Lead Generation or Appointment Setting - Know Which Strategy Suits Your Business!

 

B2B marketing is undeniably more challenging than consumer marketing. That’s why many B2B businesses depend on either appointment setting or lead generation to attract clientele.

Wait! Aren’t appointment setting and lead generation services the same? While these terms may have been used interchangeably because of similar principles, their ideas contrast in terms of process, goal and strategy involved.

As a pioneer in B2B lead generation and appointment setting services, we have curated a guide distinguishing lead generation and appointment setting services so you can determine which of them is the right solution for your business.

B2B Lead Generation

Sales lead generation generates qualified leads for B2B businesses. You connect with potential customers to pique their interest in what you’re offering. This is the first step in the sales cycle where a sales rep would engage with a prospective audience to influence their buying decision.

Marketers generateB2B leads in several ways, from social media posts, SEO, telemarketing, email marketing to google ads. Telemarketing is an effective B2B lead generation method because it immediately targets potential customers.

Types of Leads

The size of the audience can be large, but the role of sales and marketing is to narrow the target audience by identifying the right prospects. As a sales professional, you should be familiar with the types of leads.

1. Unqualified Leads

Not everyone will be interested in what you have to offer. Some market segments include leads that are not interested in your market offering. Unqualified leads should be eliminated from the list.

2. Nurturing Leads

These are potential customers interested in your business or proposal but aren’t yet ready to make a purchase decision. You can grow these leads by communicating with them. Getting in touch with nurturing leads can convert them into buying customers. The best way to nurture leads is by communicating product information.

3. Qualified Leads

These are the right prospects – perfect clientele – for the company. Qualified leads are those that have shown express interest in your product or services, followed by an intention to purchase. These are called “sales leads”.

Appointment Setting Service

Unlike lead generation, where prospects are targeted, appointment setting is about setting appointments with qualified leads. B2B appointment setting involves scheduling meetings with decision-makers.

An appointment setter will start with an email or phone call to spark interest among leads. This way, they engage and convince them to set an appointment. After setting an appointment, the sales team can present a sales pitch.

But appointment setting is not only about “booking meetings”. Its focus is broad. It’s an opportunity for the sales rep to build an interpersonal relationship with potential customers and gain their trust. The stronger the rapport is, the more likely sale reps are to influence the purchase decision of leads.

B2B Lead Generation & Appointment Settings: Significance

Both lead generation and appointment setting are building blocks of creating leads and building relationships with the target audience. Without these efforts, businesses can find themselves at a dead end.

According to recent research, 91% of the professional marketers have set lead generation goals for 2022, whereas 53% of them admitted spending half of the marketing budget on improving lead generation efforts. Of all the lead generation tools, phone calls are among the most effective and preferred ways for sales reps to connect with their leads.

While lead generation is about enlisting verified contacts, appointment settings pave the way for closing the sale. In-person or online meetings are the opportunity for a decision-maker to present a sales pitch and grab audience attention.

Appointments allow sales reps to align the products or services with clients’ needs by understanding their pain points. It’s a chance for the company to connect with prospects. The more appointments are scheduled, the higher chances there are for conversion.

The appointment setting is particularly significant for B2B companies to steal the limelight and get noticed among the pool of competitors. Every phone call, email and meeting is part of the bigger picture: to increase brand familiarity and awareness.

 

Lead Generation vs. Appointment Setting: Key Distinction

Essentially, both are different strategies with the singular goal to accelerate sales. What differentiates lead generation from appointment setting is the initial objective. While lead generation focuses on sparking consumer interest to generate qualified leads, appointment setting is driven by the core objective of nurturing qualified leads to schedule appointments for the sales pitch and conversion.

B2B companies execute lead generation by posting social media and google ads, investing in website SEO, using email marketing and reaching out to client and employee referrals. For appointment setting, sales development representatives have to identify decision-makers, be proactive in presenting sales pitches, and ask questions, showing a willingness to adjust their pitch if things take another turn.

Despite the distinction, B2B companies need both operations to work side by side to optimize sales. It’s important to execute both marketing tactics alongside each other for maximum results. You can do that by getting the assistance of B2B lead generation consultancy.

Lead generation doesn’t need to coexist with appointment setting, but appointment setting service is ineffective without a lead generation strategy. Nonetheless, if you want to maximize the likelihood of higher conversion, we recommend putting together lead generation, appointment setting and sales prospecting.

Get Your Prospecting Done Under One Roof

Lead generation and appointment setting require resources, time and money for successful execution. As a B2B business, your hands will probably already be full with core business operations. Let us help you grow your business.

At The Lead Market, we offer B2B lead generation and appointment setting service so that all of your prospecting needs are done under one roof. Our qualified team of professionals work to streamline the prospecting process so that you get the list of verified contacts.

We will also work with your operations division to design and execute the campaign. Pay for qualified leads at reasonable prices and maximize your conversion rates with the help of our exceptional team.

Apart from lead generation, appointment setting and campaign designing, we also offer inside sales consultancy, contact discovery and list cleaning services. Get your prospecting done under one roof by contacting us today.