What is B2B lead generation?

Why is lead generation the foundation of B2B growth?

B2B (business-to-business) lead generation is the process of acquiring potential customers, companies or decision-makers who may be interested in your business's offerings. In 2024 and 2025, it will become one of the key growth areas for technology companies. According to the report, HubSpot State of Marketing 2025, as many as 57% of B2B companies have increased their investments in sales support technologies, and the customer acquisition cost (CAC) has increased on average by 34% over the last two years (HubSpot Report, 2025).

From this article you will learn:

• What is a lead?
• Where do leads come from?
• Quality or quantity of leads - what matters?
• How to qualify leads?

What is a lead?

Lead - A potential customer is a person or company who has shown interest in your offer, for example, by completing a form, signing up for a newsletter (Marketing Qualified Lead), or responding to a cold email (Sales Qualified Lead). In practice, there are three main types of leads:

• Cold lead- contact without prior interaction with the brand;
• Warm lead- a person who knows your brand or has had contact with it;
• Hot lead- potential customer ready for a sales conversation or purchase.

Thanks to modern technologies - such as CRMs (e.g.Pipedrive) and AI tools (e.g. Apollo, Clay) - it is possible to automatically track user behavior and assess their purchase readiness.

Where do leads come from?

There are many sources of B2B leads, but the most crucial channels are those that allow you to reach decision-makers with a specific message. The most effective channels in the technology industry are:

• LinkedIn - generates the highest quality leads thanks to precise targeting and the presence of decision-makers;
• Google Ads - effective in reaching people actively seeking solutions;
• Email outreach i ABM (Account-Based Marketing) - enable personalized communication;
• Industry events - still valuable for face-to-face interactions, especially supported by contact management tools.

In 2025, the importance of AI in marketing- 79% of B2B marketers already use artificial intelligence to personalize campaigns, score leads and support chatbots (HubSpot Report, 2025).

Wondering whether to choose inbound or outbound for lead generation? Check out our article!

Quality or quantity of leads - what matters?

Just a few years ago, companies focused primarily on lead generation. Today, in a world of rising CAC costs( Customer Acquisition Cost), quality data from McKinsey 2024 B2B Pulse Survey show that effective B2B growth is based on building long-term relationships, personalization and partnerships instead of mass outbound campaigns (McKinsey 2024).

McKinsey emphasizes that:

• B2B buyers today use more than 10 channels in their purchasing process, requiring an integrated, multi-channel approach;
• 80% of them expect a high-quality omnichannel experience, lack of consistency causes loss of interest;
• Companies offering personalized 1:1 communicationMay 1.7x greater chance of gaining market share;
• The key to scalable growth is the quality of relationships in strategic partnerships, not the number of messages sent.

The conclusions are clear: in the era of data and AI, what matters is the depth of relationships, tailoring the offer to the customer's context and building trust in the long term.

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How to qualify leads?

Lead qualification is a process that allows you to distinguish contacts with real purchasing potential from those that require further attention or are completely lost. Well-executed qualification is key to effective sales, allowing the sales team to save time and focus on the customers with the greatest potential.

In practice, this process involves both data analysis and sales conversations. Companies often combine several methods: from simple criteria such as industry, company size, or decision-making position, to more advanced scoring models based on user behavior online. For example, if a person visits an offer page several times a week or downloads educational materials, it can be assumed they are more ready for a sales contact.

Collaboration between marketing and sales teams is also playing an increasingly important role, with jointly establishing criteria that define when a lead is "ready" for a sales conversation. This eliminates friction and allows for a smooth transition of contacts along the sales funnel.

Consequently, the most effective organizations build a data-driven qualification system, but they don't forget about the human factor. Trust, industry context, and salespeople's intuition often play just as important a role as algorithms.

The best lead qualification frameworks

BANT

The BANT model, developed by IBM, is one of the oldest and most well-known lead qualification frameworks.

The name comes from four key criteria:

• Budget - does the customer have a budget for the purchase?
• Authority - does the person we are talking to have decision-making power?
• Need - is there a real need for our solution?
• Timeline - when does the client plan to make a decision or implementation?

BANT helps salespeople quickly identify whether a lead is ready for a sales conversation. It's a simple yet highly effective tool, especially in B2B sales with shorter decision-making cycles.

MEDICCC

MEDDIC (sometimes extended to MEDDPICC) is a more advanced framework, created with enterprise sales and complex solutions in mind.

The acronym expands as follows:

• Metrics - what measurable results does the client want to achieve?
• Economic Buyer - who actually decides on spending?
• Decision Criteria - what factors influence the choice of solution?
• Decision Process - what does the decision-making process look like in an organization?
• Identify Pain - What problem or "pain" are we trying to solve?
• Champion - who within the client's company supports our offer?

MEDDIC allows you to understand the full context of a customer's purchase - from business motivations to decision-making structure. This allows salespeople to conduct higher-level conversations, focusing on value and ROI, not just price.

Summary

Generating B2B leads isn't just about acquiring contacts, but above all, building relationships and understanding the needs of decision-makers. In 2025, an effective strategy combines AI, social selling and data into one coherent system.

Key conclusions:

• AI is a standard of modern B2B marketing;
• It counts quality, not the number of leads - each interaction should be personalized;
• LinkedIn remains one of the most effective channels for reaching decision-makers;
• CRM and automation are the pillar of scalability in the technology industry.

FAQ: B2B Lead Generation in 2025

1. What is B2B lead generation?

B2B lead generation is the process of acquiring contacts to companies or decision-makers who may be interested in your offer - for example, through cold mailing, LinkedIn, advertising campaigns, or industry events.

2. Why is lead generation crucial for B2B growth?

It's the foundation of the sales pipeline. In 2025, with the rising cost of customer acquisition (CAC), effective lead generation will determine the profitability and scalability of technology companies.

3. Where do the best B2B leads come from?

The most valuable sources are LinkedIn, Google Ads, outbound campaigns (email, ABM) and industry events supported by CRM and AI tools.

4. What is more important: quality or quantity of leads?

Definitely quality. Effective B2B growth today relies on personalization, relationship building, and precisely tailoring the offer to the customer's needs not on mass mailings.

5. How to qualify leads in B2B?

The qualification process combines data analysis (e.g., online activity, AI scoring) with sales conversations. The goal is to distinguish "conversation-ready" leads from those requiring further follow-up.Nurturing.

6. What role does AI play in B2B lead generation?

Artificial intelligence supports campaign personalization, lead scoring, action automation, and purchase readiness prediction - which significantly increases the efficiency of sales teams.