Why Traditional Tactics Stall—and How to Fix Them Without Starting From Scratch
Distributors, are you solving your customers’ pain points?
Of course you are, or you wouldn’t be in business.
But here’s what I keep noticing: distributors are investing in lead generation tools, partnering with agencies, and launching campaigns based on traditional B2B playbooks—and then wondering why their new systems aren’t delivering the results they expected.
The result? Frustration, budget regret, and a growing suspicion that maybe this whole “digital marketing thing” just doesn’t work for distribution.
Here’s the truth: Your lead generation isn’t broken. It’s just built on the wrong expectations.
The Real Problem with Traditional Lead Gen for Distributors
Most lead generation tactics aren’t wrong—they’re just expected to perform like your best salesperson on day one. And when results don’t come quickly, it’s easy to assume the strategy failed and move on to the next shiny object.
That’s the pattern keeping distributors stuck in an endless loop of testing, abandoning, and starting over.
The key is understanding what these tactics were designed to do—and how to reshape them so they work in a way that aligns with how distribution operates: through relationships, trust, and genuine expertise.
Four Broken Strategies (And How to Fix Them)
Strategy #1: “Download Our Whitepaper”
Why it Disappoints: Your buyers aren’t looking for generic business theory. They’re solving real, application-specific problems—usually under pressure.
That whitepaper about “Industry Trends 2024”? It’s not helping them figure out if your valve meets code for their healthcare facility project.
The Fix: Use content as a conversation starter, not a conversion tool. Build around the questions your customers are already asking: installation guidance, compliance explainers, product selection tools. When your content helps them solve a problem before they pick up the phone, you’ve already earned trust.
And here’s the part that matters: The person who downloaded your guide might be a qualified lead—just not today. They could be six months out from their next project. Track them. Nurture them. Be there when they’re ready.
Strategy #2: “Call Us for More Info” CTAs
Why it Underperforms: Most buyers don’t want to pick up the phone until they’re confident it’s worth their time. “Contact Us” CTAs are often met with radio silence—not because the buyer isn’t interested, but because the ask doesn’t align with where they are in the process.
The Fix: Offer a low- or no-pressure next step. Possibilities might include:
- A project planning checklist
- A “common mistakes” guide
- Something that delivers real value without requiring a time investment
Strategy #3: Generic LinkedIn Outreach
Why it Backfires: Distribution is relationship-driven business. Sending templated messages to anyone with the right job title doesn’t build trust—it destroys it before you even had a chance.
The Fix: Use LinkedIn to build your reputation, not book meetings. Share insights. Highlight project wins. Solve common problems. When you do reach out, make it personal and timely. The goal isn’t a call—it’s credibility.
Strategy #4: High-Volume, Low-Quality Tactics
Why it Falls Short: Chasing volume over quality doesn’t just waste budget—it burns out your sales team and trains your market to ignore you.
The fix: Get crystal clear on what a good lead looks like. By region, role, project type, timeline. Then track how those leads actually progress. Not all leads are ready to buy, but that doesn’t mean they’re worthless. Focus on quality, and the quantity will follow.
What Actually Works (The Foundation You Need)
Here’s what we’ve learned through other industries’ successes and our own work in distribution: When you align your content, cadence, and targeting with how your customers actually make decisions, everything starts clicking—from first visit to closed deal.
Problem-Solving Content That Actually Solves Problems
In distribution, buyers aren’t looking for inspiration. They’re looking for answers.
Will this product solve my specific problem? Does it meet code? Can I trust it on my jobsite under pressure?
That kind of confidence doesn’t come from clever copy—it comes from content that’s grounded, specific, and immediately useful. Think technical bulletins, project planning guides, regulatory updates.
Educational Nurture That Respects Reality
One of the biggest disconnects in distribution marketing is timing. Buyers aren’t ready just because we are.
There’s no formal “evaluation window.” There’s just a backlog of projects, a spec to meet, a maintenance schedule to stick to. If you’re not staying visible during those in-between phases, you’re not even in the running when the decision finally gets made.
Build a consistent cadence of helpful, relevant content, and when the need for you and what you’re providing finally arises, you’re the one they remember.
Hyper-Specific Targeting That Speaks Their Language
You know your markets better than any marketing guru ever will. The opportunity is matching that precision in your campaigns.
A plant manager in industrial maintenance and a contractor on a healthcare project might both need your product—but they need very different messages. Reference specific applications. Use customer language. When a buyer feels like “this was written for me,” trust builds fast.
Multi-Persona Content That Covers All the Bases
Most buying decisions in distribution aren’t made by one person. They unfold across teams—engineers, procurement, project managers, facility leads—each with their own priorities.
When all your content speaks to just one of them, you risk stalling the deal.
Map out who’s involved in the decision and what they care about:
- Engineers want specs and reliability
- Procurement wants cost control and vendor fit
- End users want ease of installation and long-term performance
Build the content once, but deliver it in the right voice, to the right person, at the right moment.
Sales and Marketing Alignment (Before You Launch Anything)
No campaign succeeds if sales and marketing aren’t working from the same playbook. You wouldn’t ship product without coordinating with ops—don’t launch campaigns without coordinating with sales.
Start with shared definitions: What makes a lead qualified? What does sales want in their inbox? Then build feedback loops. Let sales weigh in on messaging. Review lead quality together. Adjust targeting based on actual conversations.
When marketing and sales are aligned, leads don’t just flow better—they convert better.
Visibility Across the Full Sales Journey
Knowing who downloaded your whitepaper is step one. Knowing what that person is doing 3, 6, 12 months later? That’s what shortens the sales cycle for every future opportunity.
In distribution, sales cycles are long, timing is unpredictable, and multiple people weigh in before deals get done. If you’re only watching early activity, you’re missing the signals that actually drive revenue.
Set up tracking that follows leads across time—not just clicks, but meaningful engagement. Share that data with sales so they can step in with context and confidence.
So, How Long Does This Actually Take?
It’s the question I get from every distributor: “How long before we start seeing actual leads?”
The honest answer? It depends on what your systems can support and how committed you are to doing this right instead of doing it fast.
Here’s what I’ve learned: the biggest challenge isn’t building the right system – it’s the timeline. Most lead generation projects take 6-12 months to show meaningful results, and by month 4 or 5, priorities shift, scope-creep sets in, and momentum dies.
Distributors need a different approach, so I developed the 90-Day Digital Distributor Essentials Program. We compress all the foundational work into an intensive 90 days – building systems, creating content, establishing processes – so you get a complete, working lead generation machine. Then, the real measurement period starts when everything’s operational.
Our 90-day Essentials program focuses on three outcomes:
- Fast wins: Targeted campaigns created quickly using assets and knowledge you already have
- A strong foundation: Systems that track and nurture leads across the full sales journey
- Sustainable growth: A process that gets better over time, not more complicated
This isn’t about theory or quick fixes. It’s about creating a system that works for distribution—and keeps working long after our 90 days together are over.
If you’re tired of lead generation that doesn’t generate leads, if you need structure for an existing system, or if you don’t know who’s engaging with your content or when to follow up—let’s talk.
Hit me up and we can figure out if this approach makes sense for your operation.
