There are a lot of digital marketing agencies out there who promise to help get you lots of leads and keep your sales pipeline full. The ones you should consider working with all share three characteristics. They’ve been in the space for a while, pay and treat their people well, and have good reputations.
We did the initial legwork for you here. Every option on our list is trustworthy and great at what they do. This list is a good starting point. But you’ll want to dig deeper, talk to each agency, ask the right questions, and make sure there’s a rapport that leads to a positive working relationship.
Think of hiring a lead generation service like hiring a new employee. When you know you need someone you do lots of research before the hire. The same goes for your future lead gen partner.
The Best Lead Generation Companies in < 5 Minutes
When we do these kinds of reviews, we often declare one company the clear winner. Not the case here. The best option for you depends on your needs. If you have a small budget or are just dipping your toes in the lead gen pool, you want an agency that aligns with where you’re at. These agencies have smaller teams and are a good match.
If you’re midmarket sized or larger, have an in-house marketing team, and know exactly what results you want, you’ll do best with a top-tier, five-star agency. These agencies cost more, but deliver great ROI on your digital marketing investment.
The Best General Lead Generation Companies for Small Businesses
The lead gen agencies here are smaller, full-service agencies with fewer team members who each wear a lot of marketing hats. They can help with a little bit of everything, and keep costs approachable for even a small marketing budget.
These agencies are also skilled at working with clients who don’t have a lot of marketing knowledge. In fact, startups and small businesses tend to be the sweet spot for these agencies.
Page Prosper
Page Prosper is an agency founded on the principle of helping small businesses grow. It puts the emphasis on all the strategies that make sense for small companies, including Facebook ads, Google Ads/AdWords, and SEO.
The lead generation process is straightforward with Page Prosper. You can pick a specific lead gen channel, such as Facebook ads, and focus on that. You can also have Page Prosper build a custom plan for your needs.
The Page Prosper team will do everything from designing effective ads to audience and competitor research and analysis to implementing your campaigns, including retargeting. You get monthly reporting to monitor performance.
Prices start at $499 plus ad spend for Google Ads. Pricing for Facebook packages is not available on the website, but you can schedule a free consultation to learn more.
Reach Digital
If you want a really customized lead gen strategy unique to your business needs, Reach Digital is a great option to consider. Its approach to personalized service is central to everything it does.
Reach Digital focuses on building long-term relationships with its clients. This means that as you grow, strategies can effectively be updated to match new lead gen goals.
So whether it is SEO, Facebook lead generation, or Google Ads–the three areas where Reach focuses its lead gen efforts–you’re always optimizing strategies and your budget. And if you need other services, like website design, CRM integration, or call tracking, you can get all that and more with Reach Digital.
You pay a single fee each month and have access to everything Reach Digital offers. To get started, you can book a free consultation.
Callbox
If your small business is focused on B2B, Callbox is a top option to consider. It specializes in lead generation for small- to medium-sized B2B business lead gen, especially businesses in several niche categories, including IT/software, healthcare, finance, consulting, and advertising.
Callbox takes all lead gen activities off your plate, so your team can focus on sales. Warm leads, webinar attendees, and even appointment setting are all part of Callbox’s services.
Callbox starts by defining your target customer profile, then builds a list of companies to match. Then it engages with those prospects using a multi-channel, multi-touch approach. Setting and confirming appointments is the last step. The result is you get a lead that is qualified, primed, and ready to buy.
Callbox also offers event marketing services, database solutions, and account-based marketing. There are a variety of packages you can choose from, but pricing isn’t noted on the website. You can contact Callbox to learn more.
The Best Lead Generation Services for Established Businesses that Know Exactly What They Want
When you’re running a well-established business with a sales pipeline to match, it’s time to call in the big guns. These lead generation services are skilled at working with clients with precise needs and big budgets.
These services have teams of highly-skilled and experienced lead gen professionals. They tend to be specialized in what they do, and charge a premium for their services.
These aren’t the agencies you’ll go with when you’re just starting out. But when you have a deep knowledge of lead generation, have done it on your own, and now need a strong partner to help you move to the next level, these are the agencies you should consider.
LeadGeneration
As its name implies, LeadGeneration focuses on helping big businesses like Toshiba and Aeropostale keep their sales pipeline filled with quality leads. The agency’s sole goal is to help you find new customers.
You’ll get a dedicated team assigned to your account and a customized lead generation strategy to deliver leads in real-time. You can choose how to get those leads, too. LeadGeneration integrates with all the major CRM systems, like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zoho. Use something else? LeadGeneration will build a custom integration.
LeadGeneration uses a multi-channel approach to generating leads. The agency also has a creative services team that can help with branding, content, custom landing pages, ad design and more.
Pricing isn’t available on the LeadGeneration website, but you can book a free consultation to learn more.
Upcall
Want a team of professional callers doing skilled outreach to your target audience? Then be sure to consider Upcall. They’ll do the dialing and build initial relationships to turn prospects into warm leads.
Upcall bills its approach as “conversation-driven” and uses its highly-skilled team along with proven templates and customized call scripts to engage leads. Upcall works with brands like Airbnb, Sotheby’s, and LG, so you’ll be in great company.
You can view and monitor call results in real-time through Upcall’s streamlined dashboard. Upcall also integrates with over 1,000 tools, including CRMs and marketing automation solutions. If you’re using something else, Upcall will work with you to build a custom integration.
As with other lead gen services, pricing is not listed on the website. You’ll have to talk to the sales team. Get in touch with them to learn more.
Overdrive Interactive
When you’ve already got a good pipeline started, Overdrive Interactive helps you maintain momentum and optimize performance. Overdrive Interactive specializes in working with enterprise-level organizations on end-to-end lead and demand generation management.
If you’re a B2B or B2C business on the level of giants like Dell, Harley-Davidson, and IBM, Overdrive Interactive is a natural choice. All those companies rely on Overdrive’s services for their lead and demand gen needs.
Overdrive Interactive takes a multi-channel approach to building customized solutions. They use account-based marketing, SEO, paid search, marketing automation, and more to help you keep your pipeline filled with future customers.
As you’d expect, pricing is not readily available. Overdrive Interactive wants to get to know your business to determine fit before customizing a plan. You can contact them to set up a free consultation.
What to Look for When Choosing a Lead Generation Service
The agencies on this list are here because they take care of their employees (which leads to better output), have been around for many years (bad agencies disappear pretty fast), and have proven success with lead generation.
We’ve done the pre-vetting to give you a handful of recommendations. Use this information as a starting point. Now it’s your turn to do the final research to determine which agency is best for your needs.
Treat it Like Hiring a Partner or New Employee
You wouldn’t hire a new employee without doing due diligence. The same is true for hiring a lead gen service. Interview each agency, ask the tough questions, and get to know them. This is the only way to know if you and their team will be a good fit.
A good agency will be doing the same to you. If you find your questions are the only ones being asked, take that as a sign this might not be a great relationship.
Some questions to ask include:
- What channels do they specialize in?
- How do they verify leads?
- When do they provide results against goals?
- Who will you be working with directly?
Make Sure You Understand How You’ll Work Together
When you hire an agency, you’re actually hiring a group of skilled individuals to help you reach your goals. You should be provided the names of the people who will be working with you. You should also understand what each team member will be doing on your behalf.
Ask to speak to at least some of these people. You’ll get way better insights than stopping at conversations with the sales team.
Also be sure you understand how the working process will flow. How much time will be dedicated to your account? How will you communicate with each other? Will there be meetings? When do reports come your way?
The more specific you can be with questions, the more data you’ll have to determine if the working arrangement suits your expectations.
Ask if They Can Guarantee a Specific Number of Leads
If you know anything about lead gen, you know that numbers and timeframes are unpredictable. But don’t write this off as a dumb question.
It’s a great way to see if the agency will be truthful–a sign of a good agency. If you get an inflated response that promises pie in the sky results, this should give you pause. A good agency will set clear parameters and never be afraid to reign in unrealistic expectations.
Dig Into How They Plan to Spend Your Budget
You’re the one with the checkbook. You should know exactly where and to whom your budget is allocated. Will it be copywriters? Web designers? Ad spend? Something else?
Knowing where it is going isn’t enough. You want to see both the big picture (total budget) and itemized spend (percentages of overall budget). Get as specific as you can, and make sure the agency gives you a realistic answer.
You have a right to know where every penny goes.