Why B2B Tech Companies Succeed or Fail with Lead Generation

Generating leads is crucial for the success of B2B tech companies. Unless tech companies bring in more customers, they can’t grow and boost their profits by selling more products and services. The TSL 2025 B2B Tech Marketing Survey found that 85% of managed IT providers identify generating new leads as a top priority for the next 12 months. 

While generating more leads may seem to be an indicator of success, this can be deceiving. Where leads are concerned, quantity doesn’t necessarily mean quality. If leads don’t convert into customers eventually, your B2B tech company’s efforts at lead generation have failed. In the TSL Survey, 47% of respondents chose lead conversion as a priority. 

To avoid leads from turning into dead ends, B2B tech companies need to find ways to reach the appropriate audience, control lead quality from the beginning, and spend time nurturing leads in the pipeline so they convert. 

Targeting Audiences 

Successful lead generation begins by targeting the right audience for your products. Instead of casting a wide net, your company should narrow the focus of your lead generation efforts to appeal to specific job roles, demographics, regions, and types of companies. 

Creating an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) helps promote lead-generation success by defining a target audience that is interested in buying the type of solutions you offer. To create an ICP, you should start by analyzing current customers to uncover common characteristics, such as industry, size, revenue, and pain points. Data gathered from your contacts should help you validate and refine the ICP by defining who gets the most value from your products and services. 

Researching the market will enable you to build detailed buyer personas that can be used to develop the right marketing message and decide which marketing channels for promoting your products are most effective for attracting and engaging leads.  

Focusing on Lead Quality 

B2B Tech companies fail at lead generation when they neglect lead quality. If leads haven’t been qualified, they are less likely to convert into customers. Of the B2B tech companies surveyed by TSL, 40% identified poor lead quality as a key lead generation challenge. 

Unqualified leads may be interested in getting more information but not making a purchase. Qualified leads are ready to buy products or services. 

To ensure leads are qualified, your company needs to define criteria for Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs). The marketing and sales teams should agree on these criteria to ensure a successful hand off. 

Using the Budget, Authority, Needs, Timeline, and Environment (BANTE) framework promotes strong lead qualification. Ideally, a prospect should have: 

• Available funds to address their technology needs 

• Power to approve a purchase 

• Pain points or challenges that can be solved with your solution 

• Plans to purchase a solution 

Information about the prospect’s environment helps show how the new solution would fit into the existing infrastructure and confirm that it fills a gap in capabilities. 

Marketing messages can be crafted to address prospects who meet BANTE criteria. When Business Development Reps (BDRs) interact with prospects during outbound marketing efforts, they can ask questions to gather information about these areas of qualification and confirm whether a lead is promising or not before passing it off to sales. 

Following Up on Leads 

Many leads fail because of lack of nurturing. According to research from TSL, 45% of managed IT firms are challenged by ineffective lead nurturing. 

Once a lead enters the pipeline, if the prospect isn’t ready to purchase, the sales team needs to keep following up with them. Following up with a lead in a timely manner is key for reaching the point of conversion. If leads are allowed to go cold, they are less likely to convert. 

Your company can follow up with leads through email nurture streams and content tracks that guide prospects through the buyer’s journey from awareness through to a decision. By sending regular emails that are personalized for the prospect, you can keep the conversation going, remind potential customers of your offer, and give them additional opportunities to convert. In successive emails, content offers can be tailored to address the needs and interests of the prospect based on their stage in the buyer’s journey and help to advance them along the path to conversion. 

Addressing Pain Points

The approach your B2B tech company takes to create messaging around your products and services affects the success of your lead generation efforts. Your marketing message should address the pain points and challenges of your target audience instead of describing your products. Focusing on the features of your solutions won’t attract potential customers who are trying to understand their problems and how to solve them. 

To create an effective marketing message, you need to consider what problems your solutions can or cannot solve and lean into how they meet specific needs for potential customers. Assessing your approach to messaging can go a long way toward understanding why certain solutions aren’t selling. 

Developing a Winning Lead Generation Strategy 

Ultimately, the success or failure of lead generation for B2B tech companies depends on the overall marketing strategy. A marketing strategy should be customized to focus on the ideal customer, promote lead qualification, and encourage lead nurturing. 

At TSL Marketing, we have over 25 years of experience working with B2B tech companies to develop successful lead generation strategies. We can help your company define your target audience and craft effective marketing messages that engage and qualify leads. Our lead generation strategies include nurturing to increase the chances that leads will convert. 

We believe in the power of ongoing marketing to promote lead generation. The team at TSL will track campaign performance and suggest adjustments to turn lead generation failures into successes. 

Find out how to develop a successful B2B lead generation strategy. Request a proposal from TSL Marketing.