lazy, careless strategies for their customers without being stewards and students of the data or any real strategy.
Thankfully, my company builds revenue operations programs to bring marketing, sales, and customer service together with the goal of driving revenue growth for our customers. Lead gen is just one of our strategies. Nonetheless, it’s a key piece of what we do.
So without further ado, here’s my beef with other lead gen “partners.”
No systematic approach or consideration of retries, follow-ups, and recycling of contacts.
Too many lead gen companies take a “spray and pray” approach to email marketing. Without a systematic approach, they pull a new list of email addresses, blast them with emails, and call that a complete campaign.
Even if they manage to schedule a few meetings from this approach, without retries, follow-ups, or contact recycling, many lead gen companies end up burning through the client’s total addressable market (TAM). This often leaves clients with a tanked domain and few contacts to reach out to in the future. These companies operate with recklessness out of desperation to hit the “meeting guarantee” goal they told their client about during the sales pitch.
It might feel something like this…. New list, blast, finish, new list, blast, finish, new list, blast, finish, new list, blast, finish, new list, blast, finish, new list, blast, finish, new list, blast, finish, new list, blast, finish, new list, blast, finish, new list, blast, finish, new list, blast, finish, new list, blast, finish, new list, blast, finish, new list, blast, finish, new list, blast, finish, new list, blast, finish–okay, enough!
They own the reporting and define their own metrics, definitions, and interpretation.
When lead gen companies own their own reporting, the potential for misalignment and poor outcomes is ripe. For example, if a lead gen company sets meetings booked as one of their metrics but some of those prospects ghost their meetings, should those meetings still count toward their metrics? Without a full understanding of the existing stages and definitions the lead gen partner is now contributing to, how in the world can we measure pipeline contribution? Now, it gets measured differently, creating a disjointed process in which only a small percentage feeds into the actual real, operating pipeline.
It’s my firm belief that lead gen partners should have skin in the game, meaning their metrics match their client’s metrics. Even though we track the number of meetings booked, our key KPI is the amount of qualified pipeline generated - and this always aligns with our client's revenue goal.
They own the process.
Beware of any lead companies that claim they have a “secret sauce”. When a lead gen company owns the process and gives their client no visibility, that client ends up handcuffed to them. They’ll never be able to scale without their lead gen partner or flip the process into an internally operated strategy. The channel to the client’s pipeline will last only as long as their contract does.
In contrast, my team operates client-owned tools to deploy lead generation and manage rev ops within their tech stack. For a fun analogy... The client owns the restaurant, we are the (temporary) chef, and our partnership develops the recipes. Then, over time after small tweaks, we land on a five-star, award-winning dish the client goes on to be known for!
Their strategy isn’t tailored to your company.
No two companies develop pipeline the same, so why should their lead gen strategies be the same? Yet, I see one too many lead gen companies take the same basic approach with all of their clients:
- “Who’s your target?”
- The client shares what they think.
- “How’s this messaging sound?”
- Client signs off, but has no insight into what actually deploys or how prospects are responding in the inbox or if tweaks are made along the way.
- “We booked a few meetings!”
- Now that the meetings are booked, the lead gen company checks out. They don’t stay invested to see what the outcome of the meeting is and whether it progressed toward a legitimate opportunity for their client, much less closed revenue.
To learn an error-proof method for generating at-bats for the sales team, check out our post, The Science of Booking Meetings.
Generate Qualified Pipeline with Automation and a Dream Partner
It’s no secret how operationally skilled my team is, but what truly makes us strong is our strategy’s dependency on data and the math behind our campaign structure and performance. If you want to build a holistic product within your environment that will report, campaign, and generate for you forever, let’s talk. If you’re looking for a short-term gap filler of meetings, call the other guys.