73% of B2B leads aren’t sales-ready—here’s the fix

If you’re in B2B sales or marketing, you already know the pain. You’ve got leads, but 73% of them? Nowhere near sales-ready.

They take weeks—sometimes months—to warm up. Your team follows up, sends emails, jumps on calls, and still… nothing. It’s slow. It’s frustrating. It’s demoralizing.

But here’s the good news: this is a solved problem.

There are three simple content moves that can drastically shorten your sales cycle and make sure your leads show up ready to buy instead of wasting everyone’s time.

1. Explainer videos and landing pages

At least 80% of buyers research before they buy. That’s you. That’s me. That’s your prospects.

We don’t just see a software solution and immediately whip out the company credit card. We Google. We ask AI. We lurk on websites, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

That’s why a short explainer video or a well-structured landing page is your best friend. Make it stupid easy for prospects to understand:

• What their problem is

• Why your solution is the fix

• How you actually solve it

It’s one of the easiest ways to be in the conversation before they even know they need you.

2. Content funnels built for your ICP

I’ve got a theory: just like we have minimally viable products (MVPs), we need minimally viable product content (MVPC)—the bare minimum set of content assets you need before launching anything.

In other words, don’t launch a product or feature until this content is ready.

That means blog posts, guides, comparison pages—whatever makes sense for what you’re selling. The goal is simple:

• Create a clear path from “interested” to “ready to buy.”

• Answer the questions they’re going to ask.

• Make it easy for them to say, “Okay, these people get it. Let’s go deeper.”

Because here’s the reality: content moves people. The right pieces at the right time nudge them further down the funnel without your sales team having to hound them.

3. Sales enablement content

Your sales team shouldn’t have to improvise their way through a conversation.

When a prospect finally reaches out, they should get rock-solid proof that your company can solve their problem. That means giving your sales team:

• Case studies (Here’s how we helped companies like yours.)

• White papers (Here’s the industry data backing this up.)

• Thought leadership (Here’s why we actually know what we’re talking about.)

• Product documentation (Here’s the nitty-gritty on how it works.)

That way, when a prospect says, “But how do I know this will work for me?” your team isn’t scrambling. They’re pulling up actual proof—real content that builds trust and closes deals faster.

These aren’t extras. They’re accelerators.

Too many companies treat content as a nice-to-have. It’s not.

It’s a sales cycle accelerator.

Instead of five follow-up calls, prospects get everything they need before they even talk to you. They already understand the problem. They already know you can help. Now it’s just a matter of working out the details.

And here’s the kicker: this only works if you do it right.

In the next article/video, I’ll cover the biggest mistakes companies make when rolling out these content strategies—because, yes, it can go very, very wrong.