How to Increase B2B Sales By Powering Up Lead Generation (5 Field-Tested Tips)

B2B buyers are a shrewd bunch. 

They do their research, assess multiple options, and run choices through multiple decision-makers to qualify a purchase. 

And, there’s an inexhaustible list of actions you can do to reach them to increase B2B sales.

But, you and I both know not all B2B sales-generating activities are equal. 

Is Tweeting to your heart's content really the best use of your time for generating high-quality leads? 

Some experts in the past have stated so. But, based on my own experiences, I beg to differ. 

In a survey of over 244 B2B marketers in various industries, social media was reported among the lowest-scoring channels for generating high-quality B2B leads.

So, it’s time to give the blue-beaked bird a break. 

Because choosing the right strategies, tactics, and channels will make a world of difference to your B2B marketing. It's what transforms a skinny, lead-starved pipeline into a well-oiled consistent source of B2B leads.

The golden question is: what actually works?

Ahead, I’ve listed 6 “fluff-free” field-tested tips to answer the question:

Note: Trying to increase B2B sales leads with lead generation? Sign up and try Leadfeeder free for 14 days to see the companies that visit your website, plus behavioral details about the pages they visit and more.

How can I increase my B2B sales?

There are a number of ways to increase B2B sales, but some work better than others.

For example, retweeting your lead’s posts on Twitter might gain attention in the short-term, but it fails to provide any long-term fruit for B2B lead generation.

However, using LinkedIn to research leads, understand their needs, and target multiple accounts and decision-makers—makes it a stronger platform for getting more B2B leads.

Not only are the points ahead proven to generate B2B sales, but they also build upon your current lead generating efforts, helping you work smarter and get better results.

1. Power up your outreach with LinkedIn navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator empowers your “hunt” for B2B leads. 

When used properly, the detailed data and access to leads shift your search from a broad shotgun search—to an accurate, sniper-like approach. 

It allows you to save companies and individuals that match buyer personas so they appear in your news feed and build custom lists on the platform itself. 

You can even integrate your lead lists with multiple CRMs and tools. 

But, all these features filter into one big benefit for B2B lead generation:

A hyper-personalized approach to prospecting leads.

The granular insight provided by LinkedIn Sales Navigator boosts the efficacy of your existing lead generation activities. 

Researching potential buyers, initiating conversations, and building rapport become more effective when you can keep your finger on the pulse of your prospect’s interests and interactions—and then hyper-personalize each and every outreach. 

Pairing a targeted search with personalization helped Onbase, a content management software company, see shorter sales cycles and 20 percent more qualified leads. 

“targeted messages, reaching the previously unreachable and focusing on higher-quality opportunities help Hyland continue to grow”—Mike Cachat, Business Developer

And speaking of personalized messages, consultant Bryan McWilliams shares an instance where he was notified that a previous director-level client was moving to a new decision-making role. 

Bryan launched his outreach with a congratulatory message on the recent move, and his timing couldn’t have been better. 

Bryan closed the deal, and the lead was happy to have saved time researching and screening new solutions. 

2. Close more B2B leads with a leadbot

Wait, aren’t chatbots (I’m calling them lead bots from here on out—it sounds cooler!) just for B2C businesses?

Not necessarily...

Anymailfinder, a SaaS startup, has already increased B2B leads and generated 60 percent more revenue with Leadbots. 

According to cofounder Pardeep Kullar, one in three buyers had a chat before buying.

Leadbot benefits go beyond qualifying and generating high-quality leads.

Using Leadbots, Anymailfinder optimized their onboarding process, improved internal communications, and cut their response time down to a rapid average of 3 minutes.

Now, you’re probably thinking “this must have been a lot of work for a two-person team”. 

But, according to Pardeep, the average query took seconds or minutes to tackle, and it enabled more trust as leads got to directly interact with them.

There’s a recent shift in the stance towards chatbots for B2B businesses. Sure, the B2C and B2B consumer journey have—and will continue to have—their inherent differences.

But, the lines between B2B and B2C buyer behavior and expectations are beginning to blur.

As former Forrester analyst, Andy Hoar, reports in “the death of the B2B salesman”:

B2B buyers are slowly conforming to the on-demand shopping experience found in B2C purchases.

Using a leadbot, you can adapt to evolving buyer demands and generate higher quality B2B leads as a result.

And, with real-time interaction that trumps the back-and-forth exchanges of email, you not only refine customer service, but also shorten the sales cycle for reps by qualifying leads and finding common objections to the sale.

3. Use innovative outreach to break your lead’s “guessing machine”

A B2B rap video? 

Seriously?

I think it’s pretty gutsy if you ask me. But, despite your opinion on how cool a “B2B rap video” is, a sales development rep Jeremy Leveille, used one to reach important accounts he was targeting in Atlanta. 

Lip syncing the song, “Welcome to Atlanta” while donning an Atlanta Hawks throwback jersey, Jeremy “wraps-up” with a quick value prop and a shout out to existing customers in Atlanta that the prospect would know. 

It worked. Not only did Jeremy impress leads with his creative outreach, he also secured meetings with them:

Jeremy’s rap reflects an important lesson for B2B lead generation:

We all are constantly guessing what information we’ll next receive. When we guess right, we zone out. 

This is known as the “Curse of Knowledge”. And, the effect is multiplied when receiving information that you’re already familiar with—like a boring sales message.   

That's why spicing up vanilla outreach with an unconventional approach—like a rap video in a B2B cold email— works. 

It interrupts the guessing protocol wired into the brain, and forces leads to pay attention. 

The only limit to how you “surprise” leads into paying attention is your imagination.

Ash Amibirge, a copywriter at The Middle Finger Project, targeted a list of new home builders in a creative way that distinguished her from competitors. 

She mailed the 30 companies’ physical roofing shingles inscribed with the words “My Company + Your Company = sales through the roof.” The results? 

A 100 percent response rate, and business with almost all of the companies targeted. 

Would a polite cold email or call have the same impact? 

I don’t think so.

4. Piggybank off your hard work with the right tools

You’ve already worked up a serious digital sweat reaching out to, and attracting leads to your site.

Despite your efforts, 96 percent won’t make an immediate purchase. 

But, that doesn’t mean you’ve lost them as a lead. Here are a few things you can do to turn a visitor into B2B sale: 

Optimize key homepage elements 

After being acquired by Cisco, Tandberg realized that a lot of traffic was hitting its homepage. 

Capitalizing on that, they revised their homepage message and aligned it with a compelling CTA that directed visitors to watch a ‘Video Collaboration Guide’. This resulted in a 50 percent boost in lead generation over a period of 30 days.

Your homepage is a great testing ground for small tweaks that can yield big increases in B2B leads. Begin by testing simple, but influential elements like your headline, CTA, and copy.

Add sign up forms to video content

Compared to other forms of content, video is capable of generating 66 percent more leads per year.

To squeeze more leads out of existing videos, introduce an opt-in form. 

It doesn’t have to be extravagant. Take a look at this simple video opt-in form used by the Santa Barbara Chicken Ranch, a B2B retailer in the restaurant and catering industry: 

Pretty standard, right?

It boosted email list growth by 800 percent.

Get more leads and data from visitors who don’t interact. 

Agency owner Zach Balby was struggling to grasp his marketing ROI. His main question was: 

Was he actually generating leads from his site; and where were said leads coming from? 

By combining Leadfeeder, Zapier, and SharpSpring (his CRM and marketing automation tools), he detailed a full history of every page a company visited before subscribing to his email list. 

“Leadfeeder shows me everything they’ve done before they submit the form, which is invaluable.”

So not only was Zach able to list the companies visiting his site with Leadfeeder, he also combined it with his CRM and marketing tools. 

This provided a page-by-page breakdown of a lead’s engagement on his site—from the moment an email address was captured. 

Most of the people who land on your page don’t become leads. But, that doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable, or will not buy from you later. 

With the right tools and tracking in place, you can nurture curious visitors into future B2B sales. 

Here at Leadfeeder, I use our own tool to generate more sales by engaging with companies that visit our site. Our team recently managed to more than double new trial sign-ups within a five-month period. 

5. Run mini “review campaigns” to attract B2B leads

 92 percent of B2B buyers use online reviews to decide on a purchase. 

Sparkling reviews on your website are great for sealing the deal with social proof. But, the problem is…

They are isolated. 

They might impress—even close— existing traffic, but they don’t generate fresh B2B leads in and of themselves. 

A bold presence on third-party review sites like G2 and Capterra, however, makes catching leads in the busy “research” phase of the buying process possible.

And, while it may sound like a laborious task, conducting a mini-review campaign isn’t. 

You’re simply soliciting reviews from existing customers that:

• Are highly active users

• Have given a NPS score of 8 or higher

• Have reviewed you on Google or other sites (including your own)

This is exactly how Cloudapp shot from zero to 275 reviews in less than 6  months—catapulting itself to G2’s top 100 software companies list. They’ve now more than doubled those review numbers: 

A short, mini-review campaign can quickly build a solid presence that automatically generates high-quality B2B leads. 

And once you have the right systems in place, you can automate most of the process. 

Ramp up your B2B sales by rethinking ROI

I’m not saying that social media doesn’t work. 

But, does it provide the best return for the precious time you’ll invest in generating leads and B2B sales?

Probably not. 

To yield a solid ROI for your B2B lead generation efforts, use the field-tested tactics above to work smarter, not harder. 

Note: Trying to increase B2B sales leads with lead generation? Sign up and try Leadfeeder free for 14 days to see the companies that visit your website, plus behavioral details about the pages they visit and more.