Lead Generators

In business-to-business sales, the conversion rate largely depends on the quality of leads. Yet, modern SDRs say no to “spray and pray” approaches of finding leads and expecting them to get interested in their products. Ready-made lists of potential clients help sales teams optimize their time and efforts. Instead of cold calling or cold emailing indifferent people out there, businesses buy lists of verified leads and target prospects who fit their Ideal Customer Profile.

Obtaining a custom-made list of high-quality leads sounds like a dream. What sales rep would refuse to reach out to verified leads to nurture and most likely close a deal? Hardly anyone. But is it that simple? What are the risks for businesses? Are leads really top quality? What are the traps and pitfalls of buying ready-made lists of business leads? Lead generator “Belkins” wants to share their insights on ensuring that lead lists you buy are accurate and high-quality.

Who sells lead lists?

Basically, there are two ways to find and sell leads. Varian One includes AI-powered platforms that give access to massive databases, which are extensive lead lists with advanced search and filtering.

In Variant Two, vendors use publicly-available data, hand-curating and removing poor-fit leads as if through a fine mesh. Let’s examine each variant in detail.

Sales enablement and prospecting tools

Technology has made huge databases with easy access possible. There are many AI-powered sales platforms that provide real-time verified email addresses and other search points (industry, location, technology use, job title, advertising spending, etc.) at a monthly fee.

A subscription payment model turns out to be a real jackpot for sales platforms because it solves the problem of inaccurate data lead lists usually suffer from. B2B platforms aren’t interested in selling lists of stale, outdated leads and getting one-time clients. They get their B2B loyal clients hooked on stable access to high-quality sales leads by maintaining their databases fresh and updated.

Here’s a list of these sales tools helpful in lead list building.

  • BuiltWith. Highly useful to B2B software companies, BuiltWith will increase your sales by informing what software leads are using. Boost your demand generation by filtering leads by software use. If they use your competition product, offer your service instead.
  • Lusha. As a lead prospecting tool, Lusha allows you to connect with prospects across the board and Salesforce (social media, web, API).
  • Echobot Target. Boasting data enrichment and lead qualification, Echobot is a B2B database that offers smart search and filtering to segment audiences and makes prospecting easier. Features include sales triggers (role change, relocation, the website’s redesign).
  • Salesfully. This sales automation tool gives instant access to business contacts and has list-building features.
  • UpLead. This B2B database provides verified data and contacts for prospecting clients worldwide.

Businesses that do lead generation professionally

In the B2B world, the demand for lead generation is huge. A small business can become a lead generator to generate prospects and sell hand-curated sales lists to other companies. What’s great about hiring a lead generator with a human face? The best of them provide thorough custom lead research before putting together a list to sell.

Before buying a list from a vendor, ask about their business model. If a team puts a lot of effort and hand-curates lists, the risks of finding yourself with useless contacts with zero interest in your product are relatively low.

Look for vendors promising custom lead research and more

Working with sales intelligence platforms is pretty straightforward. Pick the tool with the best smart filtering and advanced search and your sales teams will build up a list within minutes. But what about “vendors with a human face”? How to choose a company that does lead generation professionally?

  • Ask about their lead generation process. It’s important what sources of lead data they use and how they ensure the quality of contacts. First, make sure they use robust custom lead research. Second, provide your Ideal Customer Profile so that the vendor could match leads to your criteria.
  • Check what you buy. You’re entitled to check leads for quality as you would with any other commodity as a buyer. A list shouldn’t have duplicated names and email addresses. You can check a handful of contacts, send emails, and see how many messages bounce back. In case of missing names, phone numbers, and addresses, the list is low-quality and not recommended to buy. Data enrichment is a feature that a reputable lead generator offers.
  • Buy only from tech-savvy vendors. These days, high-performing businesses enhance their workforce with technology. Make sure you don’t buy a static list sold to a dozen other buyers before you. Either you use subscription-based Data-as-a-Service software or lead generation agencies that use Artificial Intelligence tools to update their data and accelerate custom lead research.
  • Add the human factor. If you find a company skilled in building lists and they want to work in close cooperation with your team, grab ‘em without thinking twice. Prospect research is a process where leads are verified and analyzed and A/B tests are run. If feedback and strategy refinement are possible, lead lists turn out more accurate and ripe for conversion. On the other hand, sometimes companies just buy lists from third parties without much thought. In this case, they can offset any risks and drawbacks of this marketing method by assigning someone from the sales team to enrich data and qualify prospects.

3 after-sales tips

Laying your hands on a high-quality lead list is just the beginning of a journey to conversions. How long is the journey is up to you. Here’s what you can do to help the process.

Work on email deliverability. Does a custom-made lead list automatically guarantee high email deliverability and conversion rates? Not at all. Use an email spam checker to fix spam issues and ensure 100% of your email outreach find their way to leads’ inboxes.

Find leads that are a good fit. There’s little point in buying a list without matching it first to your Ideal Customer Profile. You will save a lot of money, nerve, and effort for your team if all the lists you put before your SDRs are a good fit for your ICP.

Build up your own lead lists. Even if you buy a list or two from a vendor, it doesn’t mean that you can’t build your own lists. Use web scraping tools and effortlessly gather contacts of your website visitors. Be active on social media and monitor relevant discussions online, collecting names and contacts of those who fit your ICP.

Partner only with the best

In B2B sales, “spray and pray” methods of lead generation clearly have given way to targeted and laser-focused prospecting strategies. Buying leads in bulk definitely saves your team plenty of time. But make sure you don’t waste your money on inaccurate lead lists full of treacherous honey pots and spam traps. Get together only with trustworthy companies. We have amassed extensive experience in list building services. Get in touch if you want us to build a high-performing targeted lead list for you. We do it in several steps in tight synergy with your team to find and deliver leads ripe for sales.