4 Lead-Generation Problems You Need to Address (and How to Fix Them)
- Dean Ara
You’re putting a lot of work into your lead generation strategy. You’re launching content campaigns, you’re running ads, you’re following up with some killer email sequences. But the lengthy list of emails you’ve accrued isn’t doing anything to boost sales or drive revenue. So you might be asking yourself, “Why is my website not generating leads?”
Why isn’t all the work you’re putting into generating and nurturing leads paying off?
Unless you’ve really messed up your messaging — hopefully that’s not the case — chances are good your problems could be solved by digging into your sales enablement strategy. (Yup, I’m talking about that again.)
When things get challenging, there’s a tendency to assume if we can just reach more people, we can increase sales and keep revenue flowing. And obviously, some good lead-generation tactics are a vital first step. You can’t sell to prospects you don’t have. But simply collecting more people to sell to won’t solve your problem. You need to refine the way you market and sell to those leads once you’ve got them.
Sales Enablement Challenges = Lead Generation Problems
Implementing a complex function like sales enablement isn’t always easy. You might have to try a few iterations before you get it right. Remember, whether you already have a sales enablement strategy in place or you’re new to the whole concept, there’s always room for improvement.
Here are a few common sales enablement challenges that might be driving your lead-generation problems, and how to fix them.
1. Your Content Doesn’t Offer Value
Every piece of sales and marketing content you create should be aligned to a stage in the B2B buyer journey. What your potential customers find valuable when they first start exploring solutions to their problems isn’t the same as what they need when they’re close to making a decision. The content you share with them must meet their needs — gaps in your assets could mean your lead goes elsewhere.
Is your sales content strategy up to the task?
Signs of a Problem
- Your content doesn’t provide answers to prospect questions or concerns
- Your content engagement metrics (time on page, site traffic, conversions, etc.) are low
How to Solve It
- Have your sales team make a list of common prospect questions and pain points, then build content that addresses them
Sales enablement content covers all assets for the decision stage of the customer journey. You’ve got the leads, they’re ready to buy. They know they want your solution, but last-minute concerns bubble up before they commit.
Your sales team must help them reevaluate their challenges and priorities with insightful questions and content that helps push them across the finish line.
Examples of Valuable Decision-Stage Content
- Competitive positioning documents
- Reference architectures
- Solution demos
- Free trials and assessments
- Onboarding guides
2. You’re Not Engaging Meaningfully
Do your sales reps know how to translate your data and content into a conversation prospects would care about? Are they too busy with day-to-day operations to engage with leads in a meaningful way? These are pretty common B2B sales problems.
The average B2B sales rep forgets 70% of the information they learn within a week, which means they’re not using it to connect with prospects.
Could sales team development help your business?
Signs of a Problem
- Sales reps don’t know which questions to expect or how to answer them in a way that moves leads toward a sale
- Sales reps feel disconnected from the sales process
- Sales reps can’t find content quickly enough to respond to lead concerns in real time
How to Solve It
- Build sales reps’ confidence by teaching them how to sell based on value
- Implement regular training sessions to fill knowledge gaps around customer pain points
- Ask your sales team what is holding them back — and do your best to fix it
Focus sales training on building skills for real-time customer-facing situations. Evaluate through real-world applications, time-space repetition, and coaching — performance review and pipeline analysis are not effective ways to build sales skills. Building your sales team’s skills and confidence will empower them to achieve consistent, sustainable results.
3. You’re Automating the Wrong Things
AI and automation are amazing, powerful tools that are changing the way we work. But adopting technology for technology’s sake isn’t doing you any favours. Automating well-established sales enablement processes can streamline your processes and free up your sales team to focus on engaging with prospects. But knowing where and when to let AI take the reins is vital.
Are your tools helping or hurting your sales efforts?
Signs of a Problem
- You’ve invested in dedicated tools but don’t really know how to use them
- Your data is unorganized and can’t provide any insights
- Your sales team doesn’t use tech solutions, even though they’ve been trained to
How to Solve It
- Set up a sales enablement strategy without special tools, and explore tools to accelerate it once it’s running smoothly
- Experiment with solutions to challenges using a scientific approach
- Pay attention to feedback from sales, marketing, and customers
Technology will often amplify what’s already happening in your organization. If you’ve got an effective sales enablement framework that’s helping your sales reps convert leads to sales, adding the right tool will streamline that process. But if your data is siloed and hard to analyze, adding automation or AI will likely make your problems worse. Make sure your organization is fully ready for any tools you adopt.
4. Your Sales and Marketing Efforts Aren’t Aligned
Effective collaboration between your sales and marketing teams is critical to maintaining a steady rate of conversions from leads to customers. Even though marketing and sales traditionally work at opposite ends of the marketing funnel, the cyclical nature of today’s digital customer journey means that misalignment can sink your sales efforts.
Are your sales and marketing teams on the same page?
Signs of a Problem
- Lead handoff is clumsy and creates tension
- Marketing content goes unused by sales reps
- Customer and lead data are siloed and difficult to analyze
How to Solve It
- Design a lead-scoring system that both sales and marketing agree on
- Examine how both teams use your tech stack and unify processes
- Ensure alignment on goals and deliverables
The importance of sales and marketing alignment to your lead-generation and nurturing efforts cannot be understated. Getting these two teams on the same page is vital to closing deals and driving growth.
Need Help Fixing These Lead-Generation Problems?
The team at TPM eats, sleeps, and breathes lead generation, nurturing, and sales enablement. If your organization is struggling to cultivate new leads or convert them to sales, we are here to help. Download our Ultimate Lead-Generation Kit to get started or contact us today to discuss your needs.
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