How to Source High-Quality Leads
It’s becoming an increasingly evident problem. You have leads — that’s fine. But they’re not converting.
There could be many reasons for this. You’re not including enough touchpoints, the sales team doesn’t have the right tools, there’s too much competition. Another cause could be that you’re simply bringing in people who aren’t ready to buy or aren’t the right decision maker. In other words, the wrong leads.
Finding high-quality leads that will convert is essential for a business to thrive. But how can you find them? We’ve put together this handy guide on the best tools for sourcing high-quality leads.
Introduction to high-quality lead sourcing
Why high-quality leads are crucial for sales success
High-quality leads are more likely to convert into loyal customers, making them a crucial asset for any and all sales strategies.
These leads are not just potential customers, they are prospects who are genuinely interested in your product or service and have the potential to provide long-term value to your business. You might call them something else like high-intent leads or hot leads, but ultimately these are the prospective customers you want to be focusing on.
Why? Because this ensures that your sales team invests time and resources in prospects with the highest likelihood of conversion, meaning more sales.
Understanding the impact of lead quality on conversion rates and revenue
The quality of your leads directly influences your conversion rates and, ultimately, your revenue.
High-quality leads typically have a better fit with your offerings, leading to smoother sales processes and higher chances of closing deals. When your sales pipeline is filled with qualified leads, you not only enhance your conversion rates but also improve your overall revenue potential.
Lead generation techniques
Effective lead generation is the backbone of a successful sales and marketing strategy. By leveraging the right techniques, businesses can consistently attract and engage potential customers, filling their sales pipeline with high-quality prospects.
There are typically two types of techniques: inbound and outbound.
Inbound and outbound strategies
Lead generation techniques can broadly be categorised into inbound and outbound strategies, each offering unique benefits and challenges.
Inbound strategies focus on attracting leads by providing valuable content and experiences tailored to their needs. These methods include:
- Content marketing
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
- Social media engagement
- Email marketing
Inbound strategies are particularly effective in building long-term relationships and trust with potential customers, often yielding a higher return on investment over time.
Outbound strategies, on the other hand, involve actively reaching out to potential leads through methods like:
- Cold calling
- Direct mail
- Targeted ads
While outbound techniques can generate immediate results and quickly expand your reach, they often require a higher initial investment and may result in lower conversion rates compared to inbound methods.
Both strategies have their place in a comprehensive lead generation plan, and their effectiveness will vary depending on your business goals, target audience, and resources. By understanding and applying these techniques, you can enhance your lead generation efforts and maximise your ROI.
How to do Lead Scoring at your Company
Identifying and targeting your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
One step towards finding better quality leads is to define your ICP or Ideal Customer Profile. An ICP is a detailed description of the type of customer that would benefit the most from your product or service and, in turn, provide the most value to your business.
Unlike a buyer persona, which is often based on qualitative factors like demographics, an ICP focuses on quantifiable attributes that align closely with your company’s goals and offerings.
How to define your ideal customer for lead generation
You can begin to define your ideal customer by looking at certain characteristics of your usual customer and their company.
Ask yourself:
- What seniority is my usual customer?
- Where are they located?
- What department or area do they work in?
- What is their job title?
- What type of company do they work for?
Beyond looking at classic demographics, you can narrow this down further by analysing behavioural data. For example you can assess:
- Website analytics such as page views, time spent on site, click paths, and conversion rates
- Product usage, by monitoring how frequently and in what ways customers are using your product
- Engagement metrics such as email open rates, click-through rates, and responses to marketing campaigns
These can all tell you how your ICP usually interacts with your brand, product, or service so you can tailor that journey to attract more customers that fit your ICP specs.
Leveraging buyer personas to pinpoint high-quality leads
Buyer personas are semi-fictional representations of your ideal customers, based on data, research, and educated assumptions about your customer base. When aligned with your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), they become powerful tools for identifying and targeting high-quality leads.
Techniques for crafting detailed buyer personas to align with your ICP
While an ICP and buyer personas are different things they do sit in tandem, so let’s take a look at how to create a buyer persona that aligns with your ICP.
When creating buyer personas, you’d start with the same process of looking at demographics of your usual customers and their behavioural traits. But then you’ll want to dive deeper into their pain points and goals.
Identify the most common pain points shared by your most satisfied customers, that can inform the characteristics of your buyer personas.
Now you want to segment your audience. Based on the data collected, create multiple personas that represent different segments of your customer base. For example, you might have personas for decision-makers, end-users, and influencers within a B2B context.
Rank these personas according to how closely they align with your ICP. This means you can focus your marketing efforts on the personas that represent the highest value customers.
By carefully crafting buyer personas that align with your ICP, you can more effectively target the leads that are most likely to convert into loyal customers, optimising your marketing efforts and driving business growth.
How Beauhurst Fits Into A Sales Workflow
Tools and techniques for sourcing high-quality leads
There are a number of tools for sourcing high-quality leads. So, let’s rundown some of the more tried and tested methods.
Social media (e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter)
Social media can be a unique tool for reaching high-intent leads. You are able to reach someone any place any time. Whether they’re at home, at the office or even on holiday, most people are still looking at socials — it’s an unmissable opportunity for getting leads 24/7.
Pros
Cons
- Wide reach
- Always on
- Targeted ads
- Engagement tracking
- Brand visibility
- Requires consistent content creation
- Difficult to search for and discover the right people
- Potential for low-quality leads
Email marketing
Email marketing can be used to nurture prospects, build relationships, and drive conversions through direct and personalised communication.
Pros
Cons
- Direct communication
- Personalised campaigns
- High ROI
- Requires a high-quality email list
- Potential for low open rates
Blogging
Blogging serves as a platform to provide valuable content, climbing search engine rankings and establishing your brand as an authority in your industry.
Pros
Cons
- SEO benefits
- Establishes authority
- Generates organic leads
- Time-consuming
- Requires regular updates and promotion
Paid ads (e.g. Google Ads, Facebook Ads)
Paid ads offer a fast track to visibility by placing your brand directly in front of a targeted audience across various digital platforms.
Pros
Cons
- Immediate visibility
- Targeted audience
- Scalable
- Can be costly
- Requires ongoing optimisation
Referrals
Referrals leverage the trust and satisfaction of existing customers to bring in new leads through word-of-mouth recommendations.
Pros
Cons
- High trust factor
- High conversion rates
- Cost-effective
- Limited scalability
- Reliance on customer satisfaction
Website landing pages
Landing pages are tailored to capture leads by offering targeted content and a clear call to action, optimised for conversions.
Pros
Cons
- Captures leads directly
- Measurable results
- Optimised for conversions
- Requires A/B testing
- Needs traffic generation strategies
CRM tools (e.g. Salesforce, HubSpot)
CRM tools help manage and nurture leads by centralising data, automating follow-ups, and tracking interactions across the customer lifecycle.
Pros
Cons
- Centralises lead data
- Automates follow-ups
- Tracks customer interactions
- Can be complex to set up
- Requires training
Data platforms
Another option is to use a data platform, like Beauhurst. Here you’ll be able to find all the data you need to discover and then target leads.
Looking at Beauhurst in particular, you can use the platform to find high-quality leads. Let’s look at an example.
Imagine you’re part of the business development team at a B2B IT management company based in London, focused on offering IT services to small tech or finance companies that require extensive IT support.
Your goal is to locate local tech and finance startups which have the potential to grow into bigger clients, and then identify the key decision-makers within those companies — these would be your high-intent leads.
To start, you would use our Advanced Search feature, designed to help you build precise searches based on specific criteria. Since you’re targeting fintech startups with the ambition to grow, you’d search for fintech companies in London that are in the seed stage and have recently secured funding.
Here’s how to set up your search:
Location: London
Industry: Fintech
Stage of Evolution: Seed
Funding: Received within the last year
This targeted approach allows you to quickly and efficiently identify the right leads, saving time and ensuring you connect with companies that are most likely to need your services.
This search will generate a list of all companies in London that meet your criteria.
You can then save these companies to a Beauhurst Collection, which is a customised group of companies stored on the platform. By doing this, you’ll receive notifications whenever a company in your Collection undergoes significant events, such as new hires, fresh investments, or media mentions. Additionally, you’ll be alerted whenever a new company meets the criteria of your search.
With your Collection set up, you can select a company to prospect. For instance, if you choose the top result (e.g. 1fs Wealth), simply click on the company page to access all the relevant information you need, including company details, recent activities, transactions, and financials.
You can also go to the People tab to see all of the company’s key people to find who to contact.Then you can feed that data into a CRM that’s fully integrated with Beauhurst.
At first glance, lead scoring can seem like a huge task, with so many options. However, the most important thing is finding the right lead scoring system for your company. Hopefully, this article has helped you discover what might work best for you and show you how you can find even more prospects using our platform.
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Developing an effective lead generation strategy
Setting SMART Objectives and KPIs for lead generation
Establishing clear, measurable goals is essential to driving a successful lead generation strategy.
By setting SMART objectives — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound — you can ensure that your efforts are both focused and aligned with your overall business strategy.
For example, instead of a vague goal like “increase leads,” a SMART objective would be “increase qualified leads by 20% within the next quarter.” This not only clarifies what success looks like but also provides a clear timeline and measurable benchmarks.
KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) such as conversion rates, cost per lead, and lead-to-customer ratio should be established to monitor progress and adjust tactics as needed.
Integrating lead generation with your sales funnel
For lead generation to truly succeed, it must be seamlessly aligned with your sales funnel. This means that marketing and sales teams need to collaborate closely to ensure that the leads being generated are not just numerous, but also high quality.
Start by mapping out your customer journey and identifying key touchpoints where leads can be captured and nurtured.
Use marketing automation tools to guide leads through the funnel with personalised content, and ensure that there’s a smooth handoff to the sales team when leads are ready to be converted.
Regular feedback between marketing and sales is crucial for refining the process, ensuring that both teams are working towards the same objectives, and ultimately driving more conversions.
See how JP Jenkins uses Beauhurst to build a pipeline, fast.
A step-by-step example of the lead generation process
Every business is different but launching an effective lead generation campaign usually involves several of the same key steps. Below is a detailed breakdown of each stage.
Initial targeting
Define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Begin by creating a detailed ICP based on your best customers. Use demographic, firmographic, and behavioural data to outline the characteristics of those who are most likely to benefit from your product or service.
Develop buyer personas
Craft specific buyer personas that align with your ICP, focusing on the unique needs, challenges, and goals of each segment.
Attracting leads
Content creation
Develop high-quality content tailored to your personas, such as blog posts, ebooks, webinars, and infographics. Ensure that this content addresses their pain points and offers valuable solutions.
SEO and paid ads
Utilise SEO to increase organic traffic and paid ads (e.g. Google Ads, Facebook Ads) to drive targeted traffic to your landing pages.
Capturing leads
Optimised landing pages
Direct traffic to optimised landing pages that feature clear calls to action (CTAs) and lead capture forms. Offer a valuable incentive, like a free resource or trial, in exchange for contact information.
Email signup forms
Include email signup forms on your website and within your content to capture leads interested in receiving more information or updates.
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Lead nurturing
Email marketing campaigns
Use email marketing to nurture leads over time, providing them with personalised content that moves them through the sales funnel. Segment your leads based on their behaviour and engagement to send targeted messages.
CRM integration
Leverage CRM tools to track interactions, automate follow-ups, and ensure that leads are engaged at the right times with the right content.
Conversion
Sales hand-off
When leads reach a certain level of engagement or interest, seamlessly hand them over to your sales team for direct outreach. Ensure the sales team has all necessary information on the lead’s journey and needs.
Personalised outreach
The sales team should use the data gathered to make personalised pitches, addressing specific needs and demonstrating how your product or service can solve their problems.
Analysis and optimisation
Track KPIs
Continuously monitor key performance indicators such as conversion rates, cost per lead, and lead quality to assess the campaign’s effectiveness.
A/B Testing
Conduct A/B testing on landing pages, email campaigns, and ads to identify what works best and refine your approach accordingly.
Key takeaways for consistent and successful lead sourcing
To achieve consistent and successful lead sourcing, keep the following strategies in mind.
1. Define clear objectives
Set SMART goals that align with your business strategy, ensuring that your lead generation efforts are focused and measurable.
2. Leverage targeted content
Create valuable, persona-driven content that speaks directly to the needs of your ideal customers, driving higher engagement and lead quality.
3. Use a multi-channel approach
Combine SEO, paid ads, and social media with email marketing to maximise reach and lead capture opportunities.
4. Use a data platform
Access to a data platform like Beauhurst can cut out a lot of the time-consuming data-crawling that comes with capturing leads. Cut out the middle man with a data platform.
5. Nurture leads strategically
Use CRM tools to track and nurture leads effectively, ensuring that they receive personalised content and timely follow-ups.
You can also integrate your CRM with Beauhurst. Our plug-and-play feature means you can plug live Beauhurst data straight into Salesforce or HubSpot.
6. Continuously optimise
Regularly analyse campaign performance and refine your strategies based on data-driven insights to improve lead generation outcomes over time.
By following these steps and consistently applying these strategies, you can build a robust and effective lead generation process that drives sustained business growth.
However, we understand that this can be pretty overwhelming — there’s a lot to consider. With Beauhurst you can get access to high-quality leads using one searchable database. Forget extensive data-crawling. Get your ICP’s name, email and even LinkedIn address all in one place.
Want to know more? Book a demo with one of our experts and we can run you through what Beauhurst can do.
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