Businesses in today’s world can enjoy a lot of revenue boosts if they hack their lead generation strategy. In the past, businesses handled all aspects of their daily running, including marketing and sales. However, the modern-day business structure is one where aspects of the business are outsourced for efficiency, productivity, and performance. One of those outsourced arms of modern-day business is lead generation.
What is Lead?
When you consider working with PR firms or B2B Lead generation service providers, you need to have a specific definition of a lead. In the marketing world, there are essentially three different types of leads.
Lead: This is a contact in the business database. This includes any customer or potential customer that the business has. A lead could also be a customer that doesn’t fit into the business’s target audience or target customer profile. Essentially, this is anyone that the business has had contact with a target customer or not.
Marketing Qualified Lead: This is a business contact that matches the customer profile or target audience that the business is interested in acquiring. This lead may be a previous or prospective buyer. This type of lead is measured by their interest in your business and willingness to purchase from you. They also fall within your target audience, catchment, or business area and have a sense of what to buy from your business.
Sales Qualified Lead: This type of lead matches your target audience and has shown considerable interest in doing business with you. Interest, in this sense, is measured by their physical appearance at your business location, a phone call, or an interaction with your business in any form. For businesses, these are the leads that count. This lead has the potential of becoming a paying customer when the factors are right.
Lead Generation Pricing
Now that you have understood what the different types of leads are, you can better discuss your needs with your PR firm of choice. Searching for a PR firm to handle lead generation for your business can be a tough nut to crack. With the different pricing on the market, you may be convinced to go for a cheap lead generation service. However, there are a few things to understand.
Choosing the cheapest lead generation service does not guarantee you the best outcome. First, the lead generation company may most likely rely on lead generation software or hire cheap contract miners to get the job done. The problem with this lead is that your business may be getting the desired traffic, but it won’t reflect in your overall bottom line. The leads generated will give a similar result to cold-calling; low yield.
However, some lead generation companies charge medium to premium prices. These services will cost you more and provide you with relevant leads to boost your business revenue. One of the biggest differences you’ll notice is the increase in calls and inquiries about your business and the services rendered. You’ll also find it easier to convert these potential customers into paying customers because they fall within your business’s target audience.
These types of lead generation companies price their services in different ways. Some of the common pricing models include;
Appointment-based Pricing
Many businesses avoid charging their clients a lump sum at the beginning of their contract. Instead, they offer to charge per the number of leads or appointments generated for the business. For such PR firms like this, a lot goes into researching your target audience, calling them, and making sure they see a reason to do business with you. The leads will, in turn, contact the client, schedule a meeting, and take things from there. For this pricing model, each lead may be worth about $200.
Monthly Pricing
This is the standard model for most PR firms engaged in lead generation services. Many PR firms that offer monthly pricing make sure that their clients are offered short, monthly, and renewable contracts. This allows the client to pull out of the contract when they want and without stress. For monthly pricing, lead generation may cost between $1,500 and $4,000. However, businesses should be looking at an average of $3,000 for monthly lead generation plans.
Hybrid Pricing
Some PR firms offer a combination of monthly and appointment-based pricing. For this to work, the client is billed a standard monthly fee which is usually lower than the average monthly pricing. The client then agrees to pay a certain amount per the number of leads generated. So, a company hiring a PR firm with this pricing formula may pay a $1,500 monthly retainer and pay $150 for each appointment generated.