What is Lead Generation 2.0?

Lead Generation | Appointment Setting

Click Here for Information on Our Lead Generation Campaigns

"Many old school sales managers and business owners cherish this approach because they have seen it work in the past. That’s the scary thing about it (and why it won’t die). It will work if you absolutely commit to it and do it consistently for long enough. We occasionally take on campaigns like this if there is a good reason (perhaps our client's list is only found in a print format). We call them “brute force campaigns” and make them work but they’re tough sledding.”

View Our Lead Generation 2.0 Presentation

View Our Lead Generation 2.0 Presentation

I think about lead generation and sales prospecting all the time. I’m always trying to find better, cheaper, faster ways to generate leads for our clients. We look at lots of different things and try to select the best tools and practices and bake them into our campaigns.

I also think about this topic because all businesses need sales and most small and medium sized businesses are subject to the feast/famine paradigm. When they’re busy, the first thing that gets pushed to the side is prospecting for new business. Until business slows down. Then there’s a flurry of sales activity and soon business is back where it should be. For a while. I’m very aware of this so we try to be very disciplined about ensuring we have consistent lead generation, no matter how busy we are. I have some specific thoughts on this topic and decided to write this article on what I consider to be Lead Generation 2.0. But first a short review of the 1.0 iteration.

Lead Generation 1.0

This approach is characterized by the phrase “pound the phone” or "dialing for dollars". It involves making scads of calls to all kinds of companies, which mainly occurs once business has begun to slow.  Maybe a little emailing is mixed in but without a plan or consistent execution. Working very hard is emphasized. It's completely "push" selling since all the leads are by definition cold. There is no capability to understand which leads are more interested than others unless the sales team connects with the person live. Finally, there's no ability to spread to other contacts (perhaps the right contact) since people will rarely forward voice mail messages as they forward emails.

Many old school sales managers and business owners cherish this approach because they have seen it work in the past. That’s the scary thing about it (and why it won’t die). It will work if you absolutely commit to it and do it consistently for long enough. We occasionally take on campaign that fall into this category if there is a good reason (perhaps our client's list is only found in a print format). We call them “brute force campaigns” and make them work but they can be tough sledding.

Lead Generation 2.0

Highly Targeted

Anyone who has ever done any kind of lead generation knows that the most important variable is the list. You can do everything else perfectly but if your list is no good, you are in trouble. If a client or prospect has a list, I always ask to see it (or a sample of it) before I commit to a particular performance level. We’ve learned there are many ways lists can be bad and people who don’t work with lists regularly really don’t have a good grasp of the details. Here are some scary things our clients say about lists.

“We bought a great list 4 years ago but never did anything with it.” (Half the people on the list will be gone)

“We know the data is good because we’ve been emailing it every month for the last 2 years.” (Most everyone who would have bought will have already done so)

“This list is great but it has no contact info or names.” (It’s hard to call them without a phone number or name)

All of the above can be addressed or remedied. The point is that you don’t want to throw good money after bad by using a questionable list. In the big picture, the list is normally towards the lower half of the cost totem pole. So try to get the best list you can buy or build, with the exact right kind of target company, in the right geography, of the right size, selecting the exact title (or as close as you can get) with the direct dial phone and email address. And it should be as fresh as possible.

Utilize Technology

It’s hard to know where to begin with this one because there are so many choices. There are terrific CRM systems, mass emailing tools, dialers, social media portals. All are available at a variety of price points, some practically free. These are tools to help you reach out to larger numbers of potential prospects and figure out which are more interested than the others. Then you can isolate the more interested group for extra calling and emailing.

If you have these tools, learn how to use them or find someone who can run them for you while you learn. If you are a manager or business owner, make sure your sales team is trained and that they are using what you are providing. I understand it’s a little harder in the beginning to do things the new way but definitely worth it in the long run.

Follow a Proven Process

I love sports and sports analogies because they tend to be visual and easily grasped. Athletes who want to play their game at a high level follow a routine. They try to do the same things that help their performances in the same way consistently, varying only when there seems to be an issue that won’t go away. Then extra effort is applied and things are tweaked. Think David Ortiz taking extra swings in the batting cage to remedy a slump.

You can run your business, your sales team or your marketing department the same way. Some kind of sales and marketing needs to happen consistently every week (every day is even better). On occasion, extra effort can be brought to bear to address a short term opportunity, requirement or deficiency. I’ll outline a simple but effective process for your sales team below.

Load a list into your CRM system (we use Salesforce.com). Begin calling. With anyone you reach live, you can discuss your product or service, striving to ask open ended questions to keep them engaged and closing for a sale or advance at the end. Depending on your business and target, you may reach voice mail 80-90% of the time. Leave a message, telling them you will be sending an email with a link and explaining briefly why they might want to review what you're sending them. For the leads that click on the link to view your information, use your technology to pinpoint and isolate those “warmer” leads. Then call them repeatedly but gently until you reach them live. Repeat this process every week, adding fresh leads and making adjustments as needed to hit your goals. And don’t forget to respond immediately to any email or phone responses that you receive.

Multi-channel Communication

I like to use multiple tools when communicating with potential prospects. Obviously the phone has value as does email but why stop there? With so many tools available why not use them? Here are some simple ways to communicate across multiple channels.

Social Media

First, get some social media accounts if you don't have them. LinkedIn is a good choice if you’re a B2B company. I like Twitter too. Some industries are better served by Facebook. Make sure they look good and are complete. Remember, you will be displaying your personal brand so you want it to be professional and polished. Make sure you have a good quality photo (if you don’t your brand projects “I’m lazy” or “I’m not tech savvy”).

When anyone who is interested in your product or service contacts you in any way, invite them to connect on LinkedIn. Why? First, they are at their highest point of interest and more likely to accept your request. Second, if you have an attractive, well completed profile, it will burnish your identity in the prospect’s mind. Third, as you work through your sales cycle, they will see your activities and posts, further establishing that you’re a “go to” person in your space. Fourth, if the sale gets delayed, postponed or the sales cycle gets extended (or they decide not to move forward now), the prospect will see your posts and update as the months roll onward as a consistent, low key reminder that you are still there.

Try to post periodically. I like to post new original content every week (articles, top 5 lists, other "how to" pieces). If you don't have the time or inclination to write your own articles, you can certainly post links to articles written by others that you think your prospect base would be interested in that relate to your business. In fact, I think it's a good way to get started. Either way, whatever you post can also be posted on your blog.

Blogging

I think small and medium sized business should have a Blog as part of the online presence. This allows people who are interested in the topics relating to your company to follow your blog and be notified when you post a new article. Anything you post on your blog can also be posted on Social Media. You can also email everyone on your email list whenever you post a new entry, which is a good, low impact way to keep in touch. Track who's reading your articles using your technology and follow-up with any prospects by phone.

Our Lead Generation Model

MonthlySales6-5-2014

Click to Learn About Our Lead Generation Campaigns

"Successful campaigns are really about execution, making the calls and sending the emails consistently every week and following up on any warm leads."

People have asked me from time to time about our lead generation model. Here it is below:

  • Get the best list we can buy or build, with the exact right kind of target company, selecting the exact title (or as close as we can get) with the direct dial phone and email address.
  • Have a well-trained, professional agent call and email the prospect list, following a tight, proven process.
  • Use technology (Salesforce.com, email tracking systems and telephone dialers*) to enhance agent productivity and track the most interested prospects and isolate them for additional attention and calling.
  • Work the warmest leads repeatedly (but gently) to eventually reach them live and schedule a telephone sales appointment.
  • Repeat the process monthly, adding fresh leads and making adjustments as needed to hit the campaign goal.
  • Successful campaigns are really about execution, making the calls and sending the emails consistently every week and following up on any warm leads.

That's it in a nutshell. It's predictable, works great and has the benefit of generating results immediately.

* Not a predictive dialer like telemarketers use when calling people at home. Those dialers don’t work for us since we must navigate voice mail systems for 99% of our campaigns.

Inc.com Article: 4 Priorities for the Head Marketer at a Startup

One of the reasons we work so well with Marketing is our ability to produce quantifiable, reportable results. According to a specialist trend report conducted by Marketing Donut, local councils across the country are looking to splash extra cash on supporting local and farmers markets. Could now be the perfect time to start a market stall business of your own? Samantha Wallace, founder of market stall business From Field to Flower, seems to think so – according to her, “People seem to [have] a genuine interest in reconnecting with simple products, and knowing the producers that make them.” In addition, places like Borough Market in London and St Nicholas Markets in Bristol have boomed in recent years, thanks largely to their range of amenities. Such observations suggest that markets are becoming fashionable places where people not only come to browse responsibly sourced products, but also to eat and be entertained. So what does this mean for future market stall owners? Well, there’s plenty of money to be made – as long as you can sell the right product in the right location. Every single business in the United States should be utilizing marketing, but many times business owners become confused, overwhelmed, and in way over their heads when it comes to developing an effective marketing strategy, as well as successfully implementing the marketing strategy into day to day use to finance your wallet and find the right move to startup. This is when most businesses, both large and small, opt for allocating funds to hire either a separate marketing company or a marketing strategist to work in house (the latter being incredibly beneficial since marketing has turned into a full time job) – and most of the time, business owners are incredibly relieved to never have to deal with SEO, content marketing, advertising, PR, PPC, and any other acronym lingo associated with marketing a business. Marketing is often confused with advertising, but understanding that these two terms are not synonymous is important. Advertising is simply a single component in a marketing strategy, so business owners do allocate a large chunk of time and money to advertising, but business owners must also focus on a variety of other key components to creating and implementing a successful marketing strategy. Some of the major aspects that encompass marketing for business owners is public relations, media planning, product pricing and distribution, sales strategy, customer support, marketing research, community involvement, and of course, advertising. We’ve written this guide to help anyone who is looking to start a market stall. We’ll cover things like creating a market stall business plan, financing your market stall, and the types of insurance and licenses you’ll need. http://www.inc.com/jon-miller/4-priorities-for-the-head-marketer-at-a-startup.html