When you work on building a client base, you often meet difficulties related to the differentiation of processes and steps. A clear understanding of what is the most necessary for your situation gives you an advantage of using the time and effort most effectively. So here we will clear up how lead generation differs from appointment setting and why both are crucial. To get a professional consultation and service, contact the best b2b lead generation company BELKINS.
What is lead generation?
Lead generation is the process of creating a potential customer database. You can build it from scratch or use the advantage of existing databases, but the main point of lead gen is that in this process, you try to find out what people can be interested in the products and services you provide.
Creating your own database is more efficient in the long-term perspective because initially, you involve different means to attract people. So there are more chances to close the deals working with leads that have given you their contact information voluntarily. Such leads are called qualified, so the more qualified leads you have in your base, the more chances you have to reach success.
Defining the appointment setting
For the appointment setting, you need slightly different means and services. Here, you don’t try to find out if an individual or business representative is interested. You concentrate on people that are already willing to make a deal.
If analyzing the name of the process, we talk about setting a particular date for a meeting or a call to discuss the possibilities. It’s up to a more specific discussion of what a customer wants to get and what you can offer. If you consider the sequence, it would be correct to say that lead generation comes first, and appointments are set last.
The importance of both
Both processes are important for bringing in customers. They can be different steps of one process, or they can be separate actions. Their correlation depends on the specific situation you’ve got, but if you strive to develop your company and diversify relationships with various customers, you’ll need both.
Using lead generation refers to a marketing campaign, so it helps:
- communicate a message to a large audience;
- perform quick deals;
- get more and more prospective clientele thanks to PPC advertising, content sharing, etc.
Setting appointments, you build long-term relationships, so you:
- create a base of regular customers who will address your services again;
- make this base grow thanks to more individual approaches than lead gen provides.
In simple terms, you can distinguish lead generation from appointment set by the final aim. The former serves more to gain quantity, and the latter provides quality relations.
To summarize, you need to realize the dissimilarity between these two mechanisms to find the most convenient means to run your business. Both of them can drive spectacular results if properly applied. Book a call with a Belkins specialist and find the answers for the best solution.