Your B2B Lead Generation is Broken—Here’s the Simple Fix

Why Lead Generation and Lead Scoring Matter for B2B Sales Success

Let’s be real for a second: Lead generation is not your real problem.

The real issue? You’re filling your sales pipeline with unqualified leads, and your team is wasting hours chasing people who don’t give a damn. Meanwhile, the truly interested buyers? They’re slipping through your fingers and straight into your competitor’s inbox.  

It’s like casting a fishing net in a swamp and wondering why you keep pulling up old boots instead of fish. Your lead generation and lead scoring are broken. Fix them together, and your sales team will stop wasting time, marketing will stop screaming into the void, and revenue will stop flatlining.  

Step 1: Stop Generating Useless Leads

Most mid-sized B2B companies think “more leads = more sales.” That’s a myth. 

More bad leads = more wasted time.

How to Generate High-Quality Leads for B2B Sales:

• Target the Right Audience – If you’re selling industrial software, the IT intern from a 5-person startup is NOT your customer. Use data-driven lead generation to focus on companies that match your ideal buyer profile (industry, company size, decision-maker job titles).  
• Lead Magnets That Attract Decision-Makers – Whitepapers, case studies, and comparison guides work. “Enter to win a free iPad” giveaways? Just attract freeloaders.  
• Demand, Not Just Awareness – Stop posting generic “thought leadership” and start using case studies, ROI calculators, and testimonials that show real business results.  

Example: Signavio, a B2B business transformation company, fixed their lead generation by tracking and scoring lead engagement in HubSpot. This simple optimization led to a 188% increase in marketing-generated leads ([HubSpot Case Study](https://www.hubspot.com/case-studies/signavio)).  

AI Tip:Predictive lead scoring tools like Apollo.io (https://www.apollo.io/home) or HubSpot AI (https://www.hubspot.com) analyze historical data and automatically improve lead quality over time. If you're not leveraging AI, you’re already behind.  

Step 2: Stop Wasting Time on Unqualified Leads with Lead Scoring

Here’s a fact: 79% of marketing leads never convert because they weren’t worth pursuing in the first place ([MarketingSherpa](https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/chart/importance-of-quality-over-quantity)). The best way to fix this? Lead scoring.

How to Set Up a Lead Scoring System That Works:

1️⃣ Assign Points Based on Fit: If a lead’s industry, company size, and job title match your best customers, +20 points. If they don’t, -20 points.  
2️⃣ Score Their Behavior: Someone who downloads your pricing sheet and books a demo? +50 points. Someone who visits your homepage once and leaves? 0 points.  
3️⃣ Set an Action Threshold: Leads with 60+ points go straight to sales. Those under 30 stay in marketing’s nurture funnel.  

Best CRM Tools for Lead Scoring: 
- HubSpot CRM (Automated lead scoring for B2B companies --> 100-1000 employees) (https://www.hubspot.com)
- Pipedrive (Simple pipeline management with scoring --> <100 employees) (https://www.pipedrive.com/)

AI Tip: Don’t trust gut instinct. AI-powered tools for advanced sales and marketing teams with a big budget like 6sense (https://6sense.com/) or People.ai (https://www.people.ai/) use behavioral data to predict which leads are most likely to convert—before your sales team even picks up the phone.  

Step 3: Make Sales & Marketing Work Together for Better Conversions 

Sales blames marketing for sending bad leads. Marketing blames sales for not closing them. This never-ending cycle is why revenue stalls. 

Fix this with one rule: 

Sales only gets leads that score above 60 points. Everything else stays with marketing. No exceptions.  

Results? Faster lead response time, fewer wasted calls, and higher close rates. Signavio did this and saw a massive increase in marketing-generated leads.

Final Thoughts: The Blueprint to B2B Lead Generation Success

--> If your lead generation isn’t working, fix your targeting
--> If your sales team complains about bad leads, fix your lead scoring. 
--> If marketing and sales aren’t aligned, create a scoring threshold. 

📞 Struggling with bad leads? Book a Free 30 min strategy Meeting, and let’s fix it together.  

By combining B2B lead generation best practices with AI-powered lead scoring, you’ll stop chasing dead leads and start closing deals faster.  

So the real question is—are you actually going to fix it, or just keep throwing bad leads into your pipeline?

Your competitors hope you do nothing. Don’t give them the satisfaction.