The Basic Principles of Buying Business Leads

Lead generation is a hard process requiring a lot of effort and resources. It is also one of the most crucial processes for B2B companies. If you do not find new leads and make new sales, you will not be able to drive growth – it is as simple as that.

Buying relevant leads is an alternative way to generate new business that B2B companies turn to. There are, however, risks and pitfalls involved in buying business leads. Thus, here we will look over when, how, and from where it can be beneficial to buy sales leads.

Quality lead generation

When we talk about lead generation what we actually mean is that we want to acquire leads of high quality. Generating or buying leads that poorly suit our product will end up wasting time and frustrating the sales team.

In order to avoid this, companies draft ideal customer profiles (ICP) to direct their search for qualified leads. This semi-fictional model of what would an ideal customer for the product look like helps identify the highest-quality leads.

Additionally, referring to ICP, the sales team can move the leads down the sales funnel faster. Here, accurate lead scoring and correct allocation of the time sales reps devote to leads are crucially important.

The same goes whether you are generating leads through your own marketing campaigns or purchasing leads from lead providers. Buying low-quality leads will not only fail to bring value but can prove wasteful and damaging to the sales team’s ability to boost revenue.

Thus, when buying leads, we aim to buy qualified leads that resemble our ICP as much as possible. This is ensured by finding the best lead list companies and working closely with them to comprise the lists that make the most sense, given your product and company features.

There are, however, dangers involved in buying leads that need to be known beforehand. Therefore, when considering buying business leads, one needs to weigh the pros and cons before making the decision.

Advantages and disadvantages of buying leads

As with any practice, buying leads has its own set of benefits and drawbacks. For a convenient overview, we have comprised this table of the main advantages and disadvantages to consider when looking to buy business leads.

How to buy leads?

You can buy business leads online from various lead generation platforms, lead providers, and websites offering lead lists. There are important preparation steps you should take before you buy leads.

1. Know what you need

Developing an ICP or a buyer persona is a good way of knowing what type of customer you are looking for. You can, however, go beyond that and figure out which data points are of most value to you. Audit your sales process to identify what helps your sales professionals the most in determining buyer intent.

2. Buy business leads from trustworthy providers

Many of the lead list providers that you will find online are scams or amateurs who do not know what they are doing. 

Thus, to avoid problems with data regulation or bad quality leads, look for well-reviewed, professional-looking lead generation platforms or data brokers. Make sure that the providers specialize in B2B and not consumer leads. 

3. Compare key offerings

When choosing among the professional providers, compare their key offerings, such as how data-rich is the lead list, do their offer a free plan as a trial, and whether you can contact them for custom lead lists. Additionally, their tools and key features related to data export, delivery, and CRM integration should be considered.

4. Look into pricing

Of course, you want to get the best deal possible. Thus, it is wise to compare prices for the cheapest offer of the same value to your company. As mentioned, however, be suspicious of extremely low prices, as it might signal that the lead list provider is selling the same outbound leads to multiple firms.

If possible, look at the logic behind the pricing and see if it is reasonable. In other words, if the price is grounded in the provided services and value.

5. Validate the lead list for quality leads

Actively check the product you have received to ensure that you are getting your money’s worth. Use tools like email verification tool to make sure that there are no duplicates and that the business leads on your lead list are actually unique, high-quality leads. If the list requires a lot of data enrichment to become useful, it might be a good idea to purchase leads from a different lead data provider next time.

Best lead list providers in 2024

To make it easier for you to find and buy leads that you can actually use, we have compiled a list of the best sources for targeted leads in 2024.

1. Coresignal

There are many reasons why Coresignal can safely claim to be the best B2B lead data provider. From firmographic to technographic data, from company reviews to startup information, in Coresignal’s massive database, you will find everything comprising a high-quality business lead.

Database APIs and fast, high-quality data delivery in convenient formats ensure that new leads reach you as soon as possible. Ensuring CRM integration and data enrichment, Coresignal is the lead buying platform with a substantial amount of leads for B2B companies.

And with the help of multiple search filters, you can easily find lead information most relevant to you, thus making sure that you get data products customized to your needs.

2. Linkedin Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is the sales intelligence solution of LinkedIn used by marketers and sales professionals. This tool is made to buy sales leads directly on Linkedin. The advanced plan allows for CRM integration and updates with data validation.

Allowing for unlimited network access, LinkedIn Sales Navigator is the best search tool for lead generation directly on this professional network. However, if you need more than LinkedIn leads, you should get a more versatile data provider.

3. Uplead

Uplead is a reputable lead generation platform offering access to lead databases of high-quality prospects. The company offers a 95% guarantee of data accuracy.

All in all, Uplead has a good reputation and offers a free trial which might be worth checking out.

4. Lusha

As a sales intelligence platform used by sales reps and marketers to find business leads, Lusha can be really helpful. A key feature of this tool also offers lead scoring that helps identify buyer intent.

This lead generation tool focuses on the US market, so it is not very useful for businesses elsewhere or US companies entering a new market. Features like CRM integration require a higher-tier plan.

5. Anymailfinder

Let us finish the list with something for small businesses looking for a simple and cheap but trustworthy solution. Anymailfinder is an email search tool that helps to find and verify company emails.

It has no additional features like scoring or CRM integration but promises a 97% or higher delivery rate. Thus, this is currently the best starting option for those whose lead generation is currently limited to acquiring emails.

Buying leads vs. creating a lead list yourself

When the means to create a lead list yourself are available, it is usually the better option. There are many reasons for that.

• You can customize your list specifically to meet your ideal customer requirements.
• You are in control of the entire lead generation process. Thus, you can make sure that quality standards are followed, and regulations are met.
• No additional validation is needed except for the normal due diligence in ensuring data quality.
• Time, money, and resources that you dedicate can be flexibly adjusted at all times.
• You can go after exactly those data points that you deem most valuable.

On the other hand, buying potential leads can be the better option for small businesses or companies entering a new market. Any firm can benefit from purchasing business leads in the following ways.

• It might be cost-effective to buy leads.
• Sales reps can dedicate more time to other tasks across the sales pipeline, like appointment setting and lead nurturing.
• Professional data providers will be able to share their lead generation expertise. Thus you might end up with higher-quality leads that you could have acquired on your own.
• Companies professionally providing business lead data are also likely to be able to get more varied lead information than you could gather on your own.
• Keeping lead lists fresh is an ongoing process. Thus, even if you can create a lead list, data enrichment through purchasing is advisable.

At the end of the day, only you can tell which way to go is the most viable for you. The better option this week might not be the same next week.

What kind of data do you need for quality lead generation?

Before the data revolution, contact details were often considered enough to make up a lead list. Although now email lists are also bought and sold, people usually expect more from high-quality lead generation.

Below is the lead information you might be after when buying B2B leads, listed from the most basic to more advanced.

Lead contact information

Usually, this will be an email address. Additionally, you might receive company address and website data.

Mobile phone number 

Although basically also contact information, a direct phone number makes the lead more reachable. Thus, it deserves to be considered a more advanced kind of lead information.

Firmographic data

For B2B businesses, firmographic data is everything. You want to know as much as possible about the business you might be selling to. Thus all the details regarding their size, industry, revenue, and other features might help your lead generation and qualifying B2B leads.

Demographic and psychographic data on the key decision-makers

Even though your customer is a business, when you get a lead list, the contact details will have you contact a single person or a small team. Thus, high-quality lead data will include accurate information about who those key decision-makers are and what their position is in the company.

Technographic data

This comes from truly more advanced data providers, but it is crucial for companies selling technological solutions. You want to know what the current tech stack of the firm is and how your product plays into that, so if you can get technographic data, the lead becomes very well-rounded for you.

Intent data

Finally, a lead list with buying intent is invaluable. Intent data consists of behavioral signals, like online behavior, that suggests someone is interested in your product.

Summing up

Business leads are not always easy to get through organic lead generation. Buying a lead list might be a good option for small businesses and growing companies alike. When considering buying leads, be sure to find a provider that you can trust and consult them for what they can offer.