How To Increase Qualified B2B Sales Leads

In B2B sales, the real challenge isn’t generating leads—it’s generating the right leads.

If you’re looking to improve your sales pipeline quality and increase conversion rates, the solution lies in strategic preparation, not just volume. At Air Marketing, we’ve seen time and again that the single most effective tactic for boosting lead qualification is pre-call research.

By understanding the prospect before you ever pick up the phone, you equip yourself with the insights needed to have meaningful, relevant conversations that open doors—not shut them.

These insights were originally explored in our Calling Masters webinar – watch the full session here.


Why Pre-Call Research Is Key to Better Lead Quality

Cold calling, when done without context, is often met with indifference. When done with insight, it becomes a powerful tool for starting qualified sales conversations.

Pre-call research helps shift your approach from generic outreach to tailored messaging. It increases credibility, improves rapport, and ensures you’re targeting people and businesses with the highest potential to convert.


Start with a Clear Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

High-performing sales teams don’t treat every prospect equally—they prioritise the ones that match their Ideal Customer Profile.

Understanding your ICP allows you to filter by relevant industry sectors, company size, and decision-making roles. That clarity ensures you’re speaking to organisations that not only need what you offer, but are structurally and strategically aligned to act on it.

This is a fundamental step in every outbound campaign we run at Air. It keeps messaging sharp, outreach relevant, and lead qualification rates high.

For a deeper dive into defining and leveraging your ICP, read our guide: Swipe Right: How to Match with Your Ideal Customer Profile.


Solve Specific Problems, Don’t Deliver Generic Pitches

The most successful sales calls start with a solution-focused mindset. But you can’t offer a solution if you don’t understand the problem.

By taking a few minutes to explore recent company activity, sector trends, and likely challenges, you’re better positioned to demonstrate value. That preparation allows you to speak directly to the pain points that matter most, making your proposition immediately more compelling.


Use Insight to Build Trust

Tailored calls that reference specific details about the prospect’s business stand out. Whether it’s a recent funding round, industry recognition, or a strategic initiative—they signal that you’ve done your homework.

This builds trust early in the call and positions you as someone who respects the prospect’s time. In a crowded market, that kind of credibility makes all the difference in moving a lead from cold to qualified.


What to Research Before You Call

Here’s how to prepare efficiently and effectively:

1. Company Information

  • Industry trends and challenges

  • Company size and structure

  • Press coverage, funding, partnerships

  • Website content and service lines

2. Decision-Maker Context

  • Job title and responsibilities

  • LinkedIn activity and content

  • Career milestones or professional interests

It’s about surfacing the information that can enrich the conversation—not overwhelming the prospect with a data dump.

3. Business Triggers

  • Expansion into new markets

  • Hiring trends or leadership changes

  • Regulatory pressures or sector innovation

  • ISO or ESG ambitions

These are often signs that an organisation is navigating change—and may be more receptive to new solutions.

4. Tools to Make It Easier

Our team leverages tools that cut through the noise, including:

  • BuiltWith – to assess technology stacks

  • Google News – for timely updates

  • LinkedIn – for individual signals and social proof

  • CRM history and intent data – for deeper context across previous interactions


Stay Focused: Efficient Research Yields Faster Results

Pre-call research doesn’t need to take hours. When done with discipline, it can take just 5–10 minutes and yield much higher-quality conversations.

The key is to find the balance: not so much research that it delays outreach, but not so little that it results in unqualified leads.

To maintain momentum, set clear time limits per prospect, segment your research by persona or vertical, and focus only on details that will genuinely support your conversation.


Putting Research Into Action

Research is only useful when it’s applied. Here’s how to bring it into the conversation without overwhelming the prospect:

Start With Relevance

Mention a recent update or known challenge to demonstrate that you’ve prepared. Then link that insight directly to how your solution can help.

Avoid Information Overload

Use just enough detail to demonstrate understanding. The goal is to create a sense of familiarity and relevance, not to show off how much you know.

Ask Smarter Questions

Guide the conversation by referencing industry context or common pain points. Asking “Is that something you’re seeing as well?” opens the door to discussion and deepens the prospect’s engagement.


Common Cold Calling Challenges – and How Research Helps

Cold Call Anxiety

Preparation builds confidence. Knowing your value proposition, understanding the audience, and being ready for objections makes each call more manageable.

Staying grounded in facts and insights also keeps the call professional, even when a prospect isn’t receptive.

Engaging Senior Stakeholders

Executives expect relevance and impact. Research allows you to cut to what matters—commercial results, risk mitigation, or strategic growth.

By speaking their language and demonstrating domain knowledge, you elevate the conversation and increase your chances of success.


Research + Relevance = Better Leads

If your goal is to increase qualified B2B sales leads, pre-call research is one of the most impactful habits you can adopt.

It improves call quality. It raises conversion rates. It helps you stop wasting time on the wrong leads and start focusing on the right ones.

At Air Marketing, we embed this thinking into every sales campaign we deliver—because preparation isn’t a luxury in outbound sales. It’s a performance advantage.

Ready to Improve Your Lead Quality?

Air Marketing helps businesses generate more qualified B2B leads through targeted, insight-led outbound sales campaigns. From strategy and messaging to SDR execution and reporting, we manage the full process—so you get results without guesswork.

📞 Request a quick discovery call and learn how our outsourced SDR teams can build your pipeline with precision.

How To Get Your Go-To-Market Strategy Right – What You Should Be Considering In Your Launch Plan

Every new product or service starts with an idea, an idea to disrupt the market and solve real-world problems. But these ideas can take a long time to come to fruition. Your idea will go through concept development and creation, through new product development (NPD) and research and development (R&D), and through rigorous testing, trials and feedback processes before the final product or service is ready to launch.  

But before you can successfully launch, you need to devise a well thought out go-to-market-strategy (GTMS). It’s imperative that you get your GTMS right, because it’s not just about having a great idea or a great product, it’s about creating the right plan to bring your product to the right people in the right way.  

Without a clearly defined GTMS on how you will deliver your new product to your audience – your launch will likely fail to gain traction in the market.  

There are many different components of a successful GTMS, let’s explore some of them below.  

Target Audience: 

Defining your Target Audience (TA) is the building block to a successful launch, because it is the core foundation of your GTMS.  

Undertake research into your TA to understand their pain points and challenges, what media and marketing they consume and where they spend their time. Develop your ideal customer profile (ICP) and create buyer personas to help you craft messaging and tailor your offering to their exact requirements. If you don’t understand and define your TA from the outset, you will miss opportunities to resonate with them. 

Setting Clear Objectives and Goals: 

Do you know what your objectives are for launch? Are you looking to build brand awareness or lead with sales straight away?  

Having clearly defined objectives and goals will help inform your ongoing activity and where best to place your efforts, they are fundamental to your GTMS. SMART objectives are the best framework to use for this. 

Once you have determined what your objectives are for launch, use this information to set benchmarks and KPIs that denote success. These can be tracked throughout launch and beyond to determine how your GTMS is delivering. 

Product Differentiation / USPs: 

To successfully launch a new product or service you need to identify what makes your offering unique, especially if you are operating in an already crowded marketplace. What does your product do better or differently to others on the market and why should your TA buy from you? 

Spend time upfront understanding what your USPs (unique selling points) are and what differentiates your product, so that you can craft unique messages and value propositions that will resonate with your TA and highlight why they should pick your product above others.  

Marketing Plan: 

Once you know your TA, your objectives and goals and what your USPs are you need to create a robust marketing plan with the information you have gleaned. 

Make sure you leverage the channels that you know your ICP / TA consume and use and you tailor your messaging and comms in a way that resonates with them. 

Consider the different stages in the buyer journey, from awareness to consideration through to purchase, and craft a strategy that resonates with your TA at every stage of their journey.  

Final Note:

A successful GTMS is all in the planning and research. It will help you to understand your audience and their perceived needs and interests in your product or service and the value they place on your offering. Allowing you to create a GTMS that directly answers that need.  

Remember to stay agile in response to market feedback – continually monitor, review and optimise your activity to ensure that the GTMS is successful and continues to be aligned with your TA’s needs.  

Want to position yourself for success in the marketplace? Get in touch with our marketing team to discuss launch plans for any new product or service in your offering!  

Opinion piece by Account Director, Jess House

A small rocket takes off from a laptop

Stock photo by Vecteezy