Lead generation training or coaching: which does your business need?

In an ideal world, you'd have both. Learning lead generation is a big undertaking, and it isn't easy. Training teaches you the broad principles. A coach who spends every day doing lead gen, and has helped hundreds of businesses find more customers, can remove roadblocks, focus you on the right things and point you in the right direction.

What's the difference between lead generation training and coaching?

Training teaches you the principles and best practice of lead generation. If you're serious about building a lead gen engine, you need a good working knowledge of these, and you need to put them into practice.

Good training shows you how lead generation has changed. It teaches you how to audit a business to see what's working and what's not. It helps you re-evaluate your products, services and offer so they're set up to succeed. It shows you how to articulate that offer beautifully and get it in front of your best customers.

From there, you need to know which channels work for which types of leads, audiences and businesses, and how to decide which to use. Then you need a system and templates for setting up, rolling out, measuring and improving your strategy.

If you're savvy, persistent and prepared to work hard, that can be enough.

But every business has its own nuances. For the best chance of success, you need to adapt what you've learned to fit yours. That's where a coach comes in. They help you apply it to your own business. You meet regularly, share what you are doing and they provide a fresh pair of eyes, experience and insight.

What does lead generation training with ongoing support and coaching look like?

If you've got the basics from training, ongoing support and coaching should build on them.

You should be able to email your coach and get feedback, within reasonable limits. You should be meeting regularly - at least monthly. And your coach should be reviewing your data with you.

When I coach people, I do all their measurement for them. Measurement is a specific skill set. It can be technical and fiddly. For most lead generators it's the boring side of the job, but it's essential to get right.

I found people were spending too much time on measurement, at the expense of the work that actually generates leads. So I took it off their hands. It's easy for me because I do it for a whole group of clients and I've been doing it for decades. It also means I can draw real insight from the data.

I'm a big believer in face-to-face coaching, whether that's on a call or in person. I once had a YouTube coach who was lovely, but everything happened by voice note. I needed help in the moment, and waiting for his replies was frustrating.

Are there lead generation training services that provide ongoing mentorship in the UK?

Yes. At The AI Edit, there are two ways to get ongoing mentorship and coaching.

The first is the AI Growth Community. You can interact with other members, but the main benefit is office hours, where you can bring your questions.

The second is my B2B lead gen coaching programme, the B2B Lead Generator. It's a premium, one-to-one, bespoke service. You get a meeting every two weeks and ongoing email support. Every month, your data is collected, reviewed and reported back to you.

How do you find lead generation training that includes personalised feedback?

The AI Edit's Complete B2B Lead Gen course is a strong option, particularly if you join the AI Growth Community or the B2B Lead Generator alongside it.

By Heather Baker, award-winning B2B lead generator.