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How To Evaluate B2B Lead Generation Companies



Lead generation is an essential aspect of bringing in new customers. Leads are potential future customers and can be reached in many different ways. Within the B2B space, outbound and inbound marketing are often combined to create the right environment to attract these new leads. 

With inbound marketing taking up a lot of resources, and often taking a while before they bring in a positive ROI, more companies are dedicating their resources to outbound marketing. This is the practice of reaching out to get in touch with your potential customer base rather than waiting for them to come to you.

Today, there are many ways to reach out to the potential customer base, each with their benefits. Reaching out helps companies bring in new leads even when they’re just starting out. Waiting for marketing strategies such as Search Engine Optimization can take a long time whereas outbound strategies usually become fruitful faster. 

Using strategies like email and Linkedin outreach, which both belong in outbound marketing strategy, can often bring in leads way before inbound marketing strategies will. Because of that, more companies are seeing fantastic results, whether they’re just starting out or want to boost their monthly incoming leads. 

When you’re starting within the lead generation space, you want to make sure to work with the right companies. A proper company can bring in the results your company needs to reach your monthly goals. Picking a great lead generation company can take some time. But, once you have everything set up and running, you will see the results your company needs to grow.  

In this article, we will go over the types of lead generation and how to evaluate a B2B lead generation company. We will also look at several lead generation companies that are known for bringing in a positive ROI.

Different types of lead generation

With the Internet being incredibly broad nowadays, the B2B marketing space has grown exponentially and is still growing. The Internet has brought tons of marketing opportunities for companies that want to sign new deals. 

Back in the day, most companies would have bought a list of contacts, have their sales team reach these contacts by phone and do a pitch to see if they could demo and sell their product. Today, a lot has changed within the B2B lead generation space. 

Instead of cold calling all day, you can now generate leads from right behind your computer. The best part is that you can automate a big part of the work, meaning you can reach out to several leads before your B2B sales team can even pick up the phone.

B2B Lead Generation strategy

Meaning

Outbound emails

Sending emails to prospects that fit your target audience in order to start a conversation to see if your solution can fix their problems

LinkedIn

Sending messages to ideal prospects to understand their issues

Facebook groups

Posting within groups to find new prospects that might be interested in your products or services

B2B Lead generation through outbound emails

Everybody has an email address, and more importantly, everybody has a business email address. This means that you can reach anybody by email nowadays, especially the people that might be interested in your product. 

Buying email lists is not recommended, as many countries have laws that do not allow you to reach out to someone with a sales pitch. Instead, you should always first build a relationship with someone or at least have a great reason to reach out to them. If you do, you can send them an email to see if they’re interested in your product.

Outbound emails are great for B2B lead generation as they’re easily scalable. Personalizing these emails is advised, and when you have a list of contacts to reach out to, it only takes the click of a button to send out dozens of emails at the same time. 

When it comes to outbound emails, you shouldn’t try to sell your product or service in the first sentence. It’s all about showing interest in your potential customer, seeing what they’re struggling with, and understanding whether your product or service is the right way to solve their problems. In the end, that will always bring the right results and will help you use outbound emails to reach your monthly goals.

Some factors to pay attention to when launching outbound emails:

  • Make sure you pay attention to GDPR in Europe and similar laws around the world

  • Put extra effort in your subject line. It will make or break your campaign

  • Do not SPAM your prospects but try to establish a relationship with them

  • Only email people/companies within your target market

B2B Lead generation through LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the biggest professional networking platform in the world. The platform allows you to find the people who might be interested in buying your product or service. 

Let’s say you want to sell a solution to CTOs within companies with at least 500 employees in the Bay Area. LinkedIn allows you to use their search engine to find all CTOs within the Bay Area that work for companies with at least that number of employees. You can then use this list to see which companies fit your potential customer criteria and create a relationship with them. Through LinkedIn, you’re able to find a lot more companies than you would find using Google, as LinkedIn has a lot of data about that company. 

LinkedIn also provides several options to establish relationships with these CTOs. You can connect with them on the platform and even add a simple connection message focused on why you want to be part of their network. 

You can also use sponsored InMails, which are sponsored messages that show up in people’s LinkedIn inbox. Once people are part of your network, they will see your updates, and you can send them longer messages to see if they want to talk about how you can potentially fix a problem that they’re currently coping with. 

Another great way to turn your LinkedIn network into leads is by leveraging B2B content marketing and sharing your content on your LinkedIn profile.

In short, here’s how B2B lead generation on LinkedIn works:

  1. Use Sales Navigator to find prospects within your niche

  2. Collect data about these prospects

  3. Reach out to these prospects through InMail and by connecting with them

  4. Start a conversation once they have accepted your connection request

  5. Establish a relationship to understand their problems and figure out whether your product or service can fix their problem

Finding B2B leads in Facebook groups

Another strategy companies use today is posting in Facebook groups with members that are within their target audience. Let’s say you want to sell a product that fixes problems with software-as-a-service businesses. 

There are several groups on Facebook that are purely dedicated to this market, allowing you to connect with these people. Again, directly selling something is not advised, as you are more likely to see great results when you establish a relationship with your potential customers. Share your expertise, and only then ask them if they’re willing to see how your product or service can fix their problem.

How to find the right Facebook groups:

  1. Go to Facebook.com and click the search bar

  2. Enter the main keyword, such as “B2B Startups”

  3. Click the “Groups” tab in the top menu

  4. Now go through the groups and join interesting groups

  5. Answer the questions and accept the group’s terms in order to join the group

How to evaluate a B2B lead generation company

In short, pay attention to:

What

Why

Quality over quantity

It’s better to hire a company that will send you a handful of qualified leads a day instead of hundreds of unqualified leads.

Portfolio with similar companies

You want your B2B lead generation company to understand your needs and your market.

Pricing matters

Cheap is often not the right choice as companies may cut corners to offer a lower price.

You want a positive ROI

ROI is everything with your B2B lead generation. Work with companies that can show you positive ROI in case studies of companies they’ve previously worked with.

SPAM-free

Sending a lot of unsolicited emails will get your domain blacklisted, meaning email clients will mark your messages as SPAM. Avoid this at any cost. 

B2B Lead generation companies have one single goal: providing you with valuable leads that might turn into potential customers. Though some B2B lead generation companies will promise you as many leads as possible, quality is more important than quantity when it comes to leads. 

It is better to receive ten leads a day that become nine customers, than have 100 leads that only turn into one customer. It will save a lot of time, which is especially crucial at the early stage of the company. This is one of the most important factors to take into account when you’re starting your search for a good B2B lead generation company that can deliver great leads.

Another factor to keep in mind is the way they generate these leads. Are they running paid ads? Or, are they reaching out to potential customers to find out what they’re dealing with and how your solution can fix their problems? 

The best B2B lead generation companies help you establish a relationship with your potential customers rather than hard-selling them the product or service that you’re offering. It’s all about collecting information about your potential customer to qualify that your product or service is the right solution right now. If it’s not, you’re just wasting your own time and resources, while also doing the same to a potential lead. When the time comes and they are ready to pick a solution like yours, they’re less likely to contact you because they didn’t have a great experience in the first place.

Also, take into account that the B2B lead generation has an excellent track record of running campaigns that turn into a positive ROI. When it comes to generating leads, it’s not difficult to reach out to a lot of people. 

However, if you’re investing thousands of dollars and are only seeing hundreds of dollars rolling back in, it’s a waste of money. Great B2B lead generation companies know whether they can run a successful campaign for you and how to do it. They can even show you results from previous clients so you can understand how these campaigns paid off for them. When they can do it for other clients, they are much more likely to do it for your company as well. 

How to do a cold email campaign 

Before we take you to a list of B2B lead generation companies that are known to bring in a positive ROI with their campaigns, we also want to explain how you can do a cold email campaign yourself. 

At Anyleads, we’re all about ensuring that our customers can run the right cold email campaigns that turn into campaigns with a high ROI. After all, you want to invest money to make more money, and that’s what we’re all about.

In short, here’s what you need to pay attention to while doing your cold email campaign:

  1. Create a profile of your ideal customer

  2. Find prospects based on your ideal customer criteria

  3. Find the decision-maker within that prospect company

  4. Write an engaging email about the problem you fix

  5. Send the engaging email to your target prospects

  6. Schedule follow-up emails 

Starting a cold email campaign can be very easy once you get the hang of it. It all starts with knowing your target audience. You’re most likely aware of what your ideal customer looks like. You know their role with the company, where the company is, what their day-to-day looks like, how many employees the company has, and the different markets these companies are serving.

When you know this, you can use Anyleads to find potential leads to reach out to. By using our filters, you can find a list of hundreds or thousands of leads fitting these criteria.

Through our software, you can also set up an entire cold email campaign yourself. Cold emails are all about making sure you create curiosity on your potential customer’s end. 

Having a great subject line and an outstanding copy is part of that. However, making sure your emails actually get delivered is even more important. Once they’re delivered, you want to know whether the receiver has opened the email, whether they’ve clicked a link and also if they responded. When they’re not responding, you might want to follow up to spark curiosity and entice them to respond to your emails. 

With Anyleads, all of this is thrown into a single system, helping you create cold email campaigns from scratch that may turn into positive ROI campaigns. Today, reaching out in the right way to hundreds of people is hard. However, Anyleads solves that problem by finding the right leads and making sure they receive the right message at the right time. Eventually, they can turn into lifelong customers for your business.

Some aspects to take into account:

  • When you’re running outreach campaigns, you need to know how to write engaging emails

  • Signing up for Anyleads and doing your own email outreach is cheaper than hiring a partnering agency. But, at the same time, these agencies are more experienced with setting up campaigns than someone on your team 

  • Your success is based on the prospects you reach out to. Make sure you pay attention to the criteria of your target audience

Anyleads Approved B2B Lead Generation Companies

At Anyleads, we want to make sure that you are running ROI-positive outreach campaigns. We have partnered with several high-quality agencies that can help you achieve great results. Below you will find a list of our partners, so you can pick the right agency for your new outreach campaigns. 

Within the partner companies, we look at:

  • Whether they provide prospects and/or reach out to them

  • Their location and the languages they cover 

  • The different languages they provide

TheSalesBoosters

The Sales Boosters is an agency dedicated to connecting B2B companies to new potential clients. Their B2B Lead generation services will help you expand your company portfolio. They can help you find the right customers through Anyleads and set up your outreach campaigns to turn your prospects into leads. TheSalesBoosters works with companies around the world and has an English and Dutch team ready to run great campaigns. 

LEADMTCH

If you are looking for a budget-friendly solution to generate B2B leads, Leadmtch can help you get access to thousands of companies that fit your target audience. They will also help you write emails and set up your cold outreach campaigns. As a partner of Anyleads, they have access to a massive list of companies around the world. 

Mixdata

The French team behind Mixdata can help you access French B2B lead generation. The company has access to millions of companies around France that will fit your target audience. Their tagline is “Smart data for sales & marketing acceleration”. All company services are compliant with GDPR, helping you launch legal marketing and sales campaigns. 

ScaleRep

The tagline of ScaleRep is “Leads In. Revenue Out. It's That Simple.” Their main objective is to help you launch scalable marketing and sales campaigns to boost your B2B lead generation efforts. The campaigns they have launched so far have seen ROIs of up to 10x, showing that the team behind ScaleRep really knows the ins and outs of creating a fantastic outreach strategy for your company’s products and services. 

Outbound.net

Outbound.net provides B2B lead generation services for startups and brands. They can help you explore the companies within your target audience that match your criteria. As an Anyleads partner, they will be able to help you create the perfect cold emails to send to your prospects and turn them into qualified leads.

GrowFactor

The professionals behind GrowFactor know the ins and outs of understanding your target audience and creating perfect profiles. These profiles are then used to create big lists of companies that match specific criteria. GrowFactor can help you in researching the decision-makers within the company, so you know who to reach out to when you are trying to generate more leads. 

ITB

This Brazilian B2B lead generation company can help you launch campaigns in countries such as Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Mexico, and other Portuguese or Spanish speaking countries. They also provide lead generation campaigns for English speaking countries. ITB will help you reach markets around the globe to generate new leads and fill your sales team’s pipeline. 

GrowthResponse

GrowthResponse helps B2B startups and Agencies get sales meetings with their ideal customers. When it comes to selling, you want to start with getting the right leads. Growthresponse will help you tap into your target market by helping you find hundreds or even thousands of leads that fit your ideal profile. 

The Leads Agency

Their name says it all and their tagline reinforces it: “Stop searching. Start selling.'' When it comes to generating B2B leads, it can be difficult to find dozens of great leads in a short amount of time. The Leads Agency will help you generate lists of ideal prospects and turn these into leads. 

Freshworks

Freshworks will help you get in touch with your ideal customers by providing useful information about prospects. It will also help you reach out to these prospects so you can turn them into qualified leads. 

DataFusion

DataFusion specializes in managing databases and conducting market research. If you’re interested in end-to-end business research or want to collect data from locations around the world, they can help you with your B2B lead generation. Because of their worldwide coverage, getting companies around the world will be easier than ever. 

Sales Xceleration 

If you’re struggling with your sales, there’s usually a problem with the leads you are generating. Selling is not just about getting as many leads as possible, it’s about getting the right qualified leads so your sales team can follow up with them. Sales Xceleration will help you find thousands of companies that fit your ideal profile so you can start sending cold emails to the right decision-makers within the company. 

 

Lead Target

If you’re looking for Spanish B2B companies, https://www.leadtarget.es/Lead Target is the perfect agency to help you tap into that market. This agency gives you access to millions of Spanish B2B companies and will help you write engaging emails that will turn prospects into leads. 

Growth Tribe

This growth hacking agency provides both training and customized B2B lead generation campaigns to grow within your target market. By writing engaging cold outreach emails and helping you understand how to respond to obstacles made by decision-makers, Growth Tribe can turn long lists of prospects into long lists of leads. 

How to reach out to these companies

If you want to reach out to these companies, your best bet is to use the following options:

Send an email to their general email address

Most of the partner companies mention their email address in the footer on their website

Use the contact form on their website

You can easily reach the agency through the contact form published on their website

Send a message via live chat

Some of the agencies also provide a live chat option which allows you to directly contact one of the reps

Let Anyleads forward you

Do you want to make sure to reach out to the agency that fits all your needs? Anyleads can help you find the right partner that fits your important criteria


Author

Anyleads

San Francisco

We are the leading marketing automation platform serving more than 100,000 businesses daily. We operate in 3 countries, based in San Francisco, New York, Paris & London.

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