Should You Hire a Lead Generation Consultant?

It’s no secret that a steady influx of leads is necessary for a business to thrive. Those leads are the people interested in your product or service, thus allowing you to convince them to purchase your offerings.

Most brand owners started as the jack-of-all-trades. They do everything themselves to avoid spending a lot of money on startup costs. Since they need to get their project off the ground, they are left with no choice.

However, once your company is established, you can take a step back and outsource particular tasks so that you can focus on the core of your business.

This stage usually happens when you plan to make your next big move, build your company up, or take the next step to growth.

So, if everything we said describes you, then it’s about time to consider hiring a lead generation consultant.

Hiring one is a great solution, especially for business owners who don’t have the time or expertise to grow their sales funnel to ensure success.

With lead generation consulting services, you can ask them to generate a specific amount of leads within a given time. 

What is a Lead Generation Consultant?

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A lead generation consultant can help your brand improve lead quality. They focus on two main tasks:

• Researching leads that fit your business’s requirements and engage with them until they become qualified for sales.
• Calling leads that were passed from Marketing to Sales to ensure they have the necessary requirements to elicit a sales call.

Although your lead generation process is going smoothly, in order to sky rocket your results, it’s still better to hire a lead generation consultant.

To learn about other skills that your consultant must know and have, read about it in our article here.

Both of the tasks mentioned are vital. In the lead flow process, someone should be tasked to follow-up opportunities delivered by the Marketing Team.

Although Marketing is doing a great job obtaining information from leads, the prospects’ online behavior still doesn’t guarantee 100% interest.

The lead generation consultant will ensure that those leads are legitimate.

Simultaneously, consultants who do their own cold calling and prospecting will more likely deliver quality leads to your company’s sales team. That’s because the process would make the lead’s intention clear.

What are the Advantages of Hiring a Lead Generation Consultant?

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There are many benefits you can enjoy when you hire a lead generation consultant for your business. Here are some of them:

They Will Help You Save Time and Energy

Being a jack of all trades in business can be difficult. So, if you outsource some of your tasks to a lead gen specialist, you can have more time for other essential aspects of your business.

Since today’s marketing methods are way different from traditional ones, they may require a lot of time and especially research to implement.

Therefore, if the employee you put in charge is unfamiliar with online marketing’s meticulous details, it might take more time for them to finish.

Whereas choosing someone who is skilled and is an expert in the field, you won’t be having any problems.

They are Objective

It’s undeniable that your team might be affected by some kind of bias. But with a lead generation consultant, they can tell you what’s wrong, advise you on what needs to be done and explain to you why without attachment.

If you want to give your lead generation a different perspective with a fresh set of eyes, it’s best to use an expert’s service.

They Have a Specialized Skillset

This is one of the primary reasons why brands hire a lead generation consultant. You must remember that most parts of your business require a unique lead generation expertise that may be non-existent or limited in your organization.

Their knowledge is not only limited to handling your lead generation campaign, but also a specialized skill set to put on the table. Not to mention that their general background on the topic will also be a significant help to your business’ growth.

At the same time, lead gen specialists usually have creative personalities, and they don’t feel intimated by the dynamic change in technologies. They would even use various methods to make sure that your brand would achieve its desired goals.

They Can Help You Stay Focused

As the business owner, you’d inevitably be handling other vital business tasks and if you’re doing it together with your lead generation campaign, then you might lose focus on any or both of your tasks.

This can result in ineffective campaigns and poorly monitored results.

So, if you’re having difficulty staying focused on your organization’s goal, get an expert on lead generation for business consulting to help you out.

They Have Connections

There can be many benefits in building your network and one of them is building your organization at the same time.

A consultant may know other experts that can help your business, like graphic artists, code writers and many more. This means if you need more help in sprucing up your site or your landing page, they might know who to call.

Also, most experts can connect you with other potential clients through cross-promotion and targeted emails. With this, you can significantly expand your reach and gain more online presence.

What Can a Lead Generation Consultant Do For Your Company?

There are loads of strategies that can help generate more leads to your website. However, they will only be useful if you hire an experienced lead generation consultant who is an expert in the field.

Designing and Redesigning Your Website

We decided to place this one on top of our list as your brand’s website is considered your own lead generation hub. In fact, most experts would ask you first whether you have a website or not. And they definitely got significant reasons for popping that question.

Remember that in order to reap the benefits of online marketing, you would need a working website. That’s because your audience would be checking it out once they become qualified leads.

For them, the best way to learn more about your organization is by visiting your website. Therefore, you should make sure that it has complete information about your products and services, team members and more.

Researching Keywords

Searching for the right keywords is one of the most significant factors to consider if you want your company to target ideal leads. A lead generation consultant can also help you in that aspect.

As a result, you can craft content using particular terms that your leads enter on various search engines.

To do keyword research, your consultant would be listing keywords related to your brand and its offerings.

For instance, if you are offering lead generation for consultants, you can use the keyword “lead generation for consulting companies.”

However, the problem is that keyword might be too general and might not help you get on the SERPs’ first page. To make it better, you can be more specific, like “sales lead generation for design consultancies.”

As you can see, it’s more detailed and can be used to target a particular type of lead.

Although the latter will generate traffic in small quantities, the people who search for that keyword are more likely to know what kind of service they need.

Creating Content

Now that you have the proper keywords, your lead generation consultant will start creating content around those terms.

An excellent lead gen specialist would recommend content creation because it’s crucial in your lead generation strategy.

Remember that it’s your brand’s content that is ranked in search engines. Every year, search engines like Google gets over 1.2 trillion worldwide searches.

Therefore, your website got trillions of chances in showing up in the search results and driving legitimate leads your way.

Aside from well-crafted content helping your organization appear on search engine results, it can also help you turn your leads into loyal clients.

Your lead generation consultant understands how content can help nurture leads until they become profitable customers.

However, you have to make sure that you’re not creating just any content you can think of. It’s vital that what you offer to your audience are relevant, valuable and high-quality.

Moreover, if your content can answer your audience’s questions, provide the necessary information and promote your products and services pretty well, you will more likely notice an uptick in conversions.

Search Engine Optimization

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This is considered to be the most popular and most-used online marketing strategy and it’s most likely that your lead generation consultant will recommend it.

Most business owners would want their website to rank high in search engines. For that to happen, marketers believe that you have to craft great content and maintain a fantastic site.

But the truth is, the only thing that can help you in that aspect is a solid SEO strategy.

Now, what is SEO?

It’s the process of improving your site so it will rank higher in SERPs and as you may already know, ranking high in SERPs is one of the best ways to obtain more leads.

Social Media Optimization

In 2019, the estimated number of people using social media had already reached over 2.77 billion. This means it is the perfect place to attract leads for your brand.

With the help of a lead generation consultant, you can determine which social media platforms you should invest in and how you’re going to work your way in. The options depend on the products you offer, your competitors and of course, your industry.

If you already have several social media profiles, your lead gen specialist’s task is to optimize them.

Online Review Management

Customer reviews are essential to every business. That’s why you should encourage your satisfied customers to write a review.

Fortunately, 68% of users are willing to do it if you ask them — so don’t be afraid to ask.

You must remember that 91% of people check online reviews before purchasing products from a particular company, which means they trust reviews as much as friends and family recommendations.

Are you wondering how you’re going to do it? Well, your lead generation consultant also got your back on this one.

They can help you design a strategy that can get more reviews for your organization, eventually generating more leads.

Getting positive reviews is great, but you should also take time to create your response to bad reviews. The way you deal with negative comments can also help attract more customers.

For instance, if one of your customers is not satisfied because a damaged product was delivered to them, you can respond politely. It’s also best if you offer them a replacement. That can surely get you major points when it comes to potential leads.

Always put yourself in your customers’ shoes, only then will you understand what they truly want to see and experience.

Questions You Should Ask Your Lead Generation Consultant

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Before you hire a company or an individual to do lead generation for your company, make sure to get to know them:

What Type of Company Are You?

There are two types of lead generation companies, small sale and major account lead generation companies.

For small sale, they target smaller purchases under $10,000 and they’re part of the majority or lead gen companies. They tend to work with a shorter cycle.

On the other hand, major account target clients who are the “decision-maker” in a company or sell complex products. They tend to be focused on helping you get a higher return on investment and their more intricate processes.

At the same time, you should also determine the difference between B2B and B2C leads. Therefore, make sure you hire a team that can handle the kind of leads your brand is built around.

In general, you have to assess whether your potential partner in lead generation is the best fit for your business culture and style.

How much does your service costs?

Asking about lead generation consultant pricing is a must. However, you have to take note that the costs may vary from one expert to another.

The price you pay depends on various factors such as the degree of lead qualification, their reputation, their company size, the number of services they provide, their niche, and of course their experience and expertise.

That’s precisely the reason why understanding the company’s processes is vital before you choose a candidate.

Some companies even offer tiered packages, while others can provide you a quote after thoroughly researching what your business is all about.

Tip: Explore as many options as you can to see what works best for your organization or your business.

What are Your Strategies?

In general, most lead generation consultants use a similar approach, but their techniques may differ. When you’re seeking to hire a lead gen specialist for your business, it’s best if you determine specific methods you prefer.

Here are some lead generation services they offer:

• Pay per click
• Cold calling
• Paid search
• Blogging
• Email marketing
• Web page optimization
• Social media
• SEO

However, some companies will go the extra mile with their services. They can offer you B2B appointment setting, event promotion and content creation (e.g., e-books).

A good way to find out their strategy is by giving them a situation where they have to quickly think of a strategy or a solution to a problem that seems unsolvable.

What is Your Experience and Reputation?

A lead generation consultant who has more years of experience and more satisfied clients will most likely provide you the best results.

Make sure that your partner has both. Even if they have years of experience but don’t have much positive feedback from past clients, they might not be a good fit for your company.

Therefore, it’s reasonable to ask for one or multiple referrals, if possible, before making your final decision. This way, you can make sure that they can walk the talk.

What Technology Do You Use?

An excellent lead generation company should have a complete set of digital tools to track, manage, and automate all aspects of their services.

The type of technologies they use can tell a lot about them. It can also indicate if their team has up-to-date knowledge in lead generation.

Use of lead generation technologies is one of most efficient strategies in lead generation. With the dynamic change in our digital world, it is essential for every business to keep up with the use of technology.

How To Do Lead Generation by Yourself?

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Although we mentioned the importance of lead generation consultants, some may still opt to do it independently. This is especially true for small or start-up companies and that’s still good.

For instance, if you need to do lead gen for small consulting services, you can follow the simple steps below:

Identify Your Target Audience

Before you begin lead generation, you have to identify your brand’s target audience first. You can’t reach out to them or offer them your products and services if you don’t know who they are.

That being said, it’s crucial to have a clear picture of your buyer persona. You can specify particular things such as their location, job role, income, lifestyle and personality.

Once you have determined your target market, that’s the only time you can start planning on how you’re going to reach out to them.

LeadFuze is one of the tools you can use to find people who fit your buyer persona’s description. Enter their details (e.g., location, company, position, annual revenue) into LeadFuze and it will automatically generate qualified leads for your organization.

Choose Promotional Methods

To obtain more leads, you should develop a solid plan to get your products and services in front of your target audience. You can choose from different options, so make sure you select a foolproof method that would be most effective for your business.

Some marketing ideas include traditional advertising, customer referrals, speaking engagements, blog, pay per click (PPC) advertising, industry events, social media and of course, your own website.

Create a Sales Funnel

After identifying your target market and coming up with the perfect way to reach them, you should think of a good strategy for collecting their information such as a lead generation funnel.

The process can involve enticing your target audience to a landing page that will encourage them to provide their information in exchange for a sample, a free gift, a discount coupon and other valuable offerings.

At this point in the lead generation process, you have to put a customer relationship management (CRM) in place to track prospects.

Craft Email Newsletters

Building relationships is crucial for every business — and a newsletter can help you in doing that. You have to nurture your lead until they decide to do business with you (and eventually come back for more of your products and services).

To make sure your newsletters don’t end up in the spam folder, you should understand the CAN-SPAM Act.

Connect and Engage Using Social Media

These days, a lot of people are using social media. That’s why every business shouldn’t miss the opportunity of using different platforms to their advantage.

You can create a YouTube channel, a Pinterest account, a LinkedIn company page, a Twitter profile or a Facebook page. However, before signing up for an account on any social media platform, you have to consider where your target audience usually hangs out.

Through social media, you can get to know more about your audience and even interact with them.

Conclusion

An excellent lead generation consultant or company can help you identify loopholes in your campaigns and improve your strategies. They will work with you, have your organization’s best interests in mind and help you achieve your business goals.

Working independently on lead generation for your business will definitely help you grow but hiring a consultant can help you get a better view of what your business needs in terms of lead generation and marketing.

With the experience and expertise of a lead generation consultant, your business will surely thrive.