How Low-Quality Lead Generation Stunts Business Growth

Any lead is a good lead, right? For new business leaders, finding new leads can seem like the most important factor to the success of their organization. After all, new companies need customers in order to first survive and then thrive.

However, consistently generating low-quality leads can stunt business growth, cost companies thousands of dollars, and reduce overall customer satisfaction. As we’ll outline below, quality really does matter just as much as quantity when it comes to lead generation. 

Qualified vs Unqualified Leads

Leads are typically not described as either good or bad in a business sense. Rather, they are either considered qualified or unqualified. Qualified leads are consumers who have a strong potential to purchase a product or service your company offers. Unqualified leads, on the other hand, are consumers who either can’t afford your companies services or have little-to-no interest in them. Note now that not all qualified leads end in conversion. But qualified leads are much more likely to convert than unqualified ones. 

Identifying Poor Lead Quality

Many businesses run brand awareness campaigns in order to generate interest in their company. As one can imagine, though, casting a wide net will inevitably lead to poor leads. The bad news is that a large number of businesses only identify unqualified leads after the fact. In other words, by the time a company figures out a lead isn’t very good, they may have already spent time and resources trying to convert them. Multiplied out on a larger scale, this practice can end up costing business thousands of dollars and countless man-hours.  

That’s why it’s crucial for companies to identify and nullify bad leads early on in the marketing process. Ways to determine if a lead isn’t good quality can include:

• Monitoring their activity. (Do they open marketing emails or have they visited your site recently?)
• Checking their life or employment status. Many B2B companies rely on marketing their services to specific employees. So if a person has left a company, they may no longer be a viable lead. 
• Setting higher lead thresholds. Creating gated content can be a great way to separate leads who are serious about your business and those who have only a passing interest. 
• Direct contact with a lead (through a cold call, text, or social media message). 

Optimizing Sales Efforts

Sales professionals can only be as good as the leads they receive. At the end of the day, the best sales person in the world won’t be able to sell a consumer a new car if they can’t afford it. Given that fact, lead quality should be at the forefront of any attempt to bolster your sales efforts. It’s important to listen to your sales team in this regard, as well. Having them report on why certain leads aren’t converting can help you determine potential problems in your lead generation process. For instance, if an electronics repair shop receives numerous calls from consumers looking for new electronics, that business should recalibrate their marketing efforts. 

What’s more, businesses that want to boost their sales figures would do well to invest more in retargeting. It’s much easier to convince prior customers to make a second purchase than to win over a completely new lead!

Conclusion

It doesn’t matter if your business specializes in bunion surgery or brick repair, bad leads will hamstring your growth. Thankfully, simply being transparent will often help your company generate qualified leads. The more honest you are about your company’s practices, values, products, and prices, the easier it will be for good leads to find you. Keep that in mind as your company evolves!