Why Outbound Lead Gen Beats Virtual Conferences

In the pre-Covid days, the way most businesses generated leads was either through their inbound marketing and media campaign, or through outbound networking by way of conferences. In our current situation, the latter has become completely obsolete (for obvious reasons). This has left many companies with glaring apertures in their outbound lead generation model. In turn many businesses have turned to virtual conferences in hopes of replacing in-person conferences. The problem is that they don’t.

Virtual Conferences Do Not Provide a Proper Atmosphere

One of the main purposes of organized business conferences is that they provide a semi-casual place for people to meet and talk. Most of the connections people make in conferences are from talking to other businessmen/businesswomen after the main event is over. This cannot be done with virtual conferencing simply because the conversation will feel forced and awkward. Not to mention that many people feel that exposing their personal home to complete strangers on video is a breach of their privacy.

People Are Quick To Be Distracted

The beauty of in-person conferences is that there is no room for distractions. They usually take place for a couple of days and are a fully immersive experience. People get a break from their work and travel to different locations to represent their company. This makes them motivated to talk to people and find leads. On the other hand, virtual conferences are full of unwanted distractions that are unavoidable. At home or the office you might need to read an email, check social media, talk to co-workers, etc. This makes workers less motivated to succeed.

Tech Issues and First Impressions

Another issue is the constant possibility of tech malfunctioning. According to an article by Highfive, 40% of meetings have hardware or software technical issues. Further research by Slate concluded that “technical problems exacerbate this issue: In one study where participants video chatted with strangers with a 1.2-second delay, they rated their interlocutor ‘as less attentive, friendly, and self-disciplined than if there was no delay.’” This means that tech issues contribute to a worse first impression, decreasing the chance of finding a lead.

Why Outbound Lead Generation Services are Better

Outbound B2B Lead Generation Services help people find leads without the hassle of attending various mediocre webinars and virtual conferences, which don’t produce many leads. Instead of having awkward discussions with complete strangers, our team sends emails to people who we have calculated may show interest in what you are offering. Martal does so by using intent data, a game-changing technology that is still relatively new in the lead generation industry. We then do follow up calls with those potential leads, to ensure maximum efficiency. Overall, our team sends about 9 – 12 thousand emails that produce about 20-30 qualified leads. Therefore it’s both more efficient and easy to hire a lead generation service instead of going to virtual conferences.

Additional reading – Best Inbound Marketing Agencies Of 2020 according to DesignRush