10 Most Popular B2B Lead Generation Blog Posts of 2018

2018 is quickly coming to an end and the holidays are a time for reflection and preparation.

Are you feeling excited about 2019 plans? I hope so. If not, you’re not alone.

Why? Because making changes, getting motivated, and building up momentum is hard. That’s why business plans often change February 1st (just like personal goals).

To help you prepare and get some inspiration for 2019, I’ve compiled a list of the top ten most popular and shared posts on the B2B Lead Blog, chosen by readers just like you.

This following list was compiled based on aggregate Google analytics showing unique visitors generated from Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and views. The list below starts at number 10 moving up.

#10: Why Marketers Fail at Customer Empathy and How to Fix it

No one will ever say “we don’t focus on the customer. But according to Huttula, marketers use their own biases and personal preferences (thinking it’s empathy) to predict what will appeal to customers.

Learn why (even empathetic) marketers fail at customer empathy and how to fix it immediately. Read Why Marketers Fail at Customer Empathy and How to Fix it

#9: Putting Empathy in Account Based Marketing

We can get so caught up in our Account-based Marketing (ABM) strategies, systems, tools, and investments that we lose sight of building deep empathy for the people in the accounts.

Ironically, marketers doing ABM are isolated from the people in the accounts they’re targeting. Why? Because marketers seldom talk directly with the very people they are reaching with ABM campaigns.

Learn the steps you can take to improve your ABM results. Read Putting Empathy in Account Based Marketing

#8: Growing B2B Sales with Trust and Empathy

We have more sales and marketing technology and channels to reach our customers, but they’re increasingly tuning us out. In short: we’re getting more disconnected from customers. The question is: How can we connect better and build relationships with B2B customers?

I interviewed Steve Woods (@stevewoods), Founder & CTO  at Nudge to learn how we can be connecting and building B2B relationships with trust and empathy in sales and ABM. Listen or read: Growing B2B Sales with Trust and Empathy

#7: Transform Your Customer Journey and Accelerate Growth

Growth for B2B is hard. It used to be that you could accelerate growth with huge customer acquisition. Ramping up your sales and marketing is not enough to sustain growth. Today, the best companies are growing through customer success.

I interviewed Kia Puhm (@kiapuhm), CEO at K!A CX Consulting to talk about customer success. Kia’s got a fantastic perspective on “how do we accelerate and grow our existing customer relationships,” which is something that many companies don’t focus on nearly enough.

Read more: Transform Your Customer Journey and Accelerate Growth

#6: Most Popular B2B Lead Generation Blog Posts of 2017

The single biggest issue for B2B revenue growth remains lead generation: increasing lead quality and quantity. This analysis into the most popular posts gives a glimpse into what subjects readers found most relevant in 2017.

Additionally, this list shows that increasing conversion, understanding customer motivation, managing and nurturing leads better, and improving sales performance are topics on the minds of readers.

Check out 10 Most Popular B2B Lead Generation Blog Posts of 2017

#5: How Sales Hustle and Automation Can Hurt Customer Experience

To drive growth, the mandate for sales organizations is to make more calls, send more cold emails. Sales reps are hustling and using automated tools to move faster. But sales hustle and automation have a downside: they can hurt customer experience.

We need to humanize our approach and focus on building trust with remarkable interactions. Learn how.

Read How Sales Hustle and Automation Can Hurt Customer Experience

#4: New Research: Customer Empathy and How to Solve Buying Problems

Are you applying empathy as part of your sales and marketing approach? Why? Because according to Brent Adamson, “empathy” is the one word that matters most to sales [and marketing] success.

It’s hard for customers to buy today. B2B customers are overwhelmed with too much information, too many choices, trying to getting their colleagues to agree, not to mention second-guessing.

That’s why I interviewed Brent Adamson (@brentadamson), Principal Executive Advisor at Gartner, and the co-author of The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer.

Read more: New Research: Customer Empathy and How to Solve Buying Problems

#3: Five Reasons Why Your Buyer Persona’s Aren’t Good Enough

How often do you spend weeks or even months putting blood, sweat, and tears into a new marketing campaign, only to have it fall flat? You swear you did everything right, but when it comes time for the results to pour in, they never show.

The likely culprit? Bad buyer personas. Learn five easy ways to improve your buyer personas.

Check out Five Reasons Why Your Buyer Persona’s Aren’t Good Enough

#2: Gartner Research: Boost Your Growth From Existing Customers

CEOs and sales leaders have long wondered: how can we drive organic growth and increase sales from existing customers? But it’s elusive. In fact, the traditional approach is no longer working.

According to CEB, now Gartner, “Only 28% of sales leaders report that account management channels regularly meet their cross-selling and account growth targets.” That’s why I interviewed Brent Adamson (@brentadamson), Principal Executive Advisor at Gartner, and the co-author of The Challenger Sale and The Challenger Customer.

Read Gartner Research: Boost Your Growth From Existing Customers

#1: Four Steps to Do Lead Nurturing That Helps More Customers Buy

Marketing can take you on a long hike. The one thing I can guarantee you about the journey is that getting more leads are not better if you don’t know how to nurture.

It’s not just about converting leads to becoming “marketing qualified.”  It’s about helping them progress along the buying journey to get more sales.

I’ve seen companies spend too much time getting people to raise their hands (i.e., leads) but not enough towards progression. Sales people often struggle with developing nurturing content without marketing support. It’s a big problem.

According to Forrester, top performers convert just 1.54% of marketing qualified leads to revenue. That means 98% of marketing leads fail.Click To Tweet

Read more: 4 Steps to Do Lead Nurturing That Helps More Customers Buy

Conclusion

This analysis into the most popular posts gives a glimpse into what subjects readers found most relevant. The single biggest issue for B2B revenue growth remains demand generation: increasing lead quality and quantity.

Additionally, this list shows that account-based marketing (ABM), growing revenue with existing customers, understanding customer motivation better, and improving sales performance are topics on the minds of readers.  At the same time, connecting and building trust with buyers continues to be a growing challenge. Stay tuned as we dive deeper these topics and more in 2019 and thank you for reading!