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Top 7 Mistakes Companies Make When Trying to Generate Leads In-House
Leads are a fundamental part of developing a sales pipeline for B2B companies. You’ll already know that, and you would’ve already started to generate leads in-house. But, that doesn’t mean you’ll be seeing the success you would’ve wanted.
This doesn’t mean your in-house lead generation team isn’t trying. Instead, it could mean they’ve fallen victim to more than a few lead generation mistakes. These are why the in-house vs outsourced lead generation debate continues to rage.
Many people see in-house lead generation as a more cost-effective approach to take. But, they’ll overlook the many pitfalls they could fall into.
It’s always worth knowing about these, and why they could cost you countless sales and a lot of wasted time and effort. Let’s dive into some of the more common of these, and how they can affect your B2B lead generation strategy.
Lead Generation Mistakes: 7 to Be On the Lookout For
1. Not Defining Ideal Customer Profiles
Clearly knowing who you’re targeting is an essential part of generating qualified leads. Targeting anyone and everyone is one of the main reasons why in-house generation fails. You might get a few appointments, but many of these wouldn’t be qualified leads.
That’s where ideal customer profiles come in. These are the people most likely to buy the service you’re offering, so they’re the ones you should be targeting.
First, however, you’ll need to define them. If you don’t, you could end up talking to the wrong people at the wrong companies. Your sales outreach efforts wouldn’t be as effective as they should be.
These ideal customer profiles matter for more than a few reasons:
- Better segmentation allows for more targeted and relevant messaging.
- You should end up with more qualified leads and higher conversion rates.
- You’ll use your resources much more effectively, leading to a better return on investment.
Your ideal customer profiles should include various criteria. Geography, pain points, job title, and similar criteria will all be a large part of this.
At The Lead Generation Company, we work with you on your B2B lead generation strategy from the start to include these ideal customer profiles. We use a targeted approach to make sure leads are as qualified as possible.
2. Lack of Consistent Outreach
One of the more common lead generation mistakes is not consistently investing in outreach. It’s not just a one-and-done approach. Sending a few emails or making a few calls here and there isn’t going to be enough to generate leads long-term.
If you’re not consistent with the effort you put into it, you wouldn’t see consistent results. Your lead generation campaign falls flat because of that. Consistency is vital because:
- It takes multiple touchpoints to generate a qualified lead.
- It builds familiarity and trust with potential clients.
- A structured and consistent follow-up increases response and meeting rates.
The more consistent you are with the effort you put into it, the more results you should see. These improve as time goes on, helping you generate an even greater return on investment as time goes on. With this structure, fewer qualified leads slip through the cracks.
3. Poor Quality Lead Data
Data is vital for a lead generation campaign. Without it, you’re not in a position to reach out to anyone. Poor quality data could mean you don’t have the proper contact information for potential leads. It could be outdated, or even inaccurate in the first place. This leads to wasted resources and a lot of wasted effort.
A lead generation audit can help you figure out if you have the appropriate contact information and other data. But, getting it wrong in the first place could be a major mistake.
Even if the lead generation strategy you want to take is air-tight, it falls flat when you have poor quality lead data. This leads to more than a few risks, with some of the more notable being:
- Low connect rates on calls.
- High bounce rates on emails.
- Reaching inactive contacts.
Quality lead data takes time, effort, and the right tools to source. But, it’s vital to generate leads in-house. More than a few steps are involved in this, with researching verified contacts just being the start.
It also means validating details regularly to stay up-to-date, maintaining GDPR compliance, and more. Your data is the foundation of your lead generation campaign. It needs to be properly validated for your lead generation to show proper results.
At The Lead Generation Company, we know that all too well. We invest heavily in accurate and verified databases to build your campaigns from. Alongside this is conducting multi-step verification to make sure our outreach efforts reach the most relevant and appropriate people possible.
4. No Tech Stack or CRM Integration
B2B lead generation involves having the right systems in place. Many in-house outreach teams believe that it’s all about manual outreach. This is one of the largest differences in the in-house vs outsourced lead generation debate. Outsourced providers know that having the right structure in place is vital.
Your tech stack and CRM integration is a core part of this. Without this, tracking your efforts and following up when you’re supposed to gets more and more complicated. Some of the more common tech gaps we’ve seen are:
- No CRM or a lack of CRM adoption company-wide.
- A lack of automation for task reminders, email sequences, and more.
- No centralised data for sales, marketing, and other departments to align from.
To be effective, your lead generation team needs to have a fully integrated tech stack. This should cover every part of your workflow, from prospecting all the way through to conversions.
This makes sure your team can properly align their efforts, helping you to see greater results as time goes on. While it means making a noticeable investment in your tech stack if you’re keeping everything in-house, it should help you see a greater return on investment in time.
Perform a lead generation audit to see if there are any gaps in your tech stack. If there are any, fill them in as soon as possible. Since this could be a sizable investment, it could be much more cost-effective to use an outsourced lead generation agency that already has these tools.
5. Underestimating Time & Resources Required
Companies who don’t have much experience in B2B lead generation often believe it just involves making a few calls and sending a few emails. They might even add in sending a few LinkedIn messages. This is one of the more common lead generation mistakes you can make.
A comprehensive B2B lead generation strategy involves a lot more than that. The reality of an effective lead generation campaign is:
- Sales development representatives need to dedicate a lot of time and effort to generating and converting qualified leads.
- Lead generation messaging needs to be tested and improved upon regularly.
- Following up with potential leads needs to be done in a structured manner, as well as promptly and in a timely manner.
- Lead generation campaigns need ongoing optimisation and quality assurance.
Almost none of this is realistic if you have team members who are trying to fit their lead generation efforts alongside other duties. It’s essentially a full-time job in itself; you wouldn’t see proper results if you take a more part-time approach.
Performance will suffer, follow-ups will get missed, and you’ll see more than a few other hiccups. Even an employee’s other responsibilities could suffer because of it.
With The Lead Generation Company, your lead generation strategy gets the time and attention it deserves. You’ll have a dedicated team working on your campaign so you can avoid the mistakes and hiccups an in-house team that isn’t dedicated might end up making.
6. Not Tracking ROI Properly
You’ll dedicate a significant amount of resources and investment to your B2B lead generation. It’s always worth knowing what your return on investment is for this. But, you can only know this if you’re properly tracking your metrics to see what your actual ROI is.
Failing to put the effort into this in a structured way is one of the larger mistakes you can make. More than a few issues and hiccups could have a significant impact on this.
Reporting can be patchy and inconsistent, for example. This results in you not having a clear picture of what’s actually going on. Alternatively, you mightn’t have set defined key performance indicators before you implement your campaign. This makes everything even blurrier as time goes on.
Set these in stone early and make sure you actually track them. Some of the more important metrics you should track include:
- Contact rate
- Response rate
- Meetings booked
- Conversion rate
- Cost per lead
- Cost per sale
If these aren’t properly tracked and measured, it’s almost impossible to see whether your lead generation strategy is actually working. You can’t figure out if you’re getting a proper return on investment during your campaign.
Even worse, you could end up investing in efforts that underperform, costing you more time, money, and energy as time goes on. This could mean you’re not focusing on tactics that actually work and generate more sales and revenue for your business.
7. Not Knowing When to Outsource
One of the most notable lead generation mistakes you could make is not knowing when to bring the experts in. Countless companies keep pushing through with their in-house efforts, not realising what they might be missing out on. This compounds each of the mistakes above even further.
Scaling up your lead generation efforts will be an increasingly uphill battle when you’re doing this. It can be more and more frustrating, especially when you’re not scaling up your sales pipeline as you would’ve expected.
Countless companies believe that outsourcing means admitting their in-house efforts have been a failure. That isn’t the case. It just means they could be improved upon. It’s a strategic – and smart – move in specific circumstances, like:
- When your internal team is already at capacity, but you need more lead generation.
- Campaign results are stalling and starting to plummet.
- Sales aren’t closing as much as they should because of poor lead quality.
- You want to scale as quickly as possible.
- You’re entering a new market or targeting a new B2B segment.
The in-house vs outsourced lead generation debate has raged for years. Proponents argue the benefits of both sides. While either approach could be effective, it doesn’t mean you can’t run into mistakes. That’s especially true with an in-house team.
By using an outsourced lead generation agency, you gain instant access to ready-made infrastructure, performance accountability, and industry knowledge, among other benefits.
You’ll avoid countless lead generation mistakes and sales pipeline issues while seeing the benefits that a comprehensive lead generation strategy has to offer. You can still continue to generate leads in-house, and use an outsourced agency to compliment your approach.
Or, you can outsource it completely so you can focus on closing on sales. You’ll see a much better return on investment because of it.
Let The Lead Generation Company Help You Avoid These Mistakes
There are plenty of reasons why in-house lead generation fails. This can be despite the best of intentions by your company. These then lead to sales pipeline issues, a low return on investment, and relatively low revenues.
Don’t fall into that trap. Work with an outsourced B2B lead generation agency that actually puts your needs first. At The Lead Generation Company, we take a comprehensive and client-focused approach to all of our lead generation campaigns.
We work with you to avoid any pitfalls while maximising the return on investment you see with your lead generation strategy. From start to finish, you’ll see a knowledgeable and detail-oriented approach to building and implementing your strategy.
As an award-winning B2B lead generation agency, we have a ready-made infrastructure designed to help you scale your sales and bring in new leads. There’s no reason we can’t take your lead generation to the next level.
Get in touch today to request a quote on your lead generation campaign. A member of our expert team will be in touch as quickly as possible.
