Establishing relationships is a process that involves many components working together. And it takes a lot of time. There are 2 relationships that mean the word to me and that is my family and my job. This Valentine’s Day, I decided to reflect on my relationship with my job.

Becoming a B2B Lead Generation Specialist was not something that just happened naturally to me. I had to learn to the ins-and-outs of this profession in order to fall in love with it like I have. Many people don’t realize all the hard work behind B2B lead generation. After doing tons of research just to ensure a lead is considered a perfect match, you then have to find the right integration of marketing tactics to build a lasting relationship. Because each lead is as unique as their business, experimenting is the only way to know what tactics work and which ones don’t. Finding that sweet spot of interaction is one major reason I love my job.

Here are a few more reasons I fell in love with B2B Lead Generation

  • The Research –  Are you the right one for me? Am I the right one for you? Lead scoring was intimidating to for me, at first, but I quickly realized what a huge asset it was. I’ve learned to love relentlessly digging to find the right contacts at the right companies.
  • The Process – Unfortunately our targeted prospects are not waiting by the phone for us to call. They are busy with their day-to-day responsibilities and it can take many voicemails, emails and social interactions just to spark their attention. While I am confident that emagine and I have a lot to offer to a prospect, they aren’t.  This process of building up a relationship and getting to know the actual person behind their professional title is exciting and teaches me something new every day.
  • The Pipeline – And are they still interested in me? Did they find someone else? Feeding prospects into my sales pipeline was a slow process, but it grows every day. It’s up to me to keep my prospects interested by spoiling them with gifts and surprises such as White Papers, Case Studies, Video and other content that will be valuable to them.
  • Social Media – I love connecting with my prospects on Social Media so that I can engage with them on a more personal level. I like to try to offer my social followers with a mix of informative and entertaining content, it’s even more important to pay attention to the content they are creating, consuming and sharing themselves. After all, a relationship is a two-way street.

My relationship with LinkedIn started off slow. It was hard because I am very fast-paced and can become impatient when it comes to creating valuable LinkedIn connections that happen over time. However, I’ve learned that LinkedIn is a great way to keep in touch with my connections by sharing relevant content and allows for prospects to build trust with me outside our email communications.

LinkedIn and I still have our arguments, but we’ve grown tremendously! Twitter, on the other hand, is a completely different story. Although LinkedIn is my main squeeze, Twitter and I fell in love at first sight. Everything was quick and right up to my speed. With the 140-character limit, tweets allow us to keep it sweet, short and right the point. As my followers quickly started coming in I knew, right away, that Twitter and I were a match made in heaven for work! With the help of Buffer, I can schedule posts as soon as I find new content that I know my followers will love. And Twitter chats have allowed me to participate in discussions in industries relevant to both me and my prospects.

As for Google+, I tried to connect my prospects, but very few were on Google+ and if they were, they were not active. I continued to post content until recently. There might be a lot of value in Google+ for certain companies, but we are not meant for each other, right now. Google+ and I ended our relationship.

A good qualified lead that is passed on to one of emagine’s Account Managers is indeed worth all the hard work behind it. I can then tell myself, “that’s a true match made.”

What do you love about your job? Share the love and have a Happy Valentine’s Day!