6 Keys to Lead Generation Success

Effective lead generation doesn’t come easily. Have you noticed? Of course lead generation without a sound marketing strategy barely comes your way at all. For our purposes today we will assume you have a strategy in place.

Let me ask you a simple question: How hard do you work to get leads? Pretty darn hard I would guess. Especially in this economic environment.

I don’t know of any company where high quality leads overflow all on their own. Let’s assume you work very hard to get leads, and you want to make sure you convert as many as possible into sales. No brainer, right? So, what’s your process for doing that…converting leads to sales? Don’t have one, or at least one that’s effective? Answer these 6 questions and start getting that process in place and humming along.

• Do you send requested information immediately? Immediately, I mean like right away? Do have electronic versions you can send via email or allow downloads from your website? How about sending from your smart phone? Do you keep sufficient supplies of printed material on hand, or have the ability to print on demand? Can you get the request to the right person in your organization as soon as it comes in?
• Do you have a database in place to capture those inquiries? Do you have people or outside services to enter the data quickly?
• Do you have a process to evaluate leads before sending to sales? Statistically over 75% of all leads are not “sales ready”, and sales people will usually label them as lousy leads and ignore them. Do you have a process in place to prevent that? Do have agreement with sales as to what qualifies as a sales ready lead?
• What is your process to distribute sales ready leads? Sales ready should equal “hot”. How do you get them into their hands quickly? Can your sales people gain access from their smart phones? Does your lead system integrate with your contact management and email systems?
• Do you have a lead nurturing process? A process to address the 75% of inquiries that are not sales ready. Does your marketing program include a process using email, snail mail, social media, or phone to keep in touch with those prospects and feed them educational material until they’re ready to buy?
• Do you have the proper measurement and tracking systems in place? Do you know which lead generation campaigns deliver the highest sales results? Can you determine your cost per lead, cost per qualified lead, and cost per sale? Can you track which nurturing tactics worked best? Most importantly, can you show the big boss how all of this gives him/her increased market share and sales?

OK, I know that was a lot more than six questions, but it was six main questions. These are all important if you want to generate high quality leads.

Develop the programs and systems to provide the answers to these questions and you’ll be well on your way to growing your business. Have I left anything out? What has your experience been with lead generation and follow up? Leave your comments and questions below.

Continue reading here: Discovering the Dominant Buying Motive

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