Guest Feature: Outsourcing Lead Generation Services: Best Decision Ever or Disaster?

The Juice is excited to share another piece in our guest feature series with, "Outsourcing: Lead Generation Services: Best Decision Ever or Disaster? from Callbox.  We will continue to share some of our favorite pieces of content from modern day brands. Stay tuned! 🧃

What is Lead Generation?

Anyone who has shown interest in your company’s products or services is already considered a lead. However, they may not be qualified to buy. They are only potential customers you have not done business with but have already given reasons that they would want to in the future.

Lead generation is this thorough process of attracting and gaining the interest of these prospects and ultimately converting them to increase future sales. Lead generation is a very important part of the sales process of a lot of businesses. There are so many ways you can generate leads, such as through blog posts, online content, live events, webinars, or paid ads.

In this very lucrative market, you need to find new ways and strategies to be heard through the noise and chaos. Traditional marketing as a way to reach your target audience is way over, as well as simple email blasts. With the internet today, customers can do their own research about a certain brand they find interesting through various channels, such as social media, search engines, and other online platforms. Building your digital presence is critical if you want to stay in the business.

This is where lead generation comes in. While it can be a time-consuming process and there is no one-size-fits-all solution, this is an essential process you must undertake. Studies show that 68% of businesses struggle with their lead generation campaigns, while 61% of people in B2B marketing think lead generation is their biggest challenge.

For businesses who want to take marketing off their plate, the thought of having outbound lead generation comes into play. There are a plethora of lead generation agencies eager to offer their services, helping you market your brand, cutting expenses, and generating qualified leads for your business.

Keeping your lead generation efforts in-house or deciding whether to outsource can be a tough decision. You want to meet your end goal of getting as many leads as possible without having to overwhelm your staff or having you break the bank.

Should You Outsource or Keep it In-House: The Advantages and Pitfalls

Outsourcing definitely has its advantages and disadvantages. Every company in any given industry wishes to outsource its services to save time, money, and effort on handling other core functions of the business. Most often, the outsourced partner has more experience, skills, and resources when it comes to rendering services and support to the customers. Lead generation agencies can offer your business the in-depth knowledge and technical expertise you will need to successfully carry out your B2B lead generation marketing strategies and slam dunk those leads to victory.

However, outsourcing lead generation is not for everyone. If you are a business owner or a B2B marketer, it is crucial to know what your capabilities are before making the decision of training an in-house lead generation expert or hiring a reputable lead generation agency.

Related: In-house and Outsourced Lead Generation: Getting the Best of Both Worlds

Why Outsource? What are the Benefits of Outsourcing your B2B Lead Generation?

1. Reaching the Right People

While you may have found a lead generation superstar within your company, who has all the skills you need to successfully put into action your inbound lead generation strategies, they could be limited by time and resources. One of the reasons why lead generation agencies are successful in what they do is because they have the appropriate contacts and data. This allows them to speak to the right people who are qualified to do business with you.

You may have the budget to get hold of contacts and data owned by a B2B agency to execute your lead generation efforts and have your staff generate the leads, they would need some time to create the appropriate contact list and develop the corresponding analytical skills to separate the good leads from the bad ones.

2. Reduce Costs

Marketing costs a lot of money — that is the truth we cannot hide away from. Even a small marketing team can incur costs of over $100,000 annually. That’s a lot of expenses considering you have other departments to worry about.

There are preconceived notions that outbound lead generation agencies are more expensive than in-house. However, if you take into account all facets of marketing you need to consider to implement inbound lead generation, an outsourced agency’s cost will end up being a lot more cost-effective. You can get access to a range of skills, knowledge, and technology when you need them, as you need them at a more affordable rate.

3. Faster Ramp-Up

Technology is ever-changing at a very rapid pace, which means you need to adapt and constantly update your products/services, as well as making sure your marketers are always on top of things.

Newcomers to outbound lead generation may take 3-6 months to adjust and learn all the tools and marketing approaches. However, with external experts, this period can be drastically reduced. Since lead agencies already have the right people for the job, there’s no need to build up the knowledge. Additionally, they already know the market very well and have the tools necessary to accomplish the task. This gives you the opportunity to focus on things that matter most for your business and catch up with the competition almost immediately.

Related: 5 Reasons Why You Should Outsource B2B Lead Generation

Why not outsource? What are the potential disadvantages of utilizing an offshore lead generation agency?

Given the fact that outsourcing can offer a lot of benefits for your business, as with anything else, it also has its drawbacks.

When you outsource, you put that big chunk of trust and responsibility into the hand of another person. For some companies, it means losing control.

Lack of quality control can also be another drawback for many companies looking to outsource their lead generation efforts. Most of these companies fear that the quality control they have internally will not be reflected when outsourced.

Miscommunication could also happen. Possible misalignment of communication and direction can cause conflicts between you and the agency.

All those — lack of control, lack of quality, and miscommunication — can all be avoided.

When hiring an offshore lead generation agency, always check how they communicate with their clients and how often. A well-equipped and reputable lead generation agency will take the time to keep you updated on all the important aspects of your project. Make sure that they understand your reservations when it comes to the quality of your services/products and that they have a quality assurance process in place to see to it that all key messages and brand guidelines meet your business’ expectations and standards.

On a final note, keep in mind that not all businesses are the same. When running through your list of outsourcing considerations, find the balance — consider your unique operations and weigh all your possible options.

Related: 7 Actionable Tips to Better Manage Outsourced Marketing Campaigns

Takeaway

There is no right or wrong answer to the question of whether outsourcing lead generation for your business is better or a disaster waiting to happen. It all boils down to which one is the most suitable for your business needs. If you are a forward-thinking decision-maker, you would want to make sure that you use the best tools to hit your goals and implement the best strategies for the growth of your business.

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