Are your lead generation techniques working for you?
Have you tried different lead generation techniques, only to fall short of your goals for inquiries and new business?
If so, here are our top ten techniques to increase sales and new business inquiries.
1. Market and Advertise Offline and Online
A lead generation strategy is useless without a way of getting prospects to the first rung of the ladder. This means successful advertising and marketing of your business. A good marketing strategy can motivate cold prospects to become warm leads and take the first step in doing business with you. Read my FREE eBook for more information on this.
2. Build a List
Your list is your most important asset. Most prospects aren’t ready to buy the first time you come in contact with them, but they may be ready at some stage in the future. A well developed list, packed full of prospective customers allows you to see better returns, cut marketing costs and maximize the returns from the money you do spend.
Of course good list building is not just an excel sheet with everybody’s email address. A good list is detailed, segmented into different types of buyers and is regularly updated with new information. It’s the backbone of every good lead generation system.
3. Schedule Appointments
For those businesses with a more complicated sales process that requires a personal approach, the next step after a prospect shows interest is to arrange for a meeting. Depending on your business and resources, you might consider using a professional appointment setter to do the legwork.
4. Close the Sale
If your prospect expressed an interest or met you for an appointment, they’re interested in what you have to sell. How interested? Ask them to buy it. They can either say “yes”, “no” or “not now”.
Whatever the result, by closing the sale you’ve moved the process along. You may have a new sale. You may move a prospect along your sales system towards a future sale. You may have eliminated a prospect that could have cost you time in the future. Of course you don’t want to come across as pushy, but don’t make the common mistake of shying away from asking for the sale.
5. Build a Follow Up List – Clients and Prospects
As your list grows you’ll want to split it into two (or more) kinds of follow-up lists. One is for current and past clients. You’ll ask them for future business, sell new products and services and ask for referrals. For existing customers you’ll also need to use effective customer retention programs because these are the people you need to pay the most attention to. After all, it’s always cheaper to keep existing customers than to acquire new ones.
The second is for prospects who aren’t clients – yet. From that list you’ll want to implement Step 6.
6. Identify the Most-Qualified Prospects
As your list grows even more you’ll want to segregate it to make more money by spending more energy and time on your “A” prospects. Spend less time and energy to your “B” and “C” prospects. The first step is to create profiles of who the A, B and C prospects are.
The next trick is to starting using your automated systems to make C prospects into B’s and B prospects into A’s (and A prospects into paying customers.)
7. More Closing
If your prospect didn’t buy from you the first time, you should have put him on your mailing list. Find ways to follow up with him so you’re there when he is ready.
[Alec Baldwin - Best Performance On Closing]
8. Keep in Touch with Prospects
Keep delivering useful content to your prospects, keep making offers, closing, and asking for the sale with all your prospects who haven’t bought yet. You never know when they’re ready to buy. But when they are, you want to be there.
9. Keep in Touch with Customers and Clients
Once you convert a prospect into a customer, don’t ignore them! It’s more profitable to do business and keep in touch with clients who know and trust you. Advertising and prospecting for new business, in the cold marketplace, is the most expensive kind of business development.
10. “Rinse and Repeat!”
Turn your long-term lead generation techniques into a repeatable cycle. Turn lead generation techniques into a system. Don’t reinvent the wheel.
Do it yourself: For more lead generation ideas, Download My FREE eBook
Articles & Autoresponders & Closing Sales & Current Customers & Customer Retention Program & How to Buy Leads & Lead Generation & Lead Generation Techniques & List Building Strategies & Qualified Lead Generation & Setting Appointments
The best online lead generation systems are lead machines (i.e autoresponders). They help you sort through visitors to your website from potential buyers and general interest from real interest.
The first step in any online lead generation program is to get traffic to your website; the second is to gather information. The third step is where most businesses run into problems. If you’ve done the first parts well then you’re going to have a lot of inquiries, newsletter subscribers and other prospects to deal with.
Too many in fact.
Autoresponders are little software programs that send out pre-written emails at a set time or frequency. Using an automatic email follow program for your lead generation can help you handle the inquiries and still have time to do the work.
1. Use Autoresponders to Notify and Inform
Let’s say that you have a ‘request a quote’ form on your website. It’s a great idea but website visitors can come at any time of the day or night – or on the weekends. You can use an autoresponder to reply to the quote request and let the prospect know when they will receive their quote back.You could also use it to point them in the right direction of other resources worth checking out – like testimonials and information sheets.
2. Run an Email Course By Autoreponder
If you sell services, then part of your job is to show prospects that you know what you’re talking about. A free training course could do just that and encourage them to hire you to deliver the detail. You could set up an autoresponder to deliver the course to each individual recipient at a fixed interval after they signed up. For example, they could get part one on the same day, part two 3 days later and the final part after a week.Spacing the e-course out will help the recipient digest the content more effectively and gives you a chance to start building a relationship with them through the content. In even simpler terms, they will be reminded about your business every few days (or weeks, or whatever).
3. Use an Autoresponder to Deliver a Specific Piece of Information
Say, for example, that you have a rate card or trade program that you don’t want to make available to the general public. You can use an autoresponder to deliver this information only to people who provide their contact details. You’ll be able to follow up over the phone or use an autoreponder to do that, as described below.
4. Use an Autoresponder to Do Lead Management and Follow Up
Once someone has requested information from you (or registered for a free trial or similar), your job becomes about moving them from a state of ‘general interest’ to ready to buy. If you’re dealing with a lot of potential leads or simply don’t have the time to follow up with everyone of them individually, an autoresponder can be used to deliver a set series of messages and content designed to move them towards a purchase.This could include an initial email to ensure they received everything you sent them, a second to suggest a particular feature or resource they might like, another to ask for feedback and so on. The more likely prospects are the ones that will continue to respond.
5. Use an Autoresponder to Deliver an Evergreen Newsletter
An evergreen newsletter is one that is not time sensitive and therefore always relevant. For example, if you create regular informative lead generation content or blog content, then you could create newsletters based on general themes. Each themed newsletter would point out blog posts, articles and resources relevant to that theme. An autoresponder would then deliver each one in turn, say at monthly intervals, and help you get the most from your existing content.
Autoresponders can be extremely flexible and effective lead generation tools – all you need is the software and a little imagination (or experience).
Return from Autoresponders Page to lead generation techniques
Automated lead generation simply means finding potential new customers without committing a lot of your own time to the project. It allows you to collect contact information from prospects while building your list. Or by connecting with people 24/7 who are already looking for your service.
As a business owner, your time is precious. You could spend hours every day sourcing new customers. But leads are not the same as sales; only a fraction of them will translate to customers. So it makes sense to automate the process of lead generation where possible.
By creating an automated system – such as automatic email messaging, you can spend more time closing sales and still have a long list of prospects. While it takes a little time to set up an automated lead generation system, you will reap the rewards in the long term.
Start by running an online ad campaign, which is great for your visibility. You can run a campaign with Google AdWords from as little as $10 per month. To create a good list, simply direct those clicks to a sign-up form which collects contact details and gain permission to send out future mailings.
Other forms of lead generation media include: yellow pages, coupons, radio, TV, magazine and newspaper ads.
If you want interactive lead generation, stick to online media. Most offline approaches can only tell your prospects about you but do not collect contact info.
Sales lead software is ideal for categorizing your new business leads. I recommend sales boom. Or you can use a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel for free. The aim is to get all of your sales leads listed in a central computerized database. Make a record of their name, job title, phone number, email address and physical address, as well as a comment about your contact with them to date. Write a summary of each conversation and your next action (eg, “call back on 20th with project brief”).
There are many benefits to using professional sales lead software. You will never allow a lead to go cold, or lose a prospect altogether for a lack of a decent filing system. It will also save you time searching for their details.
Auto-responders are perfect for automated lead generation. Let’s say a new prospect signs up to your mailing list for a free six-week e-course.
Your auto-responder can email them at a set time each week with the next part of the course – complete with your own soft sales pitch. Even if they don’t buy via the course, the regular contact will transform them into a warm lead, ready for your pitch.
Your time as a business owner is incredibly valuable. So boost your automated lead generation efforts by improving efficiencies. Create a library of written templates – including cold introductions, follow-up letters, brochures, FAQs, reports and media kits. Every time you need to follow up with a lead or other business contact, simple personalize your template and send it out – minimum fuss!
If you spend a lot of time answering phone calls, writing general emails and sorting through mail, hire an assistant to do it for you. The same goes for hiring a copywriter for your marketing materials. Stick to your strengths and focus on high-impact tasks, while outsourcing the jobs that will ultimately cost you more by doing them in-house.
By now, you know why you need to automate your lead generation system, and that effective online campaigns are better lead generators. You should also have sales lead software to manage your follow-up contact (whether by phone, e-mail, or snail mail), and have ideas for using autoresponders to keep your leads warm.
With this level of automated lead generation, you will soon have a healthy lead generation list for your next sales!
•We do it for you: If you’d like to free up more time with an automated lead generation system, click here for more info about the lead generation services we provide
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