B2B lead generation channels, the numbers to track, and what to keep in-house
B2B lead generation is the work of finding businesses that might buy from you and getting a person there to agree to a sales conversation. The usual channels are outbound calls, email, LinkedIn, events, search, referrals and paid ads. Most firms do best with two of them run well.
This guide covers what counts as a lead, what each channel needs, the six numbers worth tracking, the Australian and UK rules in brief, and which parts to keep in-house.
Serkan Honeine, Co-founder, CoSauce
Published · Last updated
What counts as a lead
A lead is a named person at a business that fits who you sell to. That's all. A list of company names isn't a lead list, and nor is a spreadsheet of email addresses nobody has checked.
Two labels come up in every sales meeting. A marketing qualified lead (MQL) is someone who has shown interest: downloaded a guide, come to a webinar, replied to an email. A sales qualified lead (SQL) is someone a salesperson has spoken to and confirmed has the problem, the budget and the authority to buy, in a timeframe that matters. Our outbound teams use BANT for this check: budget, authority, need and timing.
Agree the definitions in writing before you start. Most arguments between sales and marketing are about an MQL that sales thinks is junk.
The main channels and their limits
| Channel | What it needs | The limit |
|---|---|---|
| Outbound calling | A clean list of the right companies and roles, a short script, and people who can keep dialling all day without sounding tired. | Most dials reach nobody. It works when the list is good and the follow-up is fast, and falls over when either is missing. |
| Cold email | Accurate contact data, a sending domain kept apart from your main one, and copy written for one type of buyer. | Cheap to send, so everyone sends it. Expect low reply rates, and the consent rules differ a lot between Australia and the UK. |
| A real person with a complete profile who posts and messages under their own name every day. | Slow, and it sits on one person. When they leave, the network goes with them. | |
| Events | The right event, a plan for who you want to meet before you go, and follow-up within a day or two. | Expensive per conversation once you count travel and time. Most of the value is lost if nobody follows up. |
| Content and search | Pages that answer what your buyers type into Google, written by someone who knows the work. | Takes months to build. It brings people who are already looking, which is the best kind of lead, but you can't turn it up next week. |
| Referrals | Happy clients, and the habit of asking them at the right moment. | The best close rates and the least control. You can't plan a quarter on them. |
| Paid ads | A budget you can afford to lose while you test, a landing page that converts, and someone watching cost per lead weekly. | Stops the day you stop paying, and you pay for clicks from people who never become leads. |
Pick channels that match how your buyers already buy. If they search for what you do, put the effort into search. If they never look because they don't know the option exists, someone has to call them.
The numbers to track
Track the funnel stage by stage, weekly, in your CRM. A single "leads this month" number hides where the problem is.
- Leads contacted: of the leads you had, how many did you reach at all.
- Connect rate: of the dials made, how many reached a person.
- Conversation rate: of the connects, how many became a real conversation about the problem.
- Meetings booked: how many conversations turned into a date in the diary.
- Show rate: of the meetings booked, how many happened.
- Conversion: of the meetings held, how many became paying clients.
Your own last quarter is the baseline that matters. Published averages rarely say whose calls or what market they came from. Measure it, change one thing, and measure again.
Where a funnel leaks, a worked example
Nectr is an Australian solar provider for homes and businesses. When we started, leads were waiting more than 48 hours for a reply and 40% of booked appointments were no-shows. We worked on two things first: speed to lead, and confirming appointments with SMS and email reminders, easy rescheduling and qualifying each buyer before the meeting. These are the numbers from the Nectr case study.
| Stage | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Leads contacted | 60% | 85% |
| Lead to appointment | 11% | 14% |
| Appointment sit rate | 60% | 70% |
| Sit to sale | 20% | 30% |
| Average response time | 48+ hours | Under 24 hours |
Run 1,000 leads through each column to see what that means. Before: 110 appointments, 66 that happened, and about 13 sales. After: 140 appointments, 98 that happened, and about 29 sales. None of the stages doubled. The small gains multiply, and the close rate went up by half, on the same number of leads.
The rules in Australia and the UK
In Australia, the Spam Act needs consent for marketing email and SMS (ACMA, avoid sending spam). Callers have 30 days to stop calling a number newly added to the Do Not Call Register, so wash your list within 30 days of calling (Do Not Call Register). In the UK, PECR lets you email companies without prior consent, though sole traders and some partnerships count as individuals (ICO, business-to-business marketing). Screen live B2B calls against the TPS, the Corporate TPS and your own do-not-call list. Our guides to the Do Not Call Register and the Telephone Preference Service cover the detail, and our UK page covers how we run teams for UK companies. This is a summary, not legal advice.
What to keep in-house, and when to outsource
Some of the work belongs with you, whatever size you are:
- Deciding who you sell to and what you offer them.
- The first sales calls with a new type of buyer, so you hear the objections yourself.
- Referrals and existing client relationships.
- Closing, if your deals are large and the buyer expects to meet the person they'll work with.
The volume work is a different matter: building lists, making the dials, following up every lead within a day, confirming meetings. It's repetitive, it needs hours every day, and it's the first thing a busy founder drops. That's the part worth handing to a team, once you know your buyer and have a script that has booked meetings before.
Outsourcing too early is a common mistake. If you still haven't found a message that works, a team will only find out faster that it doesn't. If you're comparing providers, our guide to lead generation agencies covers what to ask them.
When we take this on, the team works in your CRM, so you see every call and every outcome. We fix the process first, then automate the routine follow-ups, then put people on the calls. You can read how we work or what our telesales and outbound teams do.
Questions
What's the difference between an MQL and an SQL?
An MQL has shown interest, usually through something marketing did. An SQL has been spoken to by a salesperson and checked against BANT. Only SQLs should go into the sales forecast.
Is cold calling still worth it for B2B?
It is when your buyers won't go looking for you and the deal is worth a conversation. It needs a good list, enough dials every day and fast follow-up. In the UK, screen against the TPS and CTPS first.
Can I send cold B2B emails in Australia?
The Spam Act asks for consent before you send marketing emails, and says buying a list doesn't change that. The ACMA says you're responsible for having consent for any address you use. Check your case with an adviser before you send in volume.
Next step
If you want more meetings and can't find the hours to chase them, book a call with me. Bring last quarter's numbers, even rough ones, and we'll find where your funnel leaks.