How to Determine Which Lead Gen Agency is Right for Your Logistics Business

So you've figured out your target market, have gone (or are going) to market, and are ready to hit the ground running. What's next? Well, in six words: lead generation, lead generation, lead generation! Your business needs an influx of potential customers whom you can target with personalized outreach to fill your sales funnel.

But that's easier said than done. Lead generation is tough and success rates are low. According to research, 80% of new leads generated 'never turn into sales' and a whopping 91% of marketers put lead gen as their most important goal.

So when it comes to 3X-ing, 5X-ing, or even 10X-ing your qualified leads, you basically have two options: a) build and in-house B2B lead generation team that'll work on improving your company's private lead generation efforts, or b) partner with an external lead generation agency who'll use their existing tools and techniques to generate leads on your behalf.

For reasons we're about to explore, outsourcing lead generation is just as popular with logistics businesses today as building an in-house team, if not more so. But once you've decided to outsource, you face another problem altogether: which lead generation agency is right for your logistics business?

It's a tough choice and there's a lot of money at stake - that's why we've compiled a useful list of considerations you need to work through before making your final decision.

But first...

Why is hiring external lead generation services a good idea?

B2B lead generation is a complex topic and most businesses (including logistics businesses) can't rely on their product attracting its own customers. It's a competitive world, and professional lead generation services can make a huge difference to your revenue - really; outsourcing to a lead generation agency can have 43% better results than conducting lead generation in-house.

1. Cost efficiency

Outsourcing eliminates the need for hiring and training in-house staff, saving on salaries, benefits, and other employment costs.

2. Access to expertise and advanced tools

Not only do lead generation agencies have trained professionals who're experienced in different aspects of lead generation (including content marketing, SEO, cold calling, and more), but they're already experts in specialized lead generation tools and software, too.

3. Focus on core business activities

Every business leader needs more time to focus on product development, customer service, and strategic planning - outsourcing lead generation can give you that extra time.

4. Better lead quality

As lead generation agencies are dedicated solely to lead generation, they have more time to employ sophisticated techniques and data-driven strategies to attract high-quality leads that are more likely to convert into customers.

5. Faster results

Agencies have the resources and expertise to quickly implement lead generation campaigns, leading to faster results compared to building an in-house team from scratch.

How to choose which lead gen agency is right for your logistics business

When choosing between competing lead generation services, there are a few key considerations you should take into account. Let's take a look at them:

Understanding your business needs

1. Define your goals:
2. What exactly are you trying to achieve through a lead generation agency? Do you want to establish broad thought leadership, or target a few key decision-makers in the logistics industry (i.e., high quality leads)?
3. You need to approach lead generation with clear objectives that translate down to every rung of your sales team.
4. Target audience
5. By analyzing your current metrics (and those of your competitors), you may be able to identify a key demographic that you're currently missing out on. For instance, if you're a logistics company looking to expand, you may want to consider targeting decision-makers in manufacturing, retailers, wholesalers, distributors, construction companies, and more.
6. Budget considerations
7. Of course, your budget will be a determining factor in your choice of lead gen agency. If you're working with smaller sums, a specialized service may be all you need.
8. On the other hand, a larger company with more money to spend may want to invest in a comprehensive multi-channel outreach campaign.

Types of lead generation services

'Lead generation' covers a lot of ground and the industry is by no means monolithic. Different companies require different forms of lead gen - and there's a plethora of different lead generation companies catering to those specific needs.

1. Outbound
2. Perhaps the most common lead generation process, outbound lead nurturing revolves around reaching out to potential customers through cold calling, email marketing, social media, and more. Sales reps put in the work to identify and contact as many high quality leads as possible for your business.
3. Inbound
4. Inbound, on the other hand, is all about attracting potential customers into your orbit. In contrast to outbound, inbound marketing teams generally focus on content marketing and thought leadership, establishing a reputation that prospects will be drawn to.
5. Search Engine Optimization
6. If you want to establish steady inbound lead generation, you're going to need killer SEO. This involves optimizing your website and social media marketing so that it reaches a higher position on Google's SERPs.
7. Social Selling
8. Successful marketing strategies focus on high value leads, and the best place to find the kind of prospects who are likely to buy is on social media. Through effective social media marketing - or, 'social selling' - lead generation agencies can target the right people with pinpoint accuracy.
9. Corporate gifting
10. Top lead generation companies will even offer gifting campaigns. As opposed to digital marketing strategies, the idea behind gifting is to exploit the 'personal touch' by sending gifts and handwritten notes to high quality leads.

Unfortunately, we can't cover ever type of lead generation here. But doing some research and understanding which type best suits your business is crucial. For example, if you're a logistics business, a strong social selling campaign targeting logistics decision-makers in LinkedIn could be the way forward.

Evaluating different lead generation agencies

So what should you look out for when researching lead generation services? Here's a handy (but by no means comprehensive) checklist:

1. Experience
2. How long has the lead generation agency been in business? What did the leaders of the lead generation company do before starting the agency?
3. In particular, it's a great idea to look out for founder-led agencies. Why? Think about it: if a business is run by its founder, you know they're going to do everything they can to get results, drive revenue, and build their reputation.
4. Metrics and KPIs
5. Of course, you want to see that a lead generation agency has improved web traffic and engagement for other clients, but that's not the end of it.
6. Always take a look at Cost of Customer Acquisition (CAC), lead quality, Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), average deal size, conversion rates, cost per lead, and average revenue per customer (ARPC) if you want to get a really feel for the agency's past success.
7. Reviews and testimonials
8. Just like you'd do before buying anything, it's always a good idea to check out some reviews (95% of us rely on reviews, according to one recent study).
9. Reviews are easy enough to find, but if you want a comprehensive list of lead generation services complete with stats and reviews all in one place, Clutch's list is the place to go.

Get qualified leads with the right lead generation agency

Today's lead generation services are as varied as its industries, so establishing which B2B lead generation agency is best for your business requires some serious digging. Among the things you should really be focusing on when conducting your research are: what your business really needs from its B2B lead generation, how different types of lead generation services could fulfill those needs, and how experienced your chose lead generation agency is.

The best lead generation company will be able to offer comprehensive programs to suit every need. Leadium, for instance, not only offers extensive multi-channel outbound campaigns (across cold calling, email marketing, social media marketing, corporate gifting, and more), but also allocates dedicated research teams to each client. This way, we ensure top lead quality and save you money of expired databases.

What's more, Leadium is 100% U.S.-based and founder-led. For you, that means trust, credibility, and experienced campaign management that drives results.

To find out more about Leadium's pricing plans, why not reach out or a consultation today? We'll talk you through everything you need to know about generate leads for your company.