While there are many ways that businesses can generate leads, one of the best ways to do so is by partnering with a leads company or, in the context of B2B, a B2B lead generation agency.
What are lead generation companies?
First, what are lead generation companies? A lead generation company basically sells their services to help other companies achieve lead generation success.
The main advantage to working with a lead generation company is that you receive expert advice from a team of professionals that have been around the block.
Demand generation, particularly in the B2B space, can be incredibly complex, and sourcing the right prospects can be a challenge in and of itself.
B2B lead generation companies make it possible for all businesses, whether big or small, experienced or inexperienced in gathering leads, to achieve lead generation success. They can help you develop a solid marketing strategy to attract high-quality leads and maintain that success, even if there comes a point when you choose to go about it independently.
What about pay per lead generation companies?
Pay per lead is a marketing agreement in which your business pays a B2B lead generation company for new leads — but (and here’s the great part) you only pay for “successful leads.”
The definition of a successful lead is one which has taken a pre-defined action.
For example, successful leads may have:
Partnering with the right B2B lead generation company makes it possible for businesses to achieve lead generation success. When you add in the pay per lead model, you’re ensured you get the best return on your lead-generation investment.
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How pay per-lead generation companies work
Before your lead generation agency of choice begins bringing you leads, you first need to come to an agreement on your budget for the service.
Determining the amount of leads you would like to acquire is a good way to gauge what type of influx in business you should expect, as well as letting you know what to expect in terms of budget. The budget will impact the number of qualified leads you’ll receive in a specific time period.
Leads can be acquired in many ways and every agency has their own methodology for attracting B2B leads. Among the most common ways are engaging in conversion events such as email campaigns, cold calling companies, and adding a contact form to your website.
Pay per lead marketing companies will only get paid after delivering quality leads that are willing to take the next step. This greatly helps your company get the most out of your lead generation partner without breaking your budget.
Example of how a pay per lead generation model works
Take B2B appointment setting for example. Typically, there are two main pricing models:
- pay-per-lead appointment setting, where you typically pay only for every successful meeting held
- fee-for-service appointment setting, where you hire an outsourced SDR on a retainer contract
With a pay per lead appointment setting model, the lead generation agency will usually first determine how many appointments you need, and what constitutes a successful appointment. With ViB’s B2B appointment setting service, we consider a meeting taken as a successful appointment.
So if the agency schedules 10 meetings for you, but only 8 prospects them show up to take the meeting, the agency will generate 2 more appointments to fulfil the lead guarantee.
With the fee-for-service model, you could hire an outsourced SDR and pay them by the hour to generate appointments for you. Whether the leads actually show up for your scheduled appointments isn’t contractually guaranteed.
More on the pay per lead model vs. retainer contracts
Most lead generation companies work on a retainer contract basis, which means their services are delivered via a long-term contract at a set monthly fee. This approach is the most common largely because it’s challenging to continually produce a steady flow of qualified leads.
Providing unqualified leads is much easier. And what you typically receive when you work with an agency on a retainer basis are unqualified leads.
Pay per lead agencies put themselves on the line by offering clients qualified leads. This means they must be extremely diligent about the quality of their leads because their clients only pay for real results. Unlike contracted service arrangements, pay per lead agencies are fully incentivized to deliver only the best leads and to do so on an ongoing basis.
Advantages of the pay per lead pricing model
There are three primary advantages of work with an agency on a pay-per-lead generation basis, including:
- The agency will identify the best channels to reach your target audience. Pay per lead agencies specialize in finding the right avenues for lead generation and for reaching in-market, active buyers. They put the work in to build the channels — and you’ll be the benefactor of their hard work.
- The agency will optimize your marketing budget. Pay per lead companies are extra diligent in their lead generation efforts because their clients will only pay for quality leads. This means the agency only gets paid if they product quality leads.
- The agency will consistently deliver qualified leads. Pay per lead companies excel in not only finding quality leads but also in keeping the incoming flow of quality leads steady. This means your sales pipeline will always be as full as you want it to be.
