The most important key to sales lead generation is “current interest.” No matter who you talk to, no matter what their qualifications are – nothing happens in the short term without current interest. Seeking this must be your highest priority. But, current interest is closely followed by the second most important key – future interest. Those who don’t buy today may buy tomorrow – or give you signals about when they may consider buying. Tracking future interest will have a dramatic impact on your overall results.
Sales lead generation is also dependent upon discipline and deliberate outreach. You need to settle on a “mix” of outreach, set volumes for the individual elements in the mix, and then work it. For example, here is a list of types of outreach:
- Phone calls
- Direct Mail
- Email Marketing
- Social Networking (In person and online)
- Web/Blogging
- Press Releases
- Charitable Outreach
Each of the above items can be segmented in terms of action within a designated cycle. For example, “per week” 100 calls, 1 blog post, 20 permission emails, 10 Twitter Posts, 10 Facebook posts, 1 Chamber of Commerce meeting/event, 1 press release, 1 charitable outreach. Use a comfort level that suits you in terms of “how many” of each of these in a given time period.
Collecting Information
As you engage in your outreach, make it a goal to collect information from the people you encounter. Keep a database in which you store that information. Mark future follow up dates and set aside time to follow up as warranted. If you can’t handle as many forms of outreach as are referenced above on day one, then build up over time. Just make sure you add activity each week and not drop one thing for another. You want to consistently fill a pipeline – not just skip around.
Lastly, make sure that your outreach has current and future interest focus. Make marketing materials pro-active in that they query for current interest now. However, leave open the door for future interest. “Not interested now? OK! Do you have any idea when you’ll look into that in the future?” Using an array of outreach, focusing on current and future interest and working on a disciplined track will help you master the question of sales lead generation.
