The Complete Guide to Generating B2B Leads That Convert

Generating leads isn’t a problem for most B2B marketers. What is a challenge is converting those leads into sales. Pipelines that fill up with low-quality leads may look impressive at first, but they do little to actually drive revenue growth. Unfortunately, the response to this issue is often to increase lead volume rather than focusing on how to generate B2B leads that actually convert.

Rather than continuously chasing “junk leads”, CMOs are usually better off focusing on improving lead quality, routing, speed to lead, and ICP alignment. Addressing these blockers helps marketing craft campaigns more likely to produce sales-ready opportunities rather than just more form completions.

In this guide, we’ll take you through the steps needed to implement a B2B lead generation strategy that converts. By the end, you’ll have a better understanding of the framework and workflow necessary for building a revenue-first model that reliably delivers sale opportunities.

Build your conversion foundation before you scale spend

In traditional B2B marketing, lead generation is often treated as a channel-first effort. The marketing team produces ads for Google, prepares a series of posts for LinkedIn, and builds some landing pages. However, this channel-first approach overlooks the most important part of lead generation: ICPs, problem statements, value messaging, funnel definitions, and buying committees.

This foundational work can set up your entire campaign for success or failure. By getting it right, your leads are much more likely to convert. But by rushing through it, you risk creating a marketing program that isn’t effectively reaching the audience most likely to become buyers.

Define ICPs and buying groups that match your best customers

You should begin by building one-page ICPs that are segmented by industry, size, location, tech stack, pains, job titles, and primary value drivers. Your ICPs should be precise and narrowly defined. Overly broad ICPs risk generating a high volume of unqualified leads that waste your SDR’s time and slow pipeline creation.

You can judge the success of your ICPs by aiming for at least a 70% ICP Fit Rate (ICP-qualified leads ÷ total leads) in your early pilots.

With your ICPs defined, map the buying committees for each segment. You should define every role on the buying committee according to their preferred channels, common objections, and job priorities. Understanding your target buying committees will shape your content and ad strategies.

Map buyer intent and research paths to channels

Dig deeper into your target buying committees by mapping out how they conduct research for making buying decisions. Some ICPs, for example, may focus primarily on Google searches, while others rely on third-party advice on LinkedIn. Many ICPs will look to review sites and other forms of testimonials, such as events and community groups.

The different research paths to channels will largely determine your content strategy. Not surprisingly, your content and demand generation teams will take ownership of this stage of research and begin to build potential channel-specific ideas.

Align funnel definitions and SLAs

The last foundational step is to unify your funnel definitions and SLAs across sales and marketing. To do this, develop standardized definitions of MQLs, SALs, and SQLs and publish them in a shared doc for marketing, SDRs, and sales.

Ensuring that each team has a shared definition of what is a sales accepted lead prevents marketing from pursuing high-volume lead generation at the expense of quality. Plus, shared definitions give SDRs and AEs a clear understanding of what steps to take when they receive a new lead.

How to generate B2B leads that convert in 6 steps

Once you have a strong foundation in place, you can begin to build a system with clear ownership and KPIs. The following 6-step playbook can be implemented in 60-90 days at most companies and gives CMOs a clear and repeatable system for building new lead generation campaigns.

Step 1: Define ICPs, problems and value offers

Start by selecting one or two ICPs and define what problems they face that your product or service solves. But don’t begin by focusing on features or product specifications. Instead, define one or two high-value offers that directly address your ICP’s pains. For example, calculators and frameworks give ICPs a clear idea of the ROI your product can provide for them.

Before your content team starts building ads, make sure they work with your PMM to understand who the offer is for, what problem it solves, and why your company is best able to help. This outline gives content the narrative they need to more effectively target ICPs.

Step 2: Build capture paths that reduce friction

Landing pages are too often treated as an afterthought by B2B marketers, yet they’re one of the most important elements in your conversion path. A landing page that is localized, clean, and credible reduces friction and maximizes your lead count.

Landing pages shouldn’t be long or cluttered, but they should be carefully designed. Emphasis should be placed on what goes above the fold, such as your logo, customer stories, or positive reviews. Your form should be short and you should offer alternative conversion options, such as one-click booking or a chat option for prospects who want immediate results.

To determine the success of your landing pages, you should aim for a cold traffic CVR of 3-5% and a retargeting CVR of 8-12%.

Step 3: Activate the right channels for your ICP

For most B2B marketers, Google and LinkedIn are the most important channels for lead generation. However, you still need to have a plan for when to launch across different channels. Launching all channels at once will stretch your budget too thin, diluting their value.

Instead, for your first 60 days you should prioritize channels that provide both accuracy and intent data. LinkedIn is a good place to start because of its precise ICP targeting, followed by Google for its ability to capture high-intent demand. Combining these two channels at the start gives your campaign both depth and broad awareness.

You can then shift your focus to review platforms and directories. These channels are important for mid-funnel prospects who are seriously researching your company but aren’t ready for a demo. Events, webinars, and communities can then be activated to build credibility with prospects further along in the funnel.

Step 4: Implement lead scoring and routing with SLAs

Lead scoring and routing are essential, but too often underappreciated by marketing teams. Your lead scoring needs to differentiate between ICP-fit leads and noise, otherwise SDRs will be inundated with low-intent prospects and will learn to deprioritize marketing-sourced leads. Your lead scoring should be based around firmographic fit (i.e., industry, tech stack, and size) and behavioral engagement (the actions the lead has taken).

Routing is highly connected to lead scoring. High-intent, high-fit leads should be directed to SDRs with timing SLAs. Lower-intent leads, meanwhile, can continue to be nurtured or guided toward automated cadences. The goal of effective routing isn’t necessarily to get leads to sales as quickly as possible, but rather to treat them according to how likely they are to convert currently.

Routing requires ongoing optimization. Marketing should set up weekly review sessions to go over SDR feedback and troubleshoot any issues. Even small adjustments on the backend can lead to much higher conversion rates.

Step 5: Nurture with relevance and timing

Most leads take time to convert and move through long, non-linear buyer journeys. They need to educate other stakeholders about your product, compare it to your competition, and evaluate potential ROI. Nurturing has to be intentional to maintain momentum and prevent leads from going cold.

Nurturing can be broken down into three components: email, retargeting, and SDR cadences:

• Email nurturing: This should follow how prospects naturally approach buying decisions, progressing from identifying a problem to evaluating solutions.
• Paid retargeting: This component reinforces the messages from email across other channels in order to give your brand maximum visibility.
• SDR cadences: This is where you incorporate human-level interactions, such as brief messages that acknowledge the buyer’s current position in the funnel while offering helpful advice to steer them along.

A good lead nurture strategy guides buyers toward solutions that work for them. Instead of subjecting prospects to unwanted sales pressure, nurturing should feel unobtrusive and focused on delivering value.

Step 6: Measure, learn and reallocate budget

Iterating on lead generation strategies is what can really take your growth to the next level. Establish a cadence of weekly performance reviews that use a simple KPI tree:

• CTR → CVR → SALs → SQLs → Opportunities → Wins

These KPIs give your marketing team the data they need to immediately see what’s working and what requires adjustment.

After a few weeks, you can begin reallocating the budget based on data showing which segments are the best and worst performing. Continuing to fund an underperforming channel is a common example of sunk cost fallacy at work and it gets in the way of investments that prioritize revenue. When your KPI structure is clear, it’s much easier to justify moving money around to optimize revenue.

Choose channels that balance creation and capture

B2B marketing should never be built on a single channel. Buyers often follow complex, non-linear journeys, which is why your acquisition strategy must be present across channels. However, choosing the right channels requires balancing between demand generation vs. lead generation.

You want to avoid awareness-heavy campaigns that don’t have a measurable pipeline, while also avoiding campaigns that depend on high-intent search volume that don’t help drive future intent. A balanced approach grows your pipeline consistently, even at times when high-intent leads are in short supply.

LinkedIn and search as the backbone

LinkedIn is your best tool for creating demand because it gives you a direct way to get your message in front of your ICPs. You can easily target by job title, seniority, firmographics, and skills, allowing you to easily test your value offerings. LinkedIn provides an invaluable opportunity to educate the market about your value proposition, which builds credibility over time and keeps your brand in mind when prospects begin their research.

Google, on the other hand, is all about capturing demand. Prospects who are searching with high-intent keywords are highly likely to convert and require minimal nurturing. But your goal here shouldn’t just be bidding on keywords or ranking high in SERPs (although that is important). Instead, you need to complement your SEO strategy with high-quality landing pages, consistent and value-driven messaging, and a clear conversion path.

Review platforms and directories to capture trust

Reviews and directories are powerful channels for building trust with prospects, especially mid-funnel when they’re likely comparing your product to the competition. Buyers will frequently read ranking articles, comparison websites, and verified user reviews before they consider talking directly to sales.

You’ll want to maintain an automated structure for soliciting positive reviews from current customers. Also, familiarize yourself with our 9 B2B Directories to Generate Demand and Leads for ideas of where your brand can most effectively capture trust and build credibility. 

Events, webinars and communities that convert

Finally, events, webinars, and communities are important channels that add a human element to the buyer pathway. These channels appeal especially to prospects that are seeking expert advice and peer discussion or to those who are further along in the funnel.

Events are especially good for bringing in high-intent leads, but they’re most effective when paired with a consistent social media and SEO strategy. The key is to sequence channels so that those that drive awareness, such as LinkedIn, are feeding into intent, such as events and webinars.

Use intent, scoring and nurture to increase MQL→SQL

Generating MQLs is crucial, but the real challenge comes with converting them into sales-ready leads. A system that operationalizes intent signals, builds a practical lead scoring model, and nurtures leads across channels will be optimized to turn MQLs into SQLs.

Operationalize intent signals

Intent data is how you turn passive behavior into actionable insights. For example, a prospect that shows increased activity on high-value pages is signaling their intent to buy, but they may just be waiting for a final nudge. Triggering an outreach email may be the push they need to make the final decision.

Third-party intent signals, like topic spikes and peer-research signals, can help your team engage with accounts earlier. By using intent data intelligently, SDRs don’t have to guess which leads to prioritize. They can instead focus on prospects who are most likely to convert.

Build a lead scoring model that mirrors buying readiness

Next you want to develop a lead scoring model that combines fit and engagement. As mentioned earlier, fit includes firmographic and technographic factors that give you a good idea of whether or not a lead is a realistic win, such as if they work in an industry that your company serves. Engagement, meanwhile, focuses on behaviors that signal an intent to buy.

Your scoring model should align both fit and engagement to identify leads that can be routed quickly. This prioritization reduces the amount of time SDRs would otherwise waste on low-intent leads and builds trust between your marketing and sales teams.

Nurture across the buying cycle, not just the inbox

Nurture should be coordinated across email, retargeting, LinkedIn, and SDR touches. An effective lead nurture stream strategy should adapt to each buyer’s stage and role. For example, a prospect in the early stages is likely focused on understanding pain points, while a later-stage prospect is likely comparing solutions or preparing for demos.

Paid retargeting is also crucial for the nurturing process. Buyers who see your brand across different channels are more likely to have your product top of mind at each stage of the funnel. This consistent brand exposure reduces drop-off and increases meeting rates.

Your nurture campaign should exploit the advantages that each channel provides. For example, emails offer an opportunity for depth, ads for recall, and SDRs for personal context and credibility.

Measure what matters, prove ROI and reallocate fast

Too much data can easily overwhelm your marketing team and distract them from what matters most: generating revenue. A KPI tree, pipeline velocity, and operational hygiene can all help your team collect accurate and actionable data that is focused on ROI and growth.

Build a KPI tree that ladders to revenue

A KPI tree should connect top-of-funnel activity to bottom-line outcomes. Focus on core KPIs that are aligned with different funnel stages, such as SAL acceptance, SQL conversion, opportunity creation, CAC, and win rate.

For example, SQL conversion helps you assess the effectiveness of your SDR outreach, while opportunity creation and win rate reflect how competitive your offer is along with your overall value proposition.

Use pipeline velocity and cost to prioritize scale

Pipeline velocity is important because it provides a lens through which to view the success or failure of your other metrics. It is calculated using the following formula:

• Velocity = (# opps × win rate × ACV) / sales cycle days

Velocity-focused marketing teams tend to come out ahead, even if they fall short on volume. For example, a campaign that has fewer but higher-quality leads with faster cycles can often generate more revenue than a campaign with high volume but weak conversion.

Velocity also affects predictability and budget allocation. When your team is able to increase pipeline velocity, revenue becomes more predictable. In turn, that predictability makes it easier to reallocate budget for future and long-term growth.

Maintain ops hygiene: UTMs, routing, and data quality

Operational hygiene is often overlooked, but it’s a powerful element for maintaining accurate data. Having clean UTMs, enforceable naming conventions, consistent integrations, and deduplication routines is how you ensure that your data is actually reflecting the reality of your program.

Without clean data, KPIs become unreliable, which means you’ll begin making strategic decisions in the dark. When data quality is high, CMOs are able to more clearly tie their actions and decisions to revenue outcomes and accelerate high-intent lead growth.

Ready to create a 60–90 day pilot plan? Talk to our B2B lead generation team to implement a lead generation strategy that actually converts.