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by Belinda Summers
In B2B Lead Generation, it’s the Offer that Makes or Breaks: Although it’s been repeatedly depicted in movies and novels, you really can’t trick people into buying things they don’t want or need. You can’t hypnotize them and make an army of loyal customers. The best you can do is motivate them, persuade them or stimulate them. And how do you do that?
“I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.” — Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather
Why is that line so famous? Aside from the fact that Marlon Brando uttered it, the line also presents a solution to most of our problems when dealing with other people. To get their attention, or to get something out of them, make them an offer — one that’s hard for them to pass on.
In essence, that’s what B2B lead generation is all about.
It’s a delicate process, and it involves understanding the people that you’re selling to. In Business-to-Business (B2B) marketing, it gets even trickier — this necessitates an even deeper discovery of how these prospect companies engage themselves in vendors and potential business partners.
Is your product or service what they WANT?
A lot of businesses have something that customers can benefit from, or things that would help them reach their goals. Sometimes, businesses even have thing that customers NEED.
However, if customers don’t WANT these products, everything else won’t matter anyway. For instance, you’re an IT vendor trying to sell the latest email marketing automation software to a company, and this software is an absolute necessity — it cuts costs, manpower and increases efficiency. However, if that particular company doesn’t want your product despite how perfect it is, you’re still going to have a difficult time to convince them.
What are the offers that prospects bite?
Now if the awesomeness of your product doesn’t seem to be enough to convert a prospect to a customer, you have to come up with an offer. What they would want is an offer that:
*increases business response but lowers risk *reduces cost but adds urgency *improves operations, services and deals *raises profits and generates public curiosity *widens perspectives but zeroes-in on the goal
If a prospect is able to see any of these offers, they have no choice but at least consider your business. In the end, it’s all about presenting them what they desire, because when it comes to weighing things, it’s easy to convince them of what they need, but it’s difficult to impose on what they want.
About the author