Bane Consulting Services Blog

The key for Microsoft partners is opportunity creation — a practice rooted in understanding and anticipating buying intent. Rather than casting a wide net for “leads,” top teams identify accounts that not only fit their ideal client profile (ICP) but also display clear signs that now is the right moment to connect.

The landscape of enterprise artificial intelligence is shifting fast, and nowhere is this more evident than in the competition for workplace mindshare between Microsoft Co-pilot AI and ChatGPT. Despite Microsoft securing large corporate deals with Co-pilot, a growing number of businesses are discovering a gap between purchasing the technology and actually seeing it put to good use.

If you’ve spent any time on outbound sales, marketing outreach, or partnership development, you know this truth all too well: finding leads isn’t hard anymore. Today’s market is flooded with tools that help you build prospect lists, enrich contact data, and fire off personalized messages at scale. However, there’s a persistent gap that most lead generation strategies overlook—and it sits right at the intersection of automation and human connection.

If you're running a digital marketing agency or B2B outreach firm and on the lookout for new clients, try this custom LinkedIn lead generation workflow I built in Clay. It’s designed to help you find high-level executives and filter based on their LinkedIn activity and engagement.

Cold emailing remains a stalwart strategy in B2B sales and lead generation, but the landscape has changed dramatically over the years. As inboxes grow crowded and spam filters become more sophisticated, today’s outreach demands more than the old “send and pray” approach. Instead, maximizing your cold email reply rates hinges on precision: clean data, thoughtful personalization, and a measured, deliberate approach to targeting.

As artificial intelligence continues to shape the future of business, many companies are racing to implement cutting-edge technology in customer-facing roles. While automation can boost efficiency and lower costs, a recent high-profile incident reminds us that AI customer service failures come with significant risks—ones that every business leader should weigh before phasing out human support teams.