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5 Common Lead Generation Mistakes
Posted by Maria Sperle on November 15, 2022

Generating leads is a critical process if you want to grow your business. But how do you get leads that are serviceable and likely to convert? What are some of the most common mistakes that companies make when it comes to generating leads?  

Starting with a solid foundation will help you generate quality leads.  

In today’s article, we will list 5 of the most common errors in lead generation, according to our LeadScale Services team.   

Mistake 1: not defining your Ideal Customer Profile

As you already know, an ideal customer is someone already looking for your product or service. Although the person in this role must be ready to buy, it doesn’t necessarily mean he or she seeks out your company specifically. 

An ICP is important because there is no point in reaching out to everyone you believe will benefit from your product or service. The chance of wasting time and money chasing after everyone will catch you at the end, and you’ll have 0 leads. 

Here is why an ICP is essential in lead generation. Imagine your business develops websites. Nowadays, everyone needs a website, but you can’t market to everyone. So, how do you decide who you’ll target? Your current clients are the clue. Select your most successful projects and replicate your tactics to attract new customers. 

We know many companies need a website, but the market is extensive, and you can’t service everyone. Select your ICP and market to them. Find their pain points and tell how your business can solve their problem.

At LeadScale, more than telling our clients whom to target, we let them know who not to target. There are many benefits of working with service-based companies. But LeadScale owns every moment of your lead generation campaign – including defining your ICP.  

If you are someone that needs a better understanding of what an ICP is, read our dedicated blog about it. 

Mistake 2: you assume every lead is a buyer

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news; someone showing interest in your company or the content you put out doesn’t automatically mean they’ll buy from you. Yes, it does show they are interested in what you have to say, but don’t expect them to be ready to buy.  

Marketing Charts say that 74.6% of B2B deals take at least four months to complete. Close CRM says a typical sales cycle is in the range of 4–6 months. The stakes in the B2B sales cycle are high because it is longer than B2C. The typical B2B buying group involves six to 10 decision-makers, hence why the greater number of people adds to the time and the complexity, requiring consistent efforts from sales teams.  

Yes, in some cases, leads are already ready to buy your service or product. They are researching, and the last piece they downloaded was the cherry on top of their sales decision. But that’s not the rule. 

Mistake 3: you don't properly nurture your leads 

Lead nurturing is about turning prospective customers into actual customers. When you don’t nurture your leads, there is a chance that 79% will never convert to sales. So, taking the time to nurture them generates positive results and transform prospects into actual customers.  

For example, a lead may find your business through a content syndication campaign. But how do you communicate with that prospect after the first contact if they are not ready to buy?  

When you properly nurture incoming leads, you’ll be able to create more personalized messages. See how many prospects have interacted with your brand and your content multiple times, through multiple channels/content types. This analysis will cut down the number of leads that your salesperson will be activating, but they will be able to take a much more personalized approach. True, the number of leads trickling through to sales will be much reduced, but your salesperson is much more likely to contact a more interested prospect and seal the deal. 

Mistake 4: you don't verify your leads

Yes, this mistake should be on the top of this list because it can affect your whole lead generation process. But here we are; mistake number 4 and one of the most important ones.  

Here we will take a different take on what verifying your leads mean. Normally, what would you do? Manually verify 10, 20, 200, or 5,000 leads after they were transferred to your CRM. But what if we told you there is a more straightforward way to verify your leads? LeadScale Engine maximizes the input quality and delivers refined, verified, and consented personal data straight to your CRM. Our technology makes us the best partner for any business. We bring in and develop the highest quality, consented personal data to help you turn every lead into a valuable relationship.  

With LeadScale Engine, you won’t have to manually check if an email, telephone, or website works. Our tech Team developed a code called SmartForms, which assures the validity and verifies all data being processed in your campaign. The technology rejects all non-compliant data and keeps the noise and garbage out of your database. 

We do the hard work for you. We orchestrate real data to your CRM to be nurtured straight away. 

Mistake 5: you're buying contacts, not generating leads

Just as buying followers to increase your social media pages won’t increase your engagement rate, buying leads won’t make you sell more. When you buy leads, you are buying contacts that aren’t necessarily interested in what your business has to offer.  

Do you know when you receive that call from a company you never interacted with offering a random package for your benefit? Annoying, right? So now imagine when you do the same to someone who didn’t show interest in your brand. They get annoyed and probably will put you on an unwanted business list to work with. 

Don’t buy leads; find prospects genuinely interested in what you have to say and sell. Believe in us. It will make you sell much more if you contact ten people interested in your business than reaching 1,000 people that never even heard about you.   

About LeadScale

Data populates our modern world, and it can be challenging to navigate the chaos. At LeadScale, the only data that matters is data that drives productive action. Through technology and expertise, our team empowers clients to identify opportunities by owning every moment of the data journey.  

Contact us if you’re interested in learning more about the most common lead generation mistakes and how LeadScale can help you overcome them.