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Cold emails vs. warm calls: How to generate more B2B sales leads this winter

November 29, 2022

Lead generation is one of the greatest challenges a modern-day B2B sales team faces.

The competition for online engagement has skyrocketed. We are now in a new era of social selling and digital campaigning. In turn, online consumers now have a heightened demand for more personalization. So, B2B and B2C sellers must work harder than ever before if they want to make their leads stick.

With Christmas just around the corner, a busy season awaits the sales industry. Read on as we reveal how to optimize your B2B sales process this winter. Let’s discuss the tactics B2B sales teams should adopt for inbound and outbound success.

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B2B sales struggles in 2022

Generating traffic and leads is the number one challenge for 61% of small businesses.

Generating traffic is the biggest B2B sales challenge

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E-commerce competition is at an all-time high. As a result, another startup boom is also on the horizon. Getting leads to stay in the sales funnel was once the greatest challenge for sellers. In 2022, the issue now lies with finding leads in the first place.

The problem here is that many businesses favor quantity over quality. So, while generating as many leads as possible, it’s vital to remember that not all leads convert into b2b buyers.

It’s normal for a sales rep to lose leads at each funnel stage. The key to success is to analyze where these leads are falling off. It’s time to look at your inbound and outbound efforts. This is a great place to start if you’re ready to make a change.

Measuring sales-qualified lead (SQL) rates and lead-to-deal stats will paint your sales rep a clearer picture. Agents can use SQL analytics to test their tactics in a B2B campaign. This can highlight what areas of the B2B sales process need strengthening.

The question is, which strategies take priority? Inbound or outbound?

Let’s pitch inbound and outbound strategies against each other. Experts at Instream have revealed that inbound methods have a general lead-to-deal conversion rate of 5%. This compares to a 20% chance of converting with an outbound alternative.

It may seem obvious to focus on an outbound B2B sales strategy. Yet, businesses that use both are often the most successful. So please stick with us as we jump into the B2B sales strategies shaping the industry this winter.

How to generate more B2B leads this winter.

Combining outbound and inbound efforts is the key to generating more B2B sales leads. As a business, the path to success lies within internal communication. In order to optimize the customer experience, sales and marketing reps must work together.

From sending cold emails to warming up your lead, there are many methods of lead harvesting. Yet, Covid-19’s digital shift has transformed the sale strategy of tomorrow. From a rise in AI-infused SEO to social selling platforms. Lead targeting has become a digital affair in the last two years.

Let’s look at how you can boost conversions this winter and transform your B2B sales strategy for the new year.

Cold emails vs. warm calls?

The choice between warm and cold contact is ever present in the sales industry. Unfortunately, both methods have their downfalls. Yet, when done correctly, they both play a vital role in creating a B2B buyer.

The key here is to combine your outbound and inbound efforts. Do this, and you’ll become a lead-generating machine!

Cold emailing

Let’s start with your outbound strategy. Cold emailing is a great way to start the conversation with your leads. This is a simple way of reaching out to a potential target yet to interact with your brand.

With an average open rate of 44%, cold emailing can be very successful, especially when personalized.

Email personalization improves B2B sales success

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Taking the time to personalize a campaign will boost your lead generation. Make sure you research your targets well. Using that information, you can craft a message that speaks directly to them.

Warm calling

If your outbound strategy is successful, your target will reach your site. But, for many leads, this is where they drop out of the sales funnel.

The key is to catch your B2B buyer before they fall. To do this, back up your outbound strategy with a warm call.

Warm calls are made to potential leads that have already heard about your brand. They could have clicked on a social ad or simply visited your website.

Warm calls have a 20-30% conversion rate. If a consumer has already taken the first step, warm calling can be a great way to follow up. Most VoIP phone systems have unlimited calling and texting in the US and Canada, making the process of prospecting warm leads easy and inexpensive. Generating leads is hard enough. So if a customer takes a bite of your content, reel in that fishing rod.

Automate your nurturing process

Once you have captured your lead, it’s important to nurture them. Lead nurturing ensures a positive customer experience and a greater chance of conversion.

Did you know that nurtured leads have a shorter sales cycle? Taking that extra step to keep them engaged is a great way to boost conversions and consumer loyalty. Positive nurturing makes a lead feel personally targeted by a brand/service. Positive nurturing makes them even more likely to convert into a sales-qualified lead.

But, new levels of online competition have made lead nurturing a tricky process. It’s no secret that modern-day B2B sellers need more time to connect with their customers. With such a large influx of online traffic, it can take a lot of work to provide a personalized experience.

This is where automated nurturing comes into play. By using outbound automation software, sales reps can send personalized emails with a few easy clicks. Automated nurturing allows a sales team to jump back on the phone as leads turn into SQLs automatically.

Optimize your landing page

Nurturing your leads can only go so far if your site isn’t up to scratch. Did you know that users will bounce off a poor website in 3 seconds?

The key here is to increase your site’s SEO and usability to appear further in consumer searches. Better still, optimizing your site offers a better customer experience.

One way to do this is to improve your website copywriting. Your content should aim to engage a user and answer their questions in a few sentences.

Your site copy is a consumer’s call to action when interacting with your brand. So refrain from writing vast chunks of text. Instead, opt for short, snappy sentences bursting with searchable keywords.

Better still, focus on search intent. The key here is to keep answering questions with your content.

Focus on your Account-Based Marketing

You can also use account-based marketing to boost your B2B sales.

An ABM strategy can aid sellers in identifying the leads most likely to convert. ABM highlights high-priority accounts so that sellers don’t waste their time on targeting all prospects. Sales representatives can segment their prospects using an ABM strategy. This offers prospects a personalized, targeted campaign influencing their funnel journey.

Use an ABM strategy to improve B2B sales conversions

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Essentially, an ABM strategy flips your sales funnel. ABM focuses on scoring convertible accounts before engaging in a personalized relationship. Gone are the days of fighting for widespread attention. Instead, both marketing and sales reps work together. As a team, they can secure a smaller batch of solid leads as a pose to target a diverse audience.

You should always prioritize the accounts that provide future opportunities for your business. In a B2B market, remember that you’re building a two-way relationship. So your lead should also benefit you in some shape or form.

Is this prospect likely to repeat a sale? Could their potential success boost your own company’s awareness? The key here is to analyze a prospect’s characteristics. Learn as much as you can about their market influence and financial capacity.

Once you know your prospects well, you can segment your content and personalize it to their needs.

Using an ABM strategy to pick high-value accounts out of the crowd will boost your ROI. In fact, according to experts at Adobe, 20% of a company’s B2B leads generate 80% of its revenue. But, of course, we don’t know what will happen if that doesn’t state the case for quality over quantity.

Turn your salespeople into opinion leaders.

28% of B2B companies claim that employee advocacy can improve the reach of their B2B sales campaigns.

It is also time to give your sales reps a platform of their own, from social media influencing to blog posting. Positioning a sales rep as a thought leader could drive traffic to your site.

A B2B buyer is more likely to buy from valued and trusted opinion leaders. When choosing to engage with a brand, they are more likely to trust someone known within the industry.

Knowing your niche inside and out is essential to take advantage of this strategy. Make sure your sales team is up-to-date on the latest demographic trends and insights. They should also be familiar with social platform optimization.

Don’t hide behind an email inbox. Instead, put faces to the names of the reps your B2B buyer is engaging with. Using thought platforms is a great way to boost customer experience and engagement.

Watch as you generate more loyal, repeat customers.

Combine your sales and marketing teams

Last, it’s time to take a more comprehensive look at your workforce-based productivity. To maximize your results, you should align your sales and marketing teams.

One of the leading causes of campaign failure is a lack of communication. When marketing and sales teams don’t talk, it is harder for a business to present a united front at each buyer journey stage. Your marketing team is often responsible for a prospect’s first impression.

Whether this is creating content for social media or targeting platform-based demographic trends. As a result, your marketing team plays an essential role in the sales funnel. With solid communication, your buyer journey will stay smooth.

Involve B2B sales teams in the content creation process. Make sure your sales representatives are up to date on market trends. They should constantly be consulting with their marketing peers on current campaigns.

Why not encourage team collaboration when crafting new B2B campaigns? Your marketers may know more about content and consumer trends. But there’s no doubt that a sales team knows its consumers best. Getting to know prospects on a deeper level can improve knowledge of buyer values. Better still, sales teams can learn what consumers want to get out of a product or service.

So why not introduce a sales-based input within your next marketing campaign? It could boost the success of prospect targeting and make for a much smoother buyer journey.

Could social selling be the key to success in 2023?

Social selling trends have continued to boom within the sales industry. From TikTok to Instagram, there are plenty of new ways to gain B2B and B2C leads.

Social selling is tipped to dominate the sales industry in the next year. A recent report from Hootsuite revealed that sellers with a social strategy were 45% more likely to see conversions. So, it’s time to start taking social media selling seriously.

In fact, half of all marketers now use social listening to be able to identify topics that resonate with their target audiences and adjust their messaging accordingly.With the rise of social media channels such as Tiktok, it has become increasingly important for marketers to keep up with trends and search people on Tiktok in order to effectively strengthen their target messaging and sales campaigns.

Whether you’re jumping onto a content trend or partnering with a famous influencer on a social platform, there’s no doubt that social media-based selling plays a large part in B2B success.

As the winter season approaches, it’s time to combine your warm and cold outreach. The key is to reel in leads with creative social campaigns before hooking with an inbound strategy.

Lead generation may be harder than ever before. But adaptability, automation, and creative thinking will be the source of success in 2023.

Rebecca Barnatt-Smith
Rebecca is a freelance journalist and multimedia marketing executive specializing in B2B and B2C communication and SEO strategy.
Rebecca Barnatt-Smith
Rebecca is a freelance journalist and multimedia marketing executive specializing in B2B and B2C communication and SEO strategy.