What type of B2B Leads Should One Pursue and Why

To be able to differentiate between types of leads is crucial for b2b success. It can actually help to determine the success or failure of sales. Enough know-how, experience and expertise are essential in determining the types of leads and to use appropriate methods to convert those leads. Those who pay close attention to the various parameters involved in differentiating leads can plan how to nurture leads too. They can then know where and how many efforts are needed for different types of leads often determining the ROI of the organization.

May be not all warm leads can become good leads to convert and maybe not all cold leads have any chances of converting. It’s a mixed bag and its takes a lot of understanding, patience and perseverance to know which leads need to be prioritized and which leads can wait.

So what are the types of leads in b2b lead generation and how does one know whether it is worth investing the times and efforts in a particular lead or not.

Depending upon the customer interest, intent, activity and data, marketers decide on the lead categories.

Warm Prospects:

One of the most intriguing and interesting leads for b2b folks are warm leads or warm prospects. These are the leads that are promising and have good chances of converting into business. But at the same time, one can’t assume that all these leads will always convert.

Warm leads or prospects have often heard about your company and have some level of brand awareness and have shown some level of interest in your services or products too. This type of lead could become a qualified lead over a period of time.

Warm leads do have the characteristics of becoming qualified leads and a lot depends upon how marketers seize the opportunity and navigate the warm leads towards becoming a qualified lead. Often different methods are used to do this such as offering content assets, content syndication, conversational marketing, email marketing etc. But if there is a lack of knowledge in terms of the exact details of buyer person or whether or not the warm lead is a decision maker or for a lack of overall data and buyer journey awareness, a warm lead may fail to convert.  

So is it worth your time and efforts to pursue such warm leads? It’s definitely a good idea to pursue these leads! A lot depends on factors such as subsequent engagement and responses from the leads. It’s better to reach out to these leads than a cold outreach on given day.

Warm prospects may have already given you some of their contact data in some or the other form. It’s up to the marketers then to seize the opportunity and make the most of it. Offering them something of their interest, spending more time in understanding the lead and reaching gout consistently through an email outreach can help you get them to move to the next step and guide them through your sales funnel.

MQL and SQL:

MQL or Marketing Qualified Leads are the ones that have all the potential to get converted into customers. MQL has engaged with you in a certain way by downloading that E-book or whitepaper or responded to an email outreach etc. SQL is that MQL which has been thoroughly validated and monitored for better assured conversion by the marketing team. These are the categories of leads where there is no guess work needed when it comes to successfully converting them. These are the good or hot leads which can be easily converted with proper nurturing and outreach. These leads are already being pursued and need further nurturing to convert them into business.

Conclusion:

Not all leads are alike, but if you have the right acumen and experience in differentiating leads and lead behaviour a lot can be achieved through this awareness. It’s important to keep an eye on the buyer journey and have the right data to validate leads at the right time.