Making Lead Generation Work
March 10th, 2009 Posted in Lead generation and appointment settingSales lead generation is a time consuming process and in some cases, quite costly. You will need to make a lot of phone calls, follow-ups, meetings, presentations, emails and even pay for advertising campaigns to promote your products or services to prospective customers or recruits. Working to pump up your leads requires that you have patience, self-confidence, initiative and an undaunted spirit. If you can’t do it in-house, you can always invest in lead generation services.
How to start
First, look at the demographics to target the right prospects. It is important that you consider the right kind of people to sell your products to, so you don’t waste time and effort. The best way to do this is to look at the quality of your product. If you have invested in lead generation services, your provider will determine who will need your services or product best, ho will buy it at your current price, how to sell it more convincingly and what kind of individuals buy a competing product and why. Lead generation campaigns are only successful if you can target and convince the right people.
Keep a list
In sales lead generation, it is imperative that you keep a record of who you deal with. Take notes about your sources and narrow your list then, qualify your leads. Once you have met with these people, you will be able to sense if they are interested and willing to work with you.
Start with your nearest and dearest
Begin coverage in the area nearest you and your family, friends, acquaintances and colleagues. These are the best places to start in business lead generation because with these individuals, you have the highest comfort factor with. You are less likely to be nervous or apprehensive with people you know or are familiar with, compared to complete strangers. It is only when this resource is completely exhausted that you should begin to look for new candidates to recruit into your network.
Turn to lead batching
Also called distributor gathering, this process involves gathering leads through advertising. You can be sure that those who respond to your advertising and lead generation campaigns are those who are interested in your product. Otherwise, they would not have attended your training in the first place. Through lead batching, you can then invite your recruits to build their networks. As the owner, you can now strengthen the number and quality of recruits who work under you.
Don’t burn bridges
Not every person who declines your offer is a dead end. Use that person’s contacts to get leads by asking for referrals or follow-up with the person in the next few weeks or months. When you’re aggressive enough in your lead generation campaigns, there’s always a huge chance that previously uninterested leads can become interested this time. You’ll never know unless you nurture your leads, so work on your follow-ups.
Sales lead generation is a process. It is not quick, there are no short cuts and it does take time. But if you’re armed with the proper methods or have invested in lead generation services, you can expect good leads that can actually participate to help you grow your business.
