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Catching leads is one of the biggest objectives of all firms looking to make a name for themselves.
If you’re involved with the industry, you are bound to have heard the term “lead generation,” which has completely revamped the business environment and is the number one challenge for many firms worldwide.
Due to its importance, firms prioritize effective lead generation and hence need to hand the task to the department that will do it best.
This task falls between the marketing and sales departments, and both have their own effective ways of lead generation. So, the question is, who does better?
There are sales-qualified leads, and there are marketing-qualified leads, and it’s more complicated than just picking a side. Here, you’ll learn what lead generation really is and all the answers you’re looking for!
What Exactly is Lead Generation?
Before we start discussing the in depth details of the topic, we first need to give you a clear understanding of what lead generation actually is. This is the first step towards making complex decisions that will ultimately lead to business success.
So, what is lead generation? It’s the process of generating interest from consumers toward what the business is offering, whether that’s a product or service. Then, the business will take the required steps for turning that interest into a sale. A “lead” basically refers to a potential customer who is yet to partake in any transactions with the business.
Online marketing is greatly influenced by lead generation. Methods of collecting data, via forms for instance, allows online businesses to make contact with people or businesses that are qualified to be customers for the business.
Lead generation has become an integral part of how firms reel in customers today. Even if a firm doesn’t lack the experience to run a functional lead generation campaign, there are marketing firms all around the globe that can give them the help they need!
For instance, you will find companies for lead generation in Singapore, the US, Canada, and pretty much anywhere else where digital marketing is prevalent. Hence, even if a firm lacks the capability to generate leads on its own, it can still rely on external help!
What are the Benefits of Lead Generation?
Next, after learning what lead generation is, you might wonder why it’s become such a sensational method of reeling in customers. Lead generation comes with many benefits for the business, especially when done effectively!
We often see businesses spend all the capital allocated for marketing, trying to grab people’s attention. This is not effective marketing, and all it does is waste the marketing budget trying to light up interest on people who were never going to be interested to begin with.
Moreover, aggressive marketing towards such audiences will end up annoying them, leading to a bad brand reputation.
Lead generation helps your business be more visible to those who are really interested in your products and services. Hence, you will be able to reach your actual target audience. Furthermore, this also allows you to cut costs while also increasing effectiveness.
Not only are you spending money efficiently, but you are reeling in a large pool of potential customers who may make purchases from the business.
Lead generation also helps you keep track of how successful your marketing campaigns are. This allows you to test what effectively attracts customers and what does not.
Hence, the data ultimately leads to your business plans becoming much more effective in terms of cost, time, and productivity as well.
Lead Generation: Marketing Vs. Sales
Now, let’s start talking about what you really want to know: does lead generation belong to sales or marketing? Well, the answer isn’t so simple and depends on the type of qualified leads a company utilizes.
Although the argument is that lead generation is the task of either department, it is completely possible and highly recommended that marketing and sales managers partner up to generate leads for a business.
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)
The marketing qualified lead (MQL) visits your website, and your marketing team believes they have what it takes to be a potential customer. The customers may meet all criteria but still may not purchase the business.
This is essentially why these leads are not good for the sales department. That being said, if the lead fits with the business, then it’s qualified enough to be sent to the sales department.
Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)
The sales qualified lead (SQL) is a sales lead that the sales managers find suitable to pursue. This refers to someone who is almost there on considering purchasing something and needs a little extra push from the sales staff.
The Difference Between SQL and MQL
So, what’s the main difference between the two? What differentiates the two lies in the purchasing intent.
If a marketing-qualified lead indicates ideal behavior that makes them an ideal prospect for the company, the sales marketing lead is ready to commit, and all they need is a little sales-oriented support!
MQL and SQL are differentiated in the customer journey roadmap. Someone who visits your website for the first time can be considered a marketing-qualified lead. This is at the earliest stage, and the customer has just been exposed to your business for the first time.
On the other hand, a sales-qualified lead is someone who is recurring to your website and someone who has checked out your content several times.
Transitioning From MQL to SQL
The transition from MQL to SQL is usually the most difficult part of the process. Firstly, the lead needs to be put under the right category, with the definitions of MQL and SQL being crystal clear in the firm. It is also crucial that you take your time with a marketing lead to a sales lead!
Furthermore, your departments need to work together and have closely tied goals. There should be clear ideas on whether a lead is ready to be handed off to the sales department. When the marketing department has enough reliable data, they should transfer it all to the sales department.
Afterward, the sales department contacts this lead to qualify them as a sales-generated lead. With the proper procedures and thorough communication between the two departments, your business will successfully turn plans into action!
How to Improve Lead Generation in Your Business
Increasing the amount of traffic that goes through your website is just one of the many ways that you can improve your website in order to generate more and better leads.
Content is frequently a primary motivator for generating leads and it is important to conduct experiments with a variety of content, call-to-action positioning, and lead magnets in order to determine which type of content works best! Determining your most important buyer personas and developing content that is both appealing and helpful in order to generate quality leads are often required steps in this process.
In addition to incentives, the lead form is frequently a crucial component of the conversion process that may be adjusted to perform better.
When it comes to business, it is beneficial to gather as much information as possible on a potential customer; nevertheless, increasing the number of questions on a form results in a drop in the number of completed forms.
Try experimenting with a variety of form lengths to determine which one produces the best results in terms of lead information and lead capture.
There are a lot of other areas of a website that can be optimized as well, such as having a call-to-action that is crystal clear and making the website free of distractions and simple to navigate so that people can easily get the content that you want them to access.
Investigating the data contained inside an analytics platform can be useful in gaining a better understanding of how prospective customers go through your website. Check out our post on fifty different strategies for lead creation in the business-to-business sector for more ideas.
Conclusion
All in all, lead generation is complex, but once you start figuring things out, it’s going to bring plenty of benefits to your business!
Instead of thinking that lead generation belongs to any one department, it allows both departments to come together to work more effectively and bring in better results. This is your path to reaching your goals, as a business without leads is soon to be out of the industry!
We hope that this article helped you understand what lead generation is and clear up whether it belongs to any specific department, and we wish you success in your future business endeavors.
