Balancing Quantity vs. Quality in B2B Lead Gen

The age old question of quantity vs. quality in B2B sales is one every sales leader faces when pushing the team and business to achieve sales targets. Its not about rolling out any old sales playbook and hoping for the best. It's about making decisions that will define your businesses ability to achieve revenue growth. In this article I'll break down the options to help your sales and marketing team find the right balance.

The Quantity Approach

We’ve all heard it a thousand times over “sales is a numbers game.” Sure, you can make 100 dials a day, but a 0.3% win rate won’t help you hit target. It’s about knowing your market and mining the market and your own data smartly, not just smiling and dialling.

Many businesses manage outbound in-house, with a growing number outsourcing to cut costs. However, focusing solely on high volumes can quickly become a scatter gun approach that harms brand reputation and delivers low quality leads. Relying on quantity alone might feel satisfying initially, but when prospects don’t dial into meetings, it becomes clear that this approach alone is not sustainable over the long term. Let's weigh up the pros and the cons:

Pros:

• High Activity Levels: Maximises the number of potential leads contacted.
• Immediate Feedback: Quick insights into lead interest and market responses.
• Cost-Efficient: Lower upfront costs with a high-volume approach.

Cons:

• Low Conversion Rates: Often results in fewer conversions due to low lead quality.
• Brand Damage: Risks brand reputation if prospects feel bombarded.
• High Churn: Impersonal and frequent outreach leads to higher lead attrition.
• Wasted Resources: Efforts are often wasted on leads that are unlikely to convert.

The Quality Approach

After 20 years in sales, I can say with confidence that quality trumps quantity every time. Think of it like this; would you prefer a crowd of 50 people shouting different things or just one skilled speaker delivering a powerful message? Quality consistently outperforms quantity and drives long-term success.

Highly trained in-house SDRs, MDRs, and specialist outsourced agency teams make 30-60 focused calls daily with personalised messaging, achieving close rates of 40-50%. Here’s the breakdown:

Pros:

• High conversions: Quality interactions leading to better results.
• Long-lasting relationships: Develops strong client bonds and builds loyalty.
• Low churn: Happy clients stay with you longer extending customer LTV.
• Ethical practices: Builds trust and feels good for all parties.

Cons:

• Difficult to scale: Personalisation when done right can be a time drain.
• Limited reach: Reaching fewer prospects.
• Specialised training required: Not every in-house rep or agency excels here.
• High effort: More research and prep time needed per call.

Blending Quality with Quantity

There’s another way, the multifaceted approach. By starting small, you can refine your messaging, ensuring each outreach adds value. Listen to understand, then tailor your solutions accordingly. Document what doesn't and does work, scaling gradually, running targeted campaigns over a 6 week period for optimal ROI and a healthy pipeline. Here’s how the pros and cons stack up:

Pros:

• Balanced Approach: Combining the effectiveness of personalisation with the efficiency of volume outreach.
• Improved ROI: Targeted campaigns and refined messaging maximises resource allocation and improves conversion rates.
• Scalability: Gradual scaling based on whats working is the only way to scale successfully.
• Improved Engagement: A personalised approach developers stronger client relationships.

Cons:

• Time Investment: Requires an upfront commitment and investment to developing and testing messaging and strategies.
• Campaign Execution: Balancing and managing both quality and quantity needs careful planning and coordination.
• Resource Intensive: Will likely require significant resources initially for research, testing, and refinement.
• Long-Term Gains: Results develop gradually, so patience is needed before seeing substantial returns on investment.

Final Thoughts

Success in sales isn’t just about numbers, it’s about making smart, data-driven decisions that maximise your resources and efforts to enable you to successfully scale sales processes. Blending quality with targeted quantity is the best way to drive predictable revenue growth.

Focusing on quantity alone might deliver quick wins, but it often leads to a leaky funnel where poor leads and higher attrition rates drain your revenues. Pushing for 100 dials a day quickly burns out your sales reps, leading to higher rep turnover and a drop in productivity. That’s why it’s important to invest in a decent sales stack, continuous rep training, and incentives to keep your team motivated, because we all know, when sales reps are happy and engaged, they’re far more productive.

And when it comes to outsourcing, remember the old adage "pay cheap, pay twice." Choosing the cheapest option might save you money upfront, but it could cost you more in the long run if the agency lacks experience. Always opt for partners with a proven track record in B2B sales, trained in sales qualification frameworks like MEDDIC or BANT, and sales methodologies such as value selling, Challenger Sale, or solution selling.

In the end, a balanced approach that combines quality with the right quantity will keep your sales pipeline healthy, helping you to consistently hit your targets while scaling your sales processes.