Blackhole’s Agency Lead Generation System: How We Generated 118 Leads and Closed 6 Deals in Dubai in 2 Months
In Q4 2022 we had the idea to enter a completely new market where we had no prior experience, no connections, and frankly, no idea how the different culture there defined daily life.
This place was the glamorous, emerging financial and tech capital of the world, Dubai. The city with extravagant cars, incredible skyscrapers, 7-star hotels, and absurd amounts of capital.
Why Did We Go to Dubai?
Our goal was simple, straightforward, and quite bold: we planned to enter the market, open our local office, establish a Dubai-based company, and get as many clients as we possibly can in just 2 months!
Ultimately, we wanted to expand to the Middle East market and generate more clients and deals from the incredibly prosperous market there.
Marton Toth and Balazs Bolcskei, the co-founders of Blackhole Media
Challenges of a New Culture & Market
With our main client base spread across Europe and North America, venturing into the Dubai market posed a significant challenge. At the time of our decision to open an office in Dubai, we had no experience or connections there. Our knowledge was limited to the basics and what we had seen in the news, on TV, and YouTube, or heard from friends. We were essentially stepping into the unknown regarding living and working in Dubai.
Our goal was ambitious: to acquire as many clients as possible within two months to recoup the investment of establishing a new office and relocating to this incredibly expensive city. And yes, Dubai is more costly than any place we had encountered before.
The question we faced was: How can we make an impact in a new market and quickly gain clients? Despite the lack of market knowledge, contacts, and brand awareness, we were confident in our ability to generate cold leads. This confidence stemmed from our core strength at Blackhole: lead generation and sales. We had started from scratch in the Hungarian and European markets, and we had a proven track record of success.
Over the past six years, we built our business on helping other B2B companies achieve the same success. With over 250 clients and thousands of successful campaigns, we generated millions of euros for our clients. As such, we knew we could achieve similar success in Dubai as well.
And frankly, we did just that; in just two months (plus one month of preparation) we managed to close €75,000 in deals – all thanks to our brand-new Agency Lead Generation System. This strategy is our cornerstone for generating leads for agencies.
Why don’t we take a closer look at what this system does, exactly?
Creating the Winning Strategy for Dubai
To achieve our goals and ensure profitability, we implemented our Agency Lead Generation System™. This system, perfected since our launch in 2017, consistently generates closable leads and fuels company growth.
In essence, the strategy has three key components:
- Building an offer, an online presence, and branding that appeals to your ICP.
- Creating an inbound marketing strategy that builds trust and credibility at scale.
- Creating an automated funnel that converts leads into appointments
- Setting up value-based outbound campaigns to reach and convert the target audience at scale.
After weeks of market research, we started implementing the Agency Lead Generation System. Our aim was to gain credibility in the new market and generate enough leads to close at least four clients in two months, a goal we eventually surpassed.
Defining the ICP
We identified our ICP in Dubai as small and medium IT, industrial, and B2B services companies, targeting founders, CEOs, and sales & marketing leaders. These industries aligned with our expertise, and we tailored our communication strategy and online presence accordingly.
Web Presence
Our website, recently revamped, needed only minor adjustments. We bought the blackhole.ae domain and added Dubai as our second HQ to gain local trust. We implemented our proven funnel and focused on driving traffic to it.
We updated our LinkedIn profiles, both personal and company, to reflect our presence in Dubai. Building a strong LinkedIn presence from the start helped gain trust during our outreach campaigns, showcasing our local presence.
Content Marketing
Our inbound strategy was robust, requiring just a few tweaks. We aligned our content strategy with our goal of gaining trust in the UAE and demonstrating market understanding. We crafted UAE-specific blogs and social media posts, incorporating this content into our messaging sequences and sharing it on our blog and LinkedIn.
Building the Database
With our ICP defined, we focused on building databases of target companies and decision makers. Following Account-Based Marketing (ABM) principles, we created databases of potential companies:
- HQ in the UAE
- 20-500 employees
- Industries: IT, industrial, and B2B services.
We identified specific decision makers such as founders, owners, managing directors, CEOs, and sales & marketing leaders. Our database consisted of around 10,000+ contacts, segmented by industry to ensure relevance. This segmented approach is a key part of the Agency Lead Generation System.
Building Messaging Sequences
Before crafting our messaging sequences, we researched the cultural nuances of the Dubai market. We discovered that building relationships is crucial, especially in the Middle East. This relationship-focused approach, rather than a pushy style, is effective across all markets.
With this insight, we created industry-specific campaigns with segmented messaging. Speaking to prospects in their own language and mentioning relevant details is essential. Our messaging sequence emphasized networking and relationship-building.
We started with a simple introduction, mentioning our new office in Dubai, and focused on education by sending interesting materials. The Agency Lead Generation System relies heavily on incorporating strategic content into outbound campaigns.
Outreach Method
Outbound campaigns are a significant part of the Agency Lead Generation System. These include email campaigns, LinkedIn campaigns, and InMail campaigns for cold outreach. We also use LinkedIn, Google, and Meta ads to drive cold traffic to our funnels and retarget website visitors.
For this campaign, we concentrated solely on LinkedIn messaging and InMails. We used automation to reach decision makers effortlessly through SalesBot, our multichannel outbound automation platform.
Campaign Structures and Message Templates
We experimented with different campaign structures. One effective approach was a simple 1 or 2-message campaign, utilizing LinkedIn free InMails whenever possible. This straightforward method allowed us to connect with decision makers quickly and efficiently:
Results
We started running the campaigns one month before traveling, in the first week of January, and ramped up our efforts when we were in Dubai for two months. Despite a few chaotic weeks due to friends visiting and a holiday in the Philippines, we managed to achieve impressive results.
We even closed our first deal before arriving in Dubai!
These results highlight the effectiveness of our Agency Lead Generation System in breaking into a new market and generating substantial business opportunities in a short time frame.
Campaign Results by Profile
Take a look at the statistics through the lens of our co-founders’ profiles as well as by the campaigns they ran in those 2 months:
Balázs’s Profile
Marton’s Profile
Campaigns
LinkedIn messaging campaign
- Reach: 1025
- Messages sent: 1843
- New LinkedIn connections: 478
- Replies received: 141
- Response rate: 17%
- Leads: 15
Open Inmail campaign 1: IT
- Inmails sent: 935
- Replies received: 132
- Response rate: 14%
- Leads: 23
Open InMail campaign 2: B2B (IT excluded)
- Inmails sent: 1145
- Replies received: 87
- Response rate: 8%
- Leads: 31
Our Tally of Our 2-Month Trip to Dubai
All in all, as you could see, we managed to generate 118 leads, closed 6 clients worth €75,000 in 2 months using our Agency Lead Generation System™.
We have been working on this system for over 7 years now and we are perfecting it continuously. This is the system that we used to build up our company from zero.
And although we use similar strategies for all of our B2B clients from a wide range of industries, this one is uniquely optimized for agencies. And those agencies that have already implemented this system have reported a significant amount of new leads and deals generated since.
Why Our Agency Lead Generation System™ Actually Delivers Results
Our Dubai venture clearly demonstrated the efficacy of the Agency Lead Generation System™. With AI-assisted lead research, AI-personalized messaging, and value-based sequences, we were able to break into a new market and generate substantial business opportunities swiftly. The automation of our sales funnel ensured that we could focus on closing deals, while the tech stack we employed maximized our campaign’s success.
Our success in Dubai shows that our system works, delivering impressive results and significant ROI. If you’re looking to boost your agency’s growth and secure high-quality leads, get in touch with us and let’s see if your agency would be able to benefit from offering and unlock new opportunities.
Contact us for a free consultation today!
