How to Use AI for Lead Generation: A B2B Guide

Having lived and breathed in B2B businesses and now leading Grange & Cairn we are witnessing how artificial intelligence is revolutionising lead generation. This B2B focused guide explores how to use AI for lead generation, particularly through strategic LinkedIn engagement and cutting-edge tools.

The Current B2B Sales Landscape

However the world has moved and changed recently we are in a B2B sales environment that has seen significant changes as well.

Whether we have seen costs of materials changing or energy costs spiking.

A whole new culture to work from home and trying understand the pros and cons of doing so.

Through to technological progress enabling start ups to move fast with their ambition to seize market share.

All in all it creates a range of decisions we face daily to adapt to new situations. Whether they are these examples or other ones.

It really highlights the importance of moving forwards with our sales efforts. Combining business knowledge and technology to do so.

Link this with the insight that LinkedIn uncovered that 75% of B2B buyers are now relying on social media to make buying decisions.

Thereby showing the importance of learning new software, technology and skills to use AI for lead generation.

As an essential way to succeed in modern sales, growing relationships and generating new business.

Leveraging AI Tools for Lead Generation

Technically and as highlighted in this Tableau article AI or rather artificial intelligence has been around a while.

In fact you can date it back to the 1950’s. Back then a workshop titled ‘artificial intelligence’ was held by John McCarthy (a pioneer in computer science).

However it wasn’t till 2012 technology really started to progress at speed to a point where in 2022 OpenAI launched ChatGPT to the public.

As soon as this launched the marketplace has seen a rush of AI-powered platforms.

And platforms and features leveraging AI to enhance how we do lead generation in B2B businesses has blossomed.

AI Powered Software to Grow Your Leads

Unquestionably AI has enabled your lead generation to improve.

Here are some of the leading platforms:

Apollo a Way to Find Prospects

Apollo.io has moved quickly to utilise AI to your advantage.

They have built this off their powerful platform with over 275million contacts and 75million companies. With their aim to help you ‘find and close your next deal‘.

AI enables Apollo to search through vast data like your CRM history.

This pinpoints prospective clients that are an excellent fit. Making qualifying faster and more targetted.

Furthermore it will hunt out signals and intent. And become your co-pilot creating personalised outreach.

This can also be part of an AI-assisted sequence of outbound communication to connect prospects with your solutions.

And even if you only like researching and prospecting in LinkedIn, Apollo has its Google Chrome Extension. Ready to uncover numbers, emails and then create emails and ensure your priority tasks are done.

Leadinfo Uncover Your Website Visitors

It is important to note that even when AI isn’t visible leading platforms use it to benefit your data and outcomes.

Leadinfo hide their machine learning in the background.

However in the foreground it detects the best possible customer matches for you. Turning anonymous website visitors into leads ready for prospecting.

And why?

Because 98% of B2B buyers who visit your website have previously stayed anonymous.

Now with the identification of their company information, behaviour patterns and how they engage. You can find the companies searching for you and prioritise those with strong intent to buy.

Zoominfo the B2B Search Engine

Zoominfo is one operating system to allow you to find, outreach and close valuable buyers.

Boosted by their AI-powered Copilot. Zoominfo believes (and we agree) using AI on top of bad data gets to worse data quicker!

Therefore as Zoominfo has the ‘Best & Most Trusted Data’, now with copilot they will get you scaling faster.

Identifying signals and actions such as website page searches, new recruitments, funding and key information from earning calls.

Given these points Zoominfo then offers recommended actions.

And if are feeling unsure then lean on copilot.

You can ask any questions, whether that is asking for a summary of recent conversations.

Or seeking advice on what to do next to close the prospect.

Zoominfo has the ambition to turn every seller into your best seller.

Other Noteworthy AI-powered Platforms

Cognism: Has a data focus, and therefore are confident that the phone numbers you call will answer.

Additionally that the data is compliant with GDPR and CCPR privacy laws.

6sense: Unites whole revenue teams to be more efficient. Backed with an AI-powered pipeline builder that finds, qualifies and books meetings.

Focused on relevance of information 6sense uncover the information that matters.

Albacross: Uncover the hidden data B2B buyers leave on your website. All whilst being GDPR compliant.

Find the accounts you didn’t know about who have intent to buy from you.

Crystal Knows (via LinkedIn Extension): Leverage DISC personality profiling to generating impactful outreach.

Understand whether your buyer needs details or imagination to embrace your solution.

Maximising LinkedIn’s Potential Through AI

As well as prospecting through software you can nurture and persuade through LinkedIn groups and polls.

LinkedIn Groups: The AI Opportunity

We have seen how important LinkedIn groups are for B2B. In order to identify prospects through to establishing trust and credibility.

However sometimes you read the articles and you know you want to contribute. You know what you want to say, but not quite how to say it.

Now you can jump to AI, prompt the AI chat with the context, conversation and what you want to say.

Then once AI has created the information edit it to be authentically yours.

Therefore your sales team can be easily creating meaningful insights. Built from their experiences and knowledge, to bring value to group discussions.

LinkedIn Polls: The AI Opportunity

In the same way group discussions create engagement so can LinkedIn polls.

In fact the ease of engaging with a poll makes them a powerful scroll stopper. Providing the topic is relevant and relatable.

And to get the best insight keep them open requiring a written response. Avoid questions that only require a yes or no answer.

For this reason AI can again be leveraged.

Use AI to identify trends, topics and industry situations to create the two to four poll points.

As the poll creator you will be able to see who did the poll and what they agreed or disagreed with.

On the whole this provides a strong point to open a conversation.

But on the other hand the written answers can be analysed for sentiment.

Depending on the question understanding the answers and their sentiment can be used to inform anything from product development to sales process.

Also consider how you can combine this potential with the advantage of senior leaders posting quality content.

Because compared to a company post a C-suite professional gets 4x engagement when they post.

Implementing AI for Practical Lead Generation

As I have said above, platforms powered with AI exist in many forms and are available and easy to use.

Luckily no more degree in computer science needed!

A starting point is getting familiar with the technology.

Tools like Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini all excel at responding to prompts and generating content and information.

Utilising their ability has a lot to do with the quality of the prompt.

These tools move you forwards with AI lead generation. So even if you do not currently use an AI or lead generation software, you can start.

Then you can progress and move forwards to use platforms specifically for lead generation. Having the ability to prompt on platforms like Zoominfo unlocks the key to personalised communication.

In fact Nidhi Arora and others wrote an article for Mckinsey and uncovered that personalisation is a sales growth generator. Companies that did personalise generated 40% more revenue.

Measuring and Optimising AI-Driven Results

There are statistics you should measure related around engagement, lead quality, conversion and ROI.

Understanding the output of the AI platform is key. You can then assess the differences versus your own sales teams efforts.

You want to understand the connection between the key points you are measuring.

For example a lower than expected conversion rate.

This can relate back to the initial quality of data given to train the AI platform.

This can cause the AI to misinterpret your ‘best fit’ prospect and ideal customer, reducing lead quality.

Therefore you can use the data to refine and improve your work with AI.

With our example, providing better data on what a customer looks like, when a customer typically converts and who an ideal prospect is.

Now the AI platform can accurately find suitable prospects. And provide more detailed on which prospect is most likely to convert.

Conclusion in Using AI for Lead Generation

We know the current challenges in the B2B landscape.

But now how you respond and what you do doesn’t have to be the same as before.

Learn the AI tools available. As they offer you an advantage to grow sales and develop business.

Introduce these tools as extra support, helping what your teams do already. And make them and the business more competitive and successful.

The real success comes from not just letting AI do everything.

It is using AI to do work that creates time for you to build relationships.

Using the AI technology to generate the pipeline, identify the opportunities and provide insight on personality. Leaving your sales team responsible for building that relationship and closing.

Editorial process

Our articles are curated by experts in B2B business with expertise in AI. And are focused on the technological opportunities that exist for B2B businesses.

The reviews are constructed through the analysis of hundreds of actual experiences and condensed into our concise thumbs up or thumbs down format. 

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James Ambel

With over a decade of B2B expertise across multiple industries and a passion for integrating new technology to elevate his ROI James’ writing allows all of this to come together. His belief is many B2B businesses could maximise their time, focus and ROI to an even higher level.

Experiment with different messaging, content formats, and communication channels to determine what resonates most effectively with your target audience. Use A/B testing and data-driven insights to refine your approach and maximise results over time.