Stop wasting money on lead generation that doesn’t work. In this solo episode of Sales Talk for CEOs, Alice Heiman delivers a powerful, no-nonsense rant every B2B CEO needs to hear. She challenges the outdated playbook of cold calling and SDR-driven outreach, revealing why it’s costing you more than it’s delivering and what to do about it.
Alice shares real examples and modern strategies to generate high-quality leads that fill your pipeline without burning out your sales team. From leveraging marketing properly, to holding the right kind of events, to mining your customer base for referrals, this is the wake-up call CEOs need to redesign their go-to-market motions.
Alice talks about:
- How to reallocate marketing and sales dollars for better lead quality
- The power of curated events to attract ideal buyers
- How to build referral systems from customers, partners, and even your vendors
- Why sales and marketing need true alignment around account-based strategies
Watch below or on our YouTube channel
Connect with Alice Heiman:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman
Website: https://aliceheiman.com
Transcript
[00:00:00] Alice Heiman: Welcome to Sales Talk for CEOs. This is another one of my solo episodes where today I’m going to rant about lead generation. So this is [00:00:30] something that I end up talking about with my clients all the time. We talk about it on LinkedIn. I talk about it with perfect strangers who are trying to increase their sales, and it’s an interesting topic for CEOs to consider because.
Where does lead generation belong? Is it marketing’s job? Is it sales job? So we’re gonna talk a little bit about this and then we’re gonna jump into what kinds of things a CEO should [00:01:00] expect their teams to be doing in order to generate qualified leads. Alright, so the way I look at the world, when you divide sales and marketing and we, we don’t wanna fracture them, but you know, when you just think about the work that they do, ’cause we want them to work together and align.
Marketing’s job is to get companies to know about you, companies, people, humans, right? So their job is to make sure you have all of the assets you need, and they’re in all the places that [00:01:30] they need to be, and you’ve got all of the search engine and AI optimization that you need, and they are getting the message out.
To the people who can potentially buy from you so that when salespeople knock on the door. Those potential buyers have heard of you. They know the name of your company. They may know a little bit about what you do. They may have seen a video, they may have been on your website. They might have [00:02:00] downloaded something.
They might have seen you at a trade show. Um, they might have heard about you through word of mouth because the marketing prompted that, right? So it’s everything that is done to make it so that. Your target audience knows who your company is and what you do, and those who need that, you know, take interest in that, right?
And maybe come to your website or go to your social media and follow you. [00:02:30] But then when a salesperson reaches out to them, it’s not like, who are you? Who’s your company again? What do you do? It’s like, oh, yes. I’ve heard of you, and we do potentially need what you sell. So you really have to think about what you’re asking sellers to do and what you’re asking marketers to do.
Because today it seems like we’re asking sellers to be marketers and especially SDRs. And what’s the craziest thing about this [00:03:00] is we’re trying to generate leads by calling people who have never heard of us. Hi, you don’t know me and I actually don’t know you either ’cause I didn’t do my research, but I’m just calling to see if I could get 20 seconds to see if you should have a conversation with my ae.
Crazy, right? Like you’re calling people who don’t know you, you don’t know them, you don’t know really if they need what you have, and you [00:03:30] certainly don’t know if they are in the market to buy it. That. Is a futile effort, and it’s been proven over and over again because back in the day when we started using SDRs back in the days of my friend Erin Ross at Salesforce, where they started this SDR program with this outbound calling, no one had ever done it before and people were.
You know, kind of surprised by it. It was new, right? And so it worked for a little while. Then people started trying to [00:04:00] replicate it at their companies, and it didn’t work as well, but it worked to some degree, but it drove up the cost of sale, and they didn’t really recognize that. So they kept doing it and building it and building it.
And then it got to the point where, you know, in the beginning you could have maybe made a hundred dials and got 10 people to answer. Or sent a hundred emails and got 10 responses, and at least five of those would book an appointment, and then four of ’em would keep their appointment and be a [00:04:30] decent call, and some of that percent would move on.
Right. Now it takes a thousand dials to get one response or a thousand emails to get one response and that that just doesn’t work. And it just increases the cost of sales so much. So that is not a great way to generate lead leads. It is really not in the sales arena, it’s really more in marketing ’cause you’re trying to just get somebody to know who you are.
And if those calls did [00:05:00] that better. They might work a little better. Not trying to sell you anything. Wanna know if you’ve ever heard of us, if you buy what we, what we sell, if you’re in the market for it, like a little survey, more so, but anyway, that’s not what we do. So in my opinion, like just stop doing that.
It’s not working. So what can we do to generate leads? Well, I think marketing should be doing most of that. With sellers assisting because really what we want sellers spending their time [00:05:30] on is talking to people who can buy, people who are likely to buy. They’re what a lot of you call a qualified lead.
They have the fit to the ideal customer profile that we’re looking for. We want salespeople on the phone or on video or face-to-face talking to those people and anytime they’re doing anything else. It’s a waste of time. They have to be on the phone with these people. So how do we generate leads so that [00:06:00] salespeople are on the phone, video, face-to-face, talking to people who can buy.
So that’s really what we’re gonna talk about for the rest of this time, is what are the methods? So we know there’s dialing for dollars and. Keep doing it if it’s working for you, and in some industries it works way better than others, but where it’s not working or where it’s really driving up the cost of sales, let’s consider some other things.
Now, as far as sellers [00:06:30] helping marketers. To build awareness and gain the interest of your target audience that might be happening at an event. So let’s talk about events first. Many of you have your teams out doing events. Some of you even speak at those events, which I think is fabulous and one of the best ways to really generate qualified leads.
So in the event world, of course you can go to someone else’s event. Lots of trade shows, [00:07:00] conferences. Um, events held by singular companies who then invite some of their vendors and partners to participate with them, and they, you know, it’s like a client conference, right? Those are all great. There’s someone else’s events, you don’t have as much control over it, but you can certainly sponsor, speak, attend exhibit.
Fantastic. Do a really solid job of that if you need help knowing what to do before, during, and after any kind of event. Just [00:07:30] give me a direct message and I will help you with that. So those are great, but you can also hold your own events and invite your exact target audience. You can do those regionally or nationally and you, that’s where salespeople can really, you know, shine by.
Or especially maybe even SDRs if you’re still using them to get them to call and invite people to an event. Now, this event has to be something that they would want to attend, right? [00:08:00] Either because you’ve brought in a great speaker, you have some new information to reveal about the market or the industry, some statistics of some kind, or you have something that.
Would really entice them to attend. It can even be eating at a Michelin Star restaurant or someplace famous, uh, that people all want to get into that. It’s maybe harder to get into. So if you’re in a city like New York and you wanna take people to a [00:08:30] restaurant that it’s very hard to get into, that can be a great draw as well.
Now there’s. Lots of great things about holding your own events. One sounds expensive. It’s a lot cheaper than going to a conference usually because at a conference, you’re gonna pay at least $10,000 for a 10 by 10 booth and you gotta pay for the booth, get all the people there, uh, feed them all, house them all, and it’s usually a lot more.
Uh, even then the 10,000 just to [00:09:00] get on the, the floor and have a sponsorship. So consider the dollars you’re already spending and how you could move those around to do some different things. So, all right, let’s go to your own event where, let’s say you go ahead and. Book a fabulous restaurant and you invite very specific people and you know that not only will they want to hear the speaker or talk about the topic, but they will [00:09:30] want to meet each other, and so you can let them know who else is attending.
Now, I would keep these small. I’m not talking about 50 people because you can’t have good conversations with 50 people. I’m talking about maybe 12. Companies that, and they’re, they’re buying personas that you really want to talk to, right? These are people that may be difficult to reach any other way, but you can send [00:10:00] them a beautiful invitation in the mail and then call an email to follow up, and the likelihood is that they’ll see that and that they’ll be interested in attending Now.
In order to get 12 there, you probably have to invite at least 20. But as you invite them and, and they RSVP. If you’re not having enough people, you can add a few more. So maybe make a list of about 30 if you want 12, and, and go, you know, top to bottom on the ones you want the [00:10:30] most and, and make that happen.
So those kinds of events can be really amazing. Uh, one of my clients did a very creative event. Not only was there food and beverage and people networking and mingling, but they got to decorate their own. Tennis shoes. Now that may not appeal to, um, your audience, but this is was an art company and it was very creative and people [00:11:00] loved it.
So keep in mind that these events can, they can be a fancy dinner, but they could also be a networking event with. Where people can move around and have appetizers and drinks and do an activity, and also have of course some great conversation that will eventually lead to your salespeople talking to them.
About the solutions that you offer. So tho those are really fantastic and the [00:11:30] cost can be really reasonable compared to some other things you may be spending your money on. So really think about, um, those events that you can hold versus just going to other people’s events. Um, and I think you could really, uh, figure out a way to get the right people there.
Now, another. Really big one is something that I’ve talked about many times and it’s just overlooked for some reason, [00:12:00] but it’s your existing customer base. Now, of course, first of all, your existing customer base should be supremely happy and they should be very successful using what you sold them. And if that is true and that is the case, then you have the right to go back to them and sell them more.
Or sell them something else, right? Another solution that you offer. And you also have the right to, you’ve earned the right to go and ask them for an introduction. [00:12:30] So this referral selling, if you develop this into a formal process, you salespeople will have great. Referrals from people who know and love them and want to introduce them, and that will be far, far easier than going after those people cold.
Now, there’s many things you can do to make it very specific by looking on LinkedIn or noting the industry and the companies and the neighborhoods [00:13:00] to figure out who your customer might actually know. It could be their own vendors, it could be their own partners. It could be their own customers that they could introduce you to, or it could be other companies in the same space, but not competitive that they can introduce you to.
So think about how you can leverage your existing customer, your existing customer base first. Go back into your existing customer base. And make sure that everybody’s [00:13:30] supremely happy and successful using what you sold them and determine if you can sell them anything else. And then take a look to see what introductions you can ask them for.
You have a, a great list of customers. Why not leverage it? So that is absolutely another way to generate leads, qualified leads that are so much easier. So events, referrals, those are things you can do. [00:14:00] Now, you may or may not be using partners. Now, some of you have. A channel that you sell through and taking great care of your channel brings you more qualified leads, as you know, because you do it now.
But if you look at each and every one of your channel partners and really determine what needs to be done, you could probably. Do some work to get a lot more referrals from them. Now, in, in some cases with your channel, they might be reselling for [00:14:30] you, and you can help them do that better by giving them training or sending your people out in the field with them.
Um, so think about that, right? Where they’re not doing the selling for you, but they’re giving you a lead, referring you, you know, introducing you. Then think about how you could get them to do that more often. What would it take? And then think beyond that. Who else? That’s not your customer and not a, a channel.
[00:15:00] Who else could give you referrals? Who else could make introductions for you? Perhaps it’s your own vendors. Perhaps it’s your, some other companies that sell to the same audience that you do. But they don’t compete with you. So, uh, think about that. Sometimes it’s OEMs, original equipment manufacturers. So there are peripheral companies that could be [00:15:30] referring companies to you, you may not be taking advantage of.
Now, let me give you an example of that. Of what an AE could do. So in the hospitality industry, it’s not uncommon for AEs to build their own groups, and that group would look like this one person who sells the art. One person who sells the carpet, one person who sells the lighting, one person who sells the furnishings, see how that goes.
None of them are competing with each other, [00:16:00] but they’re all selling to the same audience. Now, of course, you know, there are so many different types of hospitality to sell into, so you’ve gotta find the people who sell in to the same type that you do, and then you form that group. And I’ve seen these groups just do phenomenal work.
Um, if there’s a conference and they’re all going, they also meet up for dinner separately and talk about business. Who are you selling to? What projects are you working on? Are you stuck? Do you need an [00:16:30] introduction? And they help each other even though they work for completely different companies.
They’re helping each other to sell. And this is so much easier than going in cold, right? Because you’ve got someone who’s selling carpet to this hotel. And they know all the right people and they can make those introductions for you. So if your salespeople are not in groups like that, encourage it. Help them figure out how to do that.
If there’s a sales leader in place at your [00:17:00] company, then have them do that. So that is again, much easier than going out cold. Right? So developing all of those referral sources. Really, really important working with marketing, right? So letting marketing know what you need. Hopefully your marketing team has purchased some sort of account based marketing system that has person [00:17:30] level intent data.
So as your salespeople make these lists of companies they’re going after and the people in those companies, or perhaps you’re providing them with those lists, which would be amazing and the right thing to do, uh, they. Can give those lists or marketing should have those lists, right? And they should be putting them into an account based marketing program that provides person level intent data.
So [00:18:00] marketing is sending out one to many messaging that is getting these people to know who your company is and what you do. So when a salesperson does contact them. It’s not, who are you? What do you do? Again, they know. So using this methodology, um, you can really provide a pathway for your salespeople that makes it so much easier.
There are [00:18:30] so many companies out there that provide this person level intent data Now. And some of them combine it with a BM, account-based marketing. So look into those. If you want some introductions, I’ll be happy to give them to you and see if marketing can take those lists and really warm them up.
And with the intent data, they can let the salespeople know when those that they are prospecting have been on the website. [00:19:00] Or have been on a competitor’s website and the time is now to call them. Now, I’m not talking about the old intent data, where it was like a marketing person from Cisco was on your website, or a marketing person from Cisco was looking for what you sell.
What can I do with that information? Salespeople hated that this gives you the name of the person and their email address. Now, it might not be their business email address. It might be a Hotmail or a Gmail address, but still an email address. [00:19:30] And if you have any enrichment tools like Zoom info, seamless, any others, you can enrich the data right away and get their business email address and possibly even their phone number.
So. Doing this level of marketing would be amazing to provide more leads to your team. So think about that and see if you can encourage your marketing [00:20:00] department to move this direction. Now, it doesn’t cost nothing, right? So you’re gonna have to have a budget for it. But thinking about. What are you doing now with your marketing dollars and your sales dollars?
You know, you’re spending ’em on trade shows and travel and uh, you might be spending them on search engine optimization or AI optimization. Both of those are still important, or you may be spending them on ads or other things. Think about your total spend and how you might move it [00:20:30] around to generate leads more easily.
And prevent your team from having to send thousands of emails and make thousands of calls. Right? Now, I know that you’re still gonna do cold outreach, and that’s okay. And yes, you can use AI to help you do that. However, the types of emails that are being answered are highly personalized [00:21:00] and the message is engaging when you just send.
Customized messages to a thousand people. Let’s say it’s, you know, a thousand people in the manufacturing industry who have the title COO, and you’re sending them a message that isn’t really very interesting and it’s all about your company, or, my goodness, it starts with hope this finds you well. Ugh, don’t do that.
[00:21:30] Don’t let your salespeople do that. You’ve gotta get to the point and it’s gotta be engaging. So it’s really hard to personalize at scale even using ai. However, what you can do is say, I’m going to send to COOs of manufacturing companies who manufacture some sort of hardware for computers. Very specific, not just any manufacturer.
Very [00:22:00] specific. Okay, great. Now you sit and think, what kind of problems do these CEOs COOs have? What kind of things will grab their interest? And you write a couple of emails that will be engaging. You don’t talk about all the problems that they have in the first email, because then what are you gonna talk about in the second email?
Right? So you [00:22:30] pick something and you don’t have to say, oh, hey Ben, I see you went to iu, so did I. No, but you start with something that Ben, the COOO of a manufacturing company that makes hardware for computers cares about. And that will probably be the same thing that most COOs in that same industry care about.
And you write it in a way that’s engaging [00:23:00] like your, a friend of theirs, trying to get them some great information. I mean, just think about how Netflix does it. How do they show after show after show? In these series, leave you on a cliffhanger every time so that you want to watch the next show. They do it somehow so you can do it too.
Um, yeah. Maybe it’s not gonna be as exciting as a Netflix show, but it is something that people care about. So if you need help writing [00:23:30] great emails, I would suggest you follow Jen Alan Knuth or Samantha McKenna. And there’s other people out there as well that you can follow that write great emails, but they’re writing emails that someone is gonna open because they’ve taken the time to learn about.
That, that person hopefully, but if not at least that persona in that specific industry so that it’s [00:24:00] something they’re going to care about. And those emails. Might get answered right and they’ll probably get answered at a much higher rate. A really great a BM uh, campaign, account-based marketing with intent data.
Those emails are getting replies at 40% rather than less than 1%. So think about how you’re gonna do that. So to recap, there are much easier ways. To [00:24:30] generate leads, then cold outreach. Not that you should stop doing cold outreach, do it. Well, if you’re gonna do it, narrow it down. Don’t do thousands at a time.
What’s the point? Do 10 really well and actually get eight to respond. How about that? Because you could send a thousand and get one to respond, or you could send 10 really good ones and get eight to respond. Hmm, I don’t know about you. I like those odds a lot better. Um, and then think about. Events and how you can do those differently.[00:25:00]
Attending events and holding your own events and really take a look at referrals and what your company is doing to get referrals. There is so much there. And don’t forget to peek into your own customer base to determine if there’s money being left on the table because you haven’t sold them everything that they need.
All right. Thanks for listening to my rant today about lead [00:25:30] generation. I just really want it to be easy for your teams to generate the leads they need to keep your pipeline really full so that you can hit your goals and exceed your goals and grow and thrive. If you need help with any of this, I’d be delighted to talk to you.
Just DM me on LinkedIn or go to my website or just. Email me at alice@alicehyman.com. If you enjoyed the show, please like and [00:26:00] subscribe and we’ll see you next week.
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