B2B Lead Generation and Prophecies: An Unfortunate Combination

Sales and marketing personnel are under constant pressure to get more conversions and consequently, more business. So much so that they have no other choice than to think of tactics that lie in the grey area. One such practice is to predict the way the market will go in the times to come. This is, without fail, the most harmful step for all kinds of companies, simply because while people mostly pay no attention to them, some actually think of these as prophecies and lost quite a lot when they don’t come true. In B2B lead generation, this is very detrimental in terms of long term business prospects.

There are times when the B2B lead generation team feels tempted to boast about the company’s competencies and how the product or service on offer can help the prospect save their organization from the upcoming doomsday, or profit from a big wave, so to speak. While these hyperboles might sound too much, the simple fact is that it’s not uncommon to hear somebody boasting confidently about the next big spike in the stock market. Brokers do it all the time. So do industry analysts. But the problem arises when a sales executive says the same thing just to get the other person’s attention.

The attention, obviously, is achieved, and helps in getting closer to the ultimate objective of B2B lead generation. However, the fact is that predictions are not always as extreme as they are made out to be. So, combining them with the sales pitch is not the smartest of ideas, since it most often exposes how naïve the caller is. Generally, there are just two types of misinterpretations. First, the death of an industry, something like the fact that tablets will replace laptops and desktop computers. Before even thinking about making such a statement, it’s important to consider the kind of repercussions the former had. Such things rarely happen, and even when they do, they are not so extreme. Secondly, one can also be overly optimistic and say that something big is about to happen that will revolutionize the whole industry. Both of these situations may cause unwanted frenzy, which is bad news for everyone. Getting back to the point, B2B lead generation tactics are fine so long as one does not make unwanted claims or unnecessary promises. Just sticking to the benefits of the offering works just fine.