How Do I Generate More Qualified Leads?
- Patrick McIntyre
- Aug 15, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 2
Updated: February 2026
Lead generation should remain a consistent priority, regardless of whether business is booming or facing headwinds. A strong strategy keeps your sales pipeline healthy and positions your company to meet long-term revenue goals.
Today’s buyers are more informed than ever, which makes the alignment of marketing and sales functions essential. Sellers need targeted, intentional content resources to engage prospects effectively, and generic outreach simply won’t break through.
Custom, creative messaging is what captures the attention of qualified buyers in today’s information-rich environment.
Below, I walk through the four pillars of an effective lead generation strategy: from understanding your buyer’s journey to selecting the right channel mix.
Key Takeaways:
Make lead generation a daily discipline, especially during the good times.
Define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) so you attract the right new business, not just more business.
Train sellers to recognize and respond to each stage of the buyer’s journey.
Build messaging that is clear, concise, and genuinely differentiated.
Diversify your lead generation channels to create a steady, resilient pipeline.
Understanding the Buyer’s Journey
Before refining your lead generation approach, it helps to map the journey a lead takes before becoming your customer.
This journey is commonly illustrated as a Marketing Funnel, and your salespeople play a key role in moving leads through it, from first contact to loyal repeat buyer.
Understanding each stage equips your sellers to tailor their approach as a lead evolves into a prospect, and ultimately a customer:
Awareness: A new lead discovers your company and product for the first time, entering the top of the funnel.
Interest: Initial outreach generates light engagement; curiosity is building and the status quo begins to loosen.
Evaluation: The lead acts on a call to action (downloading a resource, attending a webinar, or completing a survey) and transitions into a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL).
Engagement: Two-way dialogue begins. The seller’s first objective is to determine whether the MQL also qualifies as a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL).
Purchase: The prospect selects a solution with both the readiness and authority to buy, once they are confident in their decision.
Loyalty: The customer realizes the expected ROI, becomes a brand advocate, and looks to expand their use of your product or service.
A solid lead generation strategy also strengthens your ability to recruit top sales talent. High performers want to join teams that set them up for success, and having the right tools and content ready from day one is a meaningful differentiator.
In my previous article, Why Can’t I Find the Right Salespeople, I highlight how top performers are known to screen new employment opportunities based on the marketing support and sales infrastructure in place. These elite performers understand that a solid platform is crucial to their ability to hit the ground running.
Defining Your Target Audience
To get the strongest ROI from your lead generation investment, you need to pursue the right targets: key contacts within businesses that align with your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
Start by analyzing your current customer base. Look closely at your “best” customers (not necessarily your highest-revenue accounts, but those who represent the ideal fit). Common attributes include:
Most profitable on a margin basis
Match a defined revenue or employee size threshold
Utilize a broad scope of your products or services
Operate within select industries or vertical markets
Engage with suppliers as collaborative partners
Share strong alignment with your company’s values
Once your ICP is defined, identify the right contact titles within those organizations. Building lead generation methods that create multiple inroads, across a variety of titles and roles, which significantly improves your odds of breaking through.
Designing Sales Messaging that Resonates
You know who you want to reach. Now comes the harder question: what do you say to earn their attention, and why should they choose you over every other option in front of them?
This is where your value proposition gets tested. We live in a world where bite-sized information comes at buyers from every direction. To stand out, your messaging needs to be sharp, differentiated, and calibrated to where each buyer is in their journey.
Assume your audience is reading on a mobile device and giving your content just seconds to decide whether to keep going. Every word has to earn its place.
I facilitate a Value Proposition Workshop that has helped many businesses sharpen and uniquely package their key points of differentiation.
Most companies benefit enormously from outside perspective here; it’s easy to lose sight of what makes you truly distinct when you’re immersed in your own business every day.
Developing Lead Generation Methods
Once your target audience and messaging are in place, it’s time to identify the channels that will generate the lead volume you need.
To enable quick action when outside sources are justified, I maintain an arsenal of lead generation resources that are fully vetted, actively utilized, and proven to generate results.
The right mix looks different for every business. Below are the key categories I assess when building a lead generation strategy:
On-Hand, Owned Database
Underutilized current and active customers
Inactive customers
Closed-lost opportunities
References & Referrals
Client references
Strategic partnerships
Referral relationships with shared ICP
Outbound Campaigns
Targeted sales outreach and cold calling
Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
Events, associations, and trade shows
Email drip campaigns
Inbound Campaigns
Website traffic generation (SEO, Pay-Per-Click)
Content marketing
Social media marketing
Let's Build Your Pipeline
If you’re unsure how to navigate this complexity, or simply pressed for time to focus on it, I can help. Guiding small and mid-sized businesses to build stronger, more consistent pipeline is the heart of my Fractional Sales Leadership practice.
If you’d like to talk about improving your lead generation process, I’d welcome the conversation. Reach out at info@sxwisconsin.com or fill out our Contact Us form.
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We are part of a national group of Senior Sales Leaders who collaborate to share insights like the examples shown in this article. We formed because of our shared passion to help business leaders exponentially grow their revenue.
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