The Relationship-First Revolution: How introstars is Reshaping Warm Lead Generation in B2B Sales

"Hello, is this Mr. Smith? My name is Jane, and I'm calling from XYZ Corporation. Have you ever thought about how our product can improve your business?" Sounds familiar, right? It’s no secret that traditional cold lead generation methods have become woefully spammy. Even with the addition of AI platforms offering advanced data analysis and hyper-personalisation, cold emails and calls still rarely bring you proper highly qualified leads.

Instead, what if lead-gen could be based on relationship-first warm conversations, all started from a personalised introduction? Let’s delve into how (and why) the lead generation industry is evolving, and why introstars is becoming the go-to platform for salespeople seeking properly qualified, high-value leads.

Here’s what’s to come in this blog post:

• A snapshot of lead generation in 2023
• Why the personal touch is not just a nicety, but a necessity
• How introstars is different
• How to launch your own lead gen program on introstars
• The alternatives to introstars
• The long term vision of relationship-first lead gen

A Snapshot of Lead Generation in 2023

Traditionally, lead generation is all a numbers game, where you try to send out as many cold emails and cold calls as possible to as many prospects as possible, hoping that even with a very low response rate, you’ll still be able to reach your sales quota.

In reality, this way of thinking has led to an explosion of spammy emails, LinkedIn messages, voicemails and calls, and most of your prospects are now sophisticated enough to automatically block all these spammy attempts to reach out to them. So this cold prospecting game is becoming harder and harder, even as AI is promising more personalised messages at a higher send rate, high-value prospects are building ever stronger AI spam filters to block out any attempt to reach out to them.

The current AI revolution is just accelerating this game of cat-and-mouse, instead of changing the paradigm of lead-gen to a more human-centric approach.

Why The Personal Touch is Not Just a Nicety, but a Necessity

The lead-gen market is now getting saturated with automated AI-powered outreach services, giving rise to a yearning for genuine human interaction. Here's a closer look at why personalisation has evolved from a mere competitive advantage into an absolute necessity in your sales & marketing strategy.

The 'Why': Consumer Psychology 101

A whopping 72% of consumers say they now only engage with messages that are personalized and tailored to their interests. It's a psychology thing; people are hardwired to respond positively to personalised attention. We can't help but feel special when someone remembers our name, can we?

The Current Disconnect in Lead Gen

Even with a plethora of lead-gen agencies promising qualified leads, most of their lead generation methods seem to miss the mark. FinancesOnline reveals that most outbound email marketing campaigns rarely include any personalisation beyond, "Dear [First Name]." These traditional cold email methods often yield cold, uninterested prospects, making sales teams' jobs even more difficult to reach their sales quotas.

The introstars Revolution: Personalised Intros and Win-Win Outcomes

Forget impersonal and generic cold emails to spam your network. Instead, here at introstars we transform lead gen into the next-gen paradigm of warm personalised human-to-human business introductions. At introstars, we offer you a unique referral platform to connect you with millions of potential introducers with extensive networks who are eager to introduce you to hot leads and prospects, avoiding your typical cold lead-gen efforts, and instead helping you focus your efforts on warm leads most likely to close.

For every successful deal you close, you decide what referral success fee you’re comfortable paying out to the introducer; this way, everyone’s incentives are aligned for a true win-win outcome for you as a sales professional and the introducer themselves.

How To Launch Your Own Lead Generation Program on introstars

1. Sign up in a few clicks

Use LinkedIn authentication to get started—just three clicks and you’re in!

2. Post what (and who) you’re looking for

Create an opportunity post on introstars outlining your lead requirements and the type of warm leads you're seeking for your typical business deals.

3. Get warm intros from introducers

Introducers will message you to get to know more about you and your company and then introduce you to the most relevant people in their network.

4. Meet your hot prospects and woo them over

Now it’s time to work your magic. Meet with the warm prospects you’ve been introduced to and woo them over to close deals.

5. Close the deal, pay the introducer, and bask in glory

Negotiate the deal size with your prospect and close the deal. Then it’s time to set the deal as ‘closed’ on the introtracker, pay the intro success fee, and watch your business flourish thanks to introstars.

The Alternatives: A Comprehensive Glimpse

Here's how introstars compares to other popular options:

LinkedIn: The Networking Favourite (with a Catch)

With over 900 million users, LinkedIn is the ultimate contact book for all of your prospects. However, while LinkedIn allows you to send messages to your prospects, most of them will ghost you if they don’t know you, or if they haven’t been properly introduced to you by someone they trust.

Now you can of course ask your immediate connections to introduce you to that special senior prospect you’re trying to reach out to, but how many favours can you ask your network until they categorise you as the master spammer?

The Downside: Unless you properly compensate your introducers on LinkedIn , they have little incentive to go out of their way and risk their reputation to introduce you to senior contacts they’ve spent years building a relationship with.

Referral Programs: A Step in the Right Direction, But…

According to FinancesOnline, the median payment for a successful referral in most referral programs is only $100. While it's a step towards incentivising introductions, it's hardly a windfall, especially considering the potential high revenue a warm lead could bring to your business

The Downside: Typical referral programs only offer very small rewards, and often come with cumbersome processes that can deter potential introducers from participating.

introstars: The Best of All Worlds

introstars changes the game for lead-gen by combining the advantages of referral programs, lead-gen programs, and the infinite reach of LinkedIn. How so?

Lucrative Incentives: Unlike LinkedIn, introstars provides the chance to earn between £500 and £10k+ for each successful referral. The monetary rewards naturally motivate introducers to focus on providing a regular stream of qualifiedleads. Since they only get paid on success, introducers are incentivised to help you close deals with highly-qualified intros.

Ease of Use: With the option to sign up to introstars via LinkedIn authentication in seconds, create an opportunity post in just minutes and use the unique introtracker dashboard, introstars eliminates the cumbersome processes often associated with referral programs.

Personalised Leads: Where typical cold outreach emails often lack a personal touch, introstars only focuses on warm, highly qualified leads, individually vetted to ensure genuine interest and conversions.

The Long-Term Vision: Relationship-First Lead Gen

By focusing only on personalised, relationship-first approaches to lead generation, introstars is laying the foundation for a paradigm shift in how businesses connect with potential clients.

From Transactional to Relational

Traditionally, lead generation has often been a numbers game; the more leads you acquire, the higher your chances of conversions. This approach is inherently transactional, focusing on quantity over quality. A relationship-first model transforms your pipeline.

No longer cluttered with uninterested or irrelevant contacts, your sales team can focus their energies on nurturing leads that have a genuine interest and a higher likelihood of converting. This not only saves time but also boosts team morale, as sales cycles shorten and conversion rates soar.

The Ripple Effects: What to Expect from Relationship-First Lead Gen

Faster Sales Cycles: By eliminating the need to sift through a haystack of cold leads, introstars significantly shortens the length of your sales cycle. Your sales team can get straight to the point—connecting with leads that have been vetted and are actually interested.

Skyrocketing Conversion Rates: Although it varies by industry, warm referral leads are likely to convert by almost tenfold compared to cold outreach programs. Imagine what happens when all your leads are warm?

Long-Term Client Relationships: Warm leads often translate into more satisfied customers, who are more likely to become repeat clients. According to Bain & Company (the inventor of the net promoter score), a 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25-95% increase in profits.

Join The Relationship-First Revolution of Lead Generation

It's time to say goodbye to impersonal lead gen methods. Instead, let's usher in a new era of relationship-first personalised referral lead gen that offers much better lead quality and close rates.

For sales professionals looking for introductions to warm prospects, our pricing is straightforward: just £95/month to gain access to millions of potential well-connected introducers. Far more affordable than traditional lead gen agencies who will promise you the moon and deliver very few real quality leads.

Get started with introstars today, and let's redefine lead generation into business introductions that actually close.