As President of the Sales Professionals of Ottawa, I was lucky enough to moderate a panel discussion entitled “How To Hunt In Today’s Jungle”. Each panelist discussed the “how to’s” of lead generation in their field of expertise; telesales, social media, internet research, and print advertising. The discussion was lively, yet in the end, the consensus was clear. To generate leads, a diversified prospecting approach is what works best!
There is no magic bullet for lead generation. Even if we have built the better mousetrap, the world will not beat a path to our door unless we take the door to them. And the best way to do that is not by putting all our prospecting eggs in one basket all at once, but rather using some of each method, over time, until we close the sale.
Even if your prospect is smack dab in the middle of the bull’s eye of your target market, chances are you will not open the sales process on your very first contact. In fact, studies have shown that two out of three sales are made to prospects who have said “no” not once, but five times! Therefore, you must develop a plan to stay in touch with him so that when he is ready to buy, he will think of your first.
Don’t just send another email to one of your social networking contacts and expect to generate a new prospect instantaneously. Pick up the phone and make contact. Or send a letter. Or both! The point is to stay in frequent contact so you start to build a relationship. Every contact is like a drip of water. On its own, it doesn’t amount to much, but over time, each drip can add
up to a very large pool.
How you contact your prospects with your “drip” campaign will depend on your product and the average prospect’s buying cycle. Once you decide how to contact, the next critical step is to decide how often. You also must create a system to ensure you stay on track. How to do this is discussed in detail in my eBook Action Plan For Sales Success.
Remember, in order to consistently generate sales leads, we have to be proactive and persistent, and we must plan our prospecting to maximize our chances of being successful.
Aim Higher!
Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Connections
Susan A. Enns is managing partner of B2B Sales Connections. She has written downloadable e-courses “Action Plan For Sales Success” and “Action Plan For Sales Management Success”, as well as many automated sales tools, and as the B2B Sales Coach, she writes and edits the company’s newsletter, AIM HIGHER. Currently Susan serves on the Leadership Executive of the Sales Professionals of Ottawa as President.