"A good partner asks exactly what you want." - Interview with our lead expert Peter Kühne

Peter Kühne is General Manager DACH for Lead Generation at the B2B Media Group. He is responsible for ensuring that we always deliver the best leads to our customers. For our blog, he provides thrilling insights into successful lead generation with a partner company.  

Many companies work hard to generate inbound leads. But no matter whether it’s a small brand or a large company: If they need more leads in the short term, their own marketing team comes under pressure. What then?

Leads are indeed always needed – the sales department demands it. If I have a short-term need, I should first ask myself some basic questions: Which content do I use? What measures do I want to take with it? And above all: On which channels?

There are often many internal possibilities. For example, companies with their own Nurturing Tools and Marketing Suites such as Marketo. On the one hand, social media channels are connected to these. On the other hand, I can also use the connected database for campaigns.

But if I need fresh leads very urgently, I have to tap more channels. There are professional partners in lead generation for this purpose. It is important that they understand the topic and have the right audience in their portfolio.

 

What channels would these partners possibly use for a short-term lead campaign?

It depends on the audience and the product. For example, this could be a classic e-mail dispatch. The partner then sends it to the selected audience using their own e-mail list.

In addition, many partners have their own social media sites and groups on which they generate leads through content distribution. Display advertising is also useful – but instead of run on channel, it should be run on data. This way, your own online ads are played out based on data. This means that you only reach the contacts you really want for your own lead generation.

 

Companies want a trusted partner for their lead generation. What distinguishes such a partner?

The most important characteristic of a trustworthy partner is, of course, that they speak their own language – that is, they understand my product and my brand. I also want proof that they can really reach my audience. This can be easily verified in the social media sector: Which groups and channels does the partner have?

References are also significant. For example, which customers the partner generally works with. Best practices and case studies in particular provide a good insight.

Nowadays the GDPR is of course central. A trustworthy partner should definitely provide trustworthy data. This is quite simple: Does the person work in compliance with GDPR?

 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been a huge issue when it was introduced. Due to the currently incoming court rulings it will remain so. What data protection peculiarities arise when I generate leads together with an external partner? 

I should always sign at least one data process agreement with the partner. That gives a good measure of security.

In addition, I can see how the partner deals with the topic of data during the actual lead generation. What is actually queried in the lead form? Data in abundance? Fewer mandatory fields here go directly hand in hand with the legally required data economy. A registration page with 20 mandatory fields should possibly be questioned. Is that really necessary?

We say: on average, four to six fields are sufficient to generate leads. That way you get the most important information. Special Nurturing procedures are suitable for more details.

 

Now my choice is made, the first campaign is about to begin. Which expectations are realistic in B2B lead generation?

The expectations always depend on the type of lead you buy. That’s why I should describe precisely to a partner what requirements I have for a lead. This can be very different. They range from “The person is interested in our white paper” to concrete company information, additional questions and buying intent. 

As a customer, I have to bring these expectations to a partner and communicate them clearly. Only then can a partner give meaningful advice on the respective possibilities. 

 

Let’s talk in hard facts and figures: What are the financial expectations? 

This is very different and depends on various criteria such as audience, topic and quantity. A rough estimate of a classic marketing lead with interest in the whitepaper provided costs between 60 and 120 euros. The upper limit is open. 

Higher qualified leads start at around 190 euros and increase in price. It is not uncommon to buy leads for over 1,000 Euros – here the level of contact is already very high and the intention to buy is clear. 

 

You already mentioned that there are different lead levels. These are often quite cryptically abbreviated with MQL, SQL or BANT. What is it with the different lead types? When should you choose which lead?

And these are by no means all names! The most common ones are indeed:

  • MQL: Marketing Qualified Lead,
  • SQL: Sales Qualified Lead and
  • BANT Leads: This stands for Budget, Authority, Need and Timeline.

But every customer defines the individual lead forms differently – for example, there are also Soft BANTs. We do not make a final decision, but rather adapt to customer requirements.

Basically, the following applies: An MQL first shows interest in the whitepaper provided, often no more. In the sales funnel, the SQL follows. Usually an SQ lead is less qualified than a BANT lead. The SQL contact is more in the project initiation phase, but can already provide some key data. The BANT lead, on the other hand, is nearing the end of the sales funnel. Accordingly, he brings very precise information about a concrete project. 

 

Conversely, this means: A good partner is characterized by asking about the respective needs and offering the appropriate lead type accordingly?

Precisely. A good partner asks already during the proposal phase how the leads will be processed afterwards. Unfortunately, I have often experienced MQ leads being passed on to a customer and the sales department has addressed them directly. This is a mistake – because these leads are not yet intended for sales.

An MQL should rather be transferred to an internal Nurturing System and built up further until it becomes a Sales Ready Lead. This is how I set up a successful sales funnel. 

That shows: Only if I know my customer’s expectations, will they get the best product. 

 

Are there special features in campaign processing when generating leads with an external partner? Except for the lead type vote that has already been discussed?

In addition to the lead type, a precise briefing is essential. It should be clearly stated here: Which leads are we talking about? What is the associated content? How should it be used?

Depending on lead maturity, we are happy to recommend several touchpoints before a lead is delivered. This is then less in line with the shotgun principle and more in line with a sustainable approach. Here it helps immensely if the customer helps develop the lead – after all, they still know their audience best. But if you generate several thousand leads per year, you can assess the vast majority of target groups very well. 

 

You’ve mentioned several times that content is an important part of the whole process. What is important for good B2B content?

Good B2B content definitely offers added value, but at the same time must not be too technical. The content should pick up the reader exactly – this is ideally done with white papers. For lead generation, I should definitely have two to three white papers, case studies or research papers. Webinars live or on demand have also become an important factor. After all, a lead who attends a live webinar naturally has a completely different interest than the reader of a white paper.

In large campaigns you can play with different assets. We look at which assets work and how a Nurturing System could look like with them. This results in various modules that build on each other. 

 

So now we have suitable content, all strategies are briefed and the campaign is running. The customer regularly receives the latest leads. How does a company optimally handle the follow-up processing of these leads?

Ideally, of course, immediately. 

I should move each lead delivery as quickly as possible into my own systems, e.g. into CRM, and assign it directly to the right contact person.

Ideally, I will take these leads within two weeks. It is irrelevant whether a lead first receives further content or already receives a call from (tele)sales. The type of approach depends on the originally booked lead. The most important thing really is to approach a lead promptly, otherwise it gets cold extremely quickly.

 

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is also coming up more and more often. How does ABM change the approach to lead generation?

Actually, the process doesn’t change too much – ABM is simply another module in lead generation. I’m recommending this more and more because the market understands and uses ABM more and more.

Since every sales department works with a target customer list – regardless of whether 10 or 300 companies – ABM fits in perfectly here. I can integrate such a target customer list or account list wonderfully into individual campaigns. In this way exactly these selected desired customers receive the contents of my company. 

 

Excellent. And after the campaign?

If I work together with a partner who carefully tracks all activities and provides an evaluation at the end, I receive valuable information about my audience. Which subgroups and industries have responded best to the campaign?

However, the final report is not the ultimate wisdom. Once a partner has delivered the promised number of leads, there is still a lot more data behind it.

There are still many unused contacts slumbering here, which may not yet have shown the desired lead maturity. It would be much easier to convert these into fully-fledged leads in the following weeks. Because just because a campaign is finished, contacts do not lose interest in the content previously provided.  

I would therefore recommend booking a follow-up campaign on these data and contacts as soon as possible. In this way, each marketing partner fills their own small database of potential contacts. I can then fall back on these. It’s a bit like forming a snowball: if you roll a small ball further and further, it gets bigger and bigger and takes up more and more capacity.

 

Thank you very much for your interesting insights into Lead Management, Peter!