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Generating new business is one of the biggest problems for companies of all sizes. Regardless of whether you’re a startup or a multinational finding new leads can be a real struggle.

New business opportunities are vital, and that applies to every forward-thinking company. It’s a common occurrence that businesses who stand still and don’t seek out new opportunities often watch their retained clients drift away, taking them right back to square one and even struggling to make ends meet in some cases resulting in staff redundancies and even business closures.

Finding the balance between new business opportunities and client retention is also key, as you don’t want to neglect the clients you do have in favour of bringing in the shiny new business – otherwise you’ve got something of a revolving door and you show no signs of growth.

This is why lead generation and the way you approach is it key. At Clarity Stack we pride ourselves on the quality of our lead generation for clients – and also have a solid internal lead generation strategy that helps us to grow our own business, too. Before we get into the common issues and some top tips for lead generation, however, let’s take a look at what the term actually means.

Just what is lead generation?

Put simply, lead generation is the process of attracting potential customers and converting them into first, prospects, and then second, fully paid up clients. Lead generation is the process of bringing people and businesses into your own funnel at the awareness phase, then driving them down into the consideration section and, eventually, into the final purchase phase.

Common lead generation issues

Some companies will have new business departments, others will go about it themselves with the management team tasked with going out and bringing in the leads. Alternatively it may be down to marketing teams to create such incredible, engaging campaigns that customers can’t help but make an inquiry which then enables the sales department to work their magic and get that final signature on the dotted line.

Of course, they’re ideal scenarios and not all management teams have the time to go out scouring the world for new business. Also, the leads that do come in aren’t always of the best quality. We talk a lot about hot and cold leads – meaning they’re highly likely or highly unlikely to convert, but there are also issues relating to the quality and quantity of the leads being generated which act as major growth hurdles.

• Quality of leads

The quality of the leads that come in can be infuriating, especially when you put so much hard work into the lead generation process. You could spend thousands and invest so much time into creating quality market material or attending events to try and get your name out there and bring in leads, only to discover that those interested in your services (in the short term at least) might have relatively small budgets or they may simply be after a free trial that you don’t offer.

Generating quality leads means sitting down as a new business or management team and thinking about exactly who you want to target. What kind of sectors do you want to target, when do you want to target them and what size of businesses do you want to go after? These are all vital questions that will affect the way you go about your marketing and lead generation campaigns but there is plenty of legwork involved.

• Quantity of leads

The same is often true when it comes to the number of leads that you manage to generate. Even the best laid plans might not bear the kind of fruit you’re looking for, and it can be really deflating when you spend months planning and producing your new business materials only to sit staring at your inbox reading replies saying “thanks, but no thanks” or “we’re already signed up with…”

Perseverance is often key here but again, the legwork involved can be particularly tiring when you’re only a small team and – if it’s a management team doing the new business work – extremely time consuming.

How Clarity Stack helps you to generate quality leads

One of the many benefits of Clarity Stack is the ability to take all of that time and legwork out of the new business and lead generation process. Our platform helps businesses to uncover brand new, hot leads by tailoring the needs of our subscribers and matching those to the business opportunities found by our industry-leading technology and in-house research team.

When you sign up with Clarity Stack we ask you to provide us with the kind of leads you look for in terms of budgets, demographics, sectors and more; and then deliver the most suitable, highest quality leads directly to you so you don’t miss a single opportunity.

We then direct you to all the information you need about that opportunity along with the key details you need to be considered to pitch for that business, reducing the amount of time you spend on lead generation and freeing up time for you to focus on that all-important pitch presentation.