5 Tips for Hiring the Right B2B Lead Qualification Agency

A lead qualification agency identifies good prospects for your company's products - and initiates contact with them on your behalf. The agency qualifies leads and converts them from cold to warm leads.

As a result, your sales team can focus all their time, energy, and expertise on closing deals and nurturing new customer relationships. If you're looking for lead qualification services but aren't sure where to start, here are a few things to look out for.

1. Conduct Comprehensive Research

You can Google "lead qualification companies" or browse through rating and review platforms that rank lead qualification agencies. Identify the agencies that work with companies in your industry and preferably have experience qualifying leads in your niche. This step alone should narrow down your options to a few lead qualification agencies.

2. Ask the Agencies About the Prospect Base

The quality of your prospecting determines the quality of your qualification. You'll have a high conversion rate if the lead qualification agency generates a good prospect list. So, you get value for your money. Quality prospecting also minimizes spam complaints, so you don't have to worry about your domain getting blacklisted. 

You want to hire an agency that uses legal and reliable sources to build its prospects lists in-house instead of buying ready-made ones. Such an agency will have up-to-date information and no spam.  

3. Compliance With Data Protection Laws

Running campaigns involves gathering and processing personally identifiable data such as email accounts. Hire lead qualification services that comply with data protection laws and regulations in the relevant countries. These include the GDPR for Europe and the CAN-SPAM act in the United States.

4. Discuss The Details

Articulate your expectations clearly and hire an agency that gives you a clear plan on how it will deliver the results you want. Determine how the agency defines a lead and how they charge for each. For example, some agencies consider each new contact a lead, whereas others count a lead as each prospect that agrees to a meeting.

Another crucial detail to consider is the agency's mailbox. Some agencies use their own email address to reach out to prospects, meaning you don't have access to campaign data, such as incoming responses. Before hiring the agency, make sure they send messages from your dedicated outreach mailbox to which you have full access.

5. A Dedicated Team

Effective lead qualification requires the right blend of skills and knowledge. Consider lead qualification companies that are transparent about their hiring processes and the people they will assign your campaign to. Ask the agency if a dedicated team will handle your campaign and each team member's roles. The team should have a lot of experience, individually and collectively.

How To Prepare for Your Collaboration With the B2B Lead Qualification Agency

The experience and reliability of the agency you hire are not the only factors that affect the effectiveness of your lead qualification process. Your internal sales team also plays a vital role in the process. Here are a few preparations you can make to enhance your lead qualification process. 

• Audit your website. Your website is often the first place where prospective customers will go to read information about your business. Make sure it's up-to-date, clear and easy to find. Include client testimonials and relevant case studies for social proof to show that your product actually solves real-world problems.

• Develop an ideal customer profile. Customer profiles play a crucial role in the lead qualification process. Your company is primarily responsible for doing the research needed to develop an effective customer profile. Even though the agency helps you find the best target, only you know what your customers really want and need.

• Prepare marketing materials. Before your prospects agree to have a meeting, they might want to learn more about your product and how it will help their company. In that case, you should send them a link to resources, such as video presentations customized for prospective businesses.

• Share your calendar with the agency. If you have sales reps who will travel to business conferences and events where they can meet prospects, it's a good idea to share your calendar with the lead qualification agency. They can use this information as an ice-breaker when contacting prospects to set up a meeting.

Consider adding these steps to your lead qualification checklist.

Create a Separate Domain for Your Outreach Campaigns

Having a separate domain is a safety precaution. When doing outreach campaigns, there's a risk that the domain from which the messages are sent may receive many spam complaints and consequently be blacklisted. This is the last thing you want happening to your business domain because it would be devastating.

Make sure the new domain you choose corresponds with your main business domain so your prospects can easily recognize it. For example, if your main business domain is @example.com, your outreach domain should be something like @exampleapp.com or getexample.com. Alternatively, you can use a different suffix, such as @example.io.

Additionally, it's a good idea to warm up your new domain before you start using it for outreach. Spam filters tend to be suspicious about fresh domains with no sending history and place them on a probationary period, so to speak.

To warm up your domain, send only a few emails per day to show the spam filters that you're not a spammer. Eventually, the spam filters will let you send mass messages daily. You can ask your lead qualification services to help you warm up your outreach domain. The process takes a few months, though, so start as early as possible. 

Partner With a Reliable Lead Qualification Agency

The tips and information in this article will help you hire the best lead qualification agency for your business. You've also learned how to prepare your internal sales team to collaborate effectively with the agency. ProSales Connection bridges the gap between your marketing efforts and sales force.  Book Now to meet for a free 30-minute consultation.