How to Generate Leads in Sales B2B: 3 Proven Ways to Efficiently Scale Your Sales Pipeline
Stuart Bontrager
If you’re wondering how to generate leads in sales B2B, you’re not alone. Every sales team faces the challenge of building a consistent pipeline of qualified prospects. Without reliable B2B lead generation strategies, closing deals becomes much harder — and growth slows down.
In this article, we break down what business leads are, the two different types of leads you should be generating, and the two proven steps you can take to produce more qualified leads.
Common B2B lead generation questions
Answer
What is a business lead?
A business lead is a potential customer who has shown interest in a company’s product or service. In B2B, this usually refers to an individual or organization that fits a target buyer profile and has the potential to become a paying client.
What are the two types of sales leads?
The two main types are marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) and sales-qualified leads (SQLs). MQLs have shown initial interest through marketing efforts, such as filling out a contact form. SQLs are prospects vetted as ready for direct outreach or a sales conversation.
How do you generate B2B sales leads?
B2B leads can be generated through outbound methods like cold calling, email prospecting, and sourcing leads from data broker lists, as well as inbound strategies like SEO, content marketing, paid ads, optimized landing pages, social selling, and referral programs. The best results usually come from combining inbound and outbound efforts.
Let’s start by defining what a qualified business lead is.
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What is a business lead?
A business lead is a company or professional who has indicated interest in your solutions and may eventually become a paying customer.
A healthy B2B organization typically has hundreds or even thousands of leads in their sales pipeline at any given time. That’s why we recommend implementing the EBQ lead rating system, which allows your sales team to objectively grade your leads based on how likely they are to convert.
EBQ Tip: The EBQ lead rating system goes beyond just grading your prospects; it can also inform your sales team’s follow-up strategies. Deals close when you strike while the iron is hot, so utilizing a flexible sales cadence that adapts to your leads’ qualification scores allows you to prioritize your warmest leads without neglecting your colder ones.
2 Types of Sales Leads
Before we dive into how to create B2B leads for your sales team, let’s take our time to differentiate between the two types of sales leads:
Marketing Qualified Leads
(MQLs)
Contacts who have indicated they are interested in a sales call through engagement such as filling out a contact form, interacting with a chatbot, or even responding to an email campaign requesting to learn more.
Sales Qualified Leads
(SQLs)
Prospects who have been vetted by your sales development team and are ready for direct sales calls, such as a product demo or trial. SQLs show both interest and a strong fit, with the budget, authority, need, and timeline that make them ready for direct engagement.
Recognizing the difference between MQLs and SQLs helps align sales and marketing, ensuring prospects are nurtured appropriately through the buyer journey. Furthermore, it can influence your nurturing strategies to engage leads and get them interested in speaking with you.
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3 ways to generate B2B leads
All successful B2B sales operations require a mix of outbound and inbound strategies to find qualified leads consistently. But where do you start?
1. Invest in a Data Broker
A data broker (also known as a contact database provider) provides your lead generation team with a targeted list of potential prospects and their contact information. This allows your business development team to focus less on prospecting and more on fostering relationships.
Keep in mind that you need to be selective about which B2B data services you invest in. Ideally, they should be able to help provide you with a list of vetted leads based on your targeted criteria, such as their:
- Firmographic information
- Demographic information
- Geographic location
- Annual revenue range
- Job titles
2. Cold Calling
Cold calling remains the most effective outbound sales method to generate leads. With the right talk track, preparation, and persistence, your sales development reps (SDRs) can warm up cold contacts into hot opportunities. But that all depends on building the right SDR team to competently prospect, vet, contact, and follow up on each lead with the least amount of resistance.
EBQ Tip: Unlike most cold calling agencies out there, all of our BDR programs come with B2B data. This means that partnering with our SDRs automatically gets you access to a custom list of prospects that our SDRs will call on to ensure maximized productivity.
3. Develop Digital Marketing Activities
Similar to sales, digital marketing also allows you to generate leads through inbound and outbound methods, such as SEO, social media, and paid advertising. These channels help businesses reach audiences where they already spend time online, building awareness and interest that can later convert into qualified leads.
A few digital marketing strategies you can look into include:
- Optimize landing pages: All landing pages should have clear messaging that makes it intuitive for site visitors to understand their next steps.
- Craft compelling content: Write content that speaks to the entire buyer’s journey. For example, create informational-based articles and pricing pages to target both prospects and interested users alike.
- Run paid ads: Execute targeted campaigns on search engines and social media platforms to reach decision-makers directly. That way, you target people who are actively searching for a solution like yours.
- Leverage social selling: Build credibility on social media and third-party review platforms by asking your top customers to share insights and participate in case studies.
- Referral Incentives: Encourage existing customers to refer new business by offering discounts, rewards, or exclusive perks. After all, word-of-mouth referrals remain one of the most effective ways to generate B2B leads.
How to generate high-quality leads
Mastering how to generate leads in sales B2B comes down to building a balanced strategy that combines outbound prospecting with inbound marketing. By investing in data, making consistent outreach through cold calling, and developing a strong digital presence, your sales team can fill the pipeline with high-quality opportunities.
Of course, building an entire lead generation team from the ground up can take the resources and guidance you may not have. That’s why thousands of organizations trust EBQ with their lead generation efforts. Not only can we cold call, but we also have certified marketing specialists who are here to help you build out your demand generation machines.
About the Author:
Stuart is one of EBQ’s Revenue Consultants with over 20 years of experience in Sales. His tenure as the VP of Sales sharpened his expertise in translating business visions into lead-generation tactics.