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We all try to sell something or the other in our competitive world, many times without even realizing it and we are doing this for a long time. Thus, the sale is an integral part of our daily lives. But what does it mean to business? Actually everything. Without it, the business will not survive. Here the basic component that brings in sales is the ‘Sales Lead.’
In a company, the sales team always wants to achieve their monthly target, the more sales they get, the better. So, before digging in, let’s understand first what a sales lead actually is and how it’s different from the prospect.
Here in this article, I will discuss today how you can generate more leads for your business.
Let’s read about them one by one.
First, let’s define the word, ‘Lead in Sales!’
“A potential customer, commonly referred to as a sales lead, can be an individual or an entity that has had some form of interaction with your business, whether intentional or not, and may have a future need for the product or service you provide, even if they are not currently ready to make a purchase.”
So, in simple terms, a qualified sales lead is a person who has shown some sort of interest in your product offerings by taking a specific action like clicking on one of your links, filling up a form, etc. To convert that lead into your valuable customer, you need to contact him, provide details of your services and take all the necessary steps to close the deal.
Today, most businesses prefer to generate leads over the internet. For that, you have to prepare engaging marketing and advertising content and let people attract to your brand. The objective of such initiatives is to get the contact information of the leads like their phone number, email address, etc. Once you get it, your sales team can start using all their different techniques to convert the leads into customers.
The sales qualified leads can be segregated into different categories based on the level of information the consumers have about your product offerings. The more details a lead gets about a product the more chances are that he or she may get converted into a customer.
There are 3 basic categories of sales leads.
Cold leads are basically those people or businesses who have no idea about your company and your offerings. Chances are that they have not even shown any interest. But they too can be a good fit for being your customers. You will get such leads from different professional directories or customer references. So, to deal with such leads, you need to be a bit slow and don’t overwhelm them with too much info at a time. Just introduce them to your company, its product offerings and start interacting with them.
There are several lead-generation services that purchase such cold leads. Many companies just pay for those services and get a list of cold leads as per their business criteria. Once they have the list, they start working on it for conversion.
Such leads are the individuals who have expressed some interest in the company or its products but have not shown any desire to buy something. They may reply to a brand’s posts on social media platforms or fill in a form to get information about a specific product. They may not purchase something from the company but are interested to know more about that brand, its products, and mission.
You may get such leads by contacting those businesses that got in touch with your brand in the past or the individuals who have responded to your company’s marketing efforts. Such warm leads can be converted into valid customers with comparatively less effort.
Finally, such qualified sales leads are the companies or individuals who have expressed their desire to make a purchase. They are well-informed about the product or service, its pricing and are ready to support the brand monetarily.
Such hot leads get in touch with the company personally. They are the individuals who get to know about the company through an internet search or via friends or family. They do the necessary research before contacting the company and are already convinced to make a purchase.
In many cases, the only effort that the company needs to take is to help those individuals to complete the transactions.
Sales lead generation definitely requires collaboration across different departments. From sales to marketing, getting valid leads in sales need the effort and expertise of every team member. Here are some of the great sales lead generation techniques to look into.
Your happy customers will be happy to refer you too. It’s not that difficult. Let them be your brand ambassadors and refer your brand to their friends and family. Thus, your existing customers will bring sales leads for you.
The credibility of your brand increases when your own customers tell their near and dear ones about your company and services. Customer referrals are one of the best sales lead-generation processes out there.
So, while closing a deal, make sure that you ask the customer if he knows someone who requires your product. This is a quick way to generate sales leads.
Don’t forget your customers after they complete the transactions. The customers who are satisfied with your service and have developed a positive relationship with your brand will surely buy again. Always remember that it’s much less expensive to sell to your existing customers rather than acquire new sales leads.
You can give them occasional calls to ask about their well-being and make them feel important to your company. Meanwhile, you can also ask them for referrals. Many times, you will get the most valid sales leads from your existing customers only.
We all know that the online networking site LinkedIn is one of the most popular sites where professionals love to stay connected with different businesses and individuals they come across. Equally important to building relationships is developing the appropriate approach. Don’t send generic invitations while requesting to connect. Rather, send a customized message describing your company, where, and how you have met each other.
For example, “Hello [insert name], It’s been a while since we met on [insert date] at [insert event]. I had a great time discussing [insert topic] with you, and we even talked about catching up over coffee to discuss [insert project]. I noticed that you recently [insert latest post/story/update/etc. on a site], and it made me think of reconnecting with you. Would you be interested in meeting up sometime soon? Please let me know if that works for you.”
Traffic from LinkedIn provides much more valid sales leads across all social media platforms.
Once you have connected with the potential consumers, nurture them as well. Please don’t stick to only one site, rather be available on other social sites too. Using social media for inside sales lead generation may appear to be an obvious choice.
According to ResearchGate, nearly 25% of marketers identified social media as a highly effective lead-generation method with a significant return on investment (ROI).
But generating sales leads on social media platforms is not an easy task. Facebook and Instagram have a huge user base but it does not mean that all of them are ready to convert into your customers.
Be present on those platforms your target audience uses on a regular basis. Present your brands and product offerings there beautifully. For online sales lead generation, make sure you engage with users on each channel and foster online communication effectively.
Not every lead can be converted in a single try but that does not mean that those are of no use. When the prospects are unable to take the buying decision, lead nurturing comes into the picture. You can send them product videos, customer testimonials, and other helpful resources to help them know your brand and services better. Later you can again follow up with them to understand their thoughts.
Your goal is to ensure that you are at the forefront of their thoughts when they reach a decision-making point.
In today’s digital age, you have to display your expertise, and nothing is better than showing it online. So, build your web presence and showcase what you offer to your target audience.
Your own company website will help you here. Through your website, you can display your product offerings and share all the details.You need to optimize content and follow the SEO guide to rank website in search engines..
Don’t know much about search optimization? Don’t freak out. There are different SEO agencies to help you out here. One of the great ideas for sales lead generation is adding new and helpful content to your website. It will help potential customers in their research. Also, add some Call-to-Action (CTAs) forms on different web pages of your sites to capture leads and customer details.
Later your sales team can contact them via email or phone call and share more relevant information about your products or services.
Establishing yourself as a credible industry expert can frequently result in greater business opportunities. A willingness to dedicate time and resources to perform and publish relevant research works for potential customers is all that’s required.
As per the State of Original Research for Marketing report by BuzzSumo and Mantis Research, 55 percent of marketers claimed to have generated leads by publishing their own research papers. The more information and analytics you add to your research work, the more visibility your company will get from social media platforms, word of mouth, and different publications. Meanwhile, those people with whom you get in touch may become your sales leads.
As per the B2B Marketing Outlook Survey, a significant ROI was generated from leads obtained through live events, as reported by nearly one-third of the respondents. But you have to choose the right events to attend for your business. For example, if you have a software company, sending your sales team to an event for financial advisors will not work.
So, attend those trade shows, conferences, and webinars, where the participants and attendees are your target audience. Engage with your leads there and offer them guides, company portfolios, and other resources to help them know your company better.
In short, do everything to capture the interest of attendees, so that they become curious and motivated to seek further information.
Sales lead generation tools are software or online platforms that you can use to identify and capture potential customers’ contact information, such as their email addresses, phone numbers, or social media profiles. These tools are designed to empower businesses to focus their efforts on converting leads into paying customers.
Here I have listed down the 3 most popular online sales lead generation software to look into!
HubSpot Marketing, including its lead capture tool, is available for free (with the option to upgrade), and it provides numerous lead generation capabilities that simplify the process of capturing, storing, and nurturing leads such as:
All of these features integrate seamlessly with HubSpot’s free CRM, and can also be easily connected to your preferred CRM, email tools, or other customer data platform.
HubSpot Marketing facilitates the creation of an end-to-end inbound marketing flywheel. You can produce compelling content to attract visitors, employ a variety of available tools to capture leads, and nurture those leads through automated emails.
Gradually, your sales team will gain complete insight into past touchpoints, allowing them to finalize leads with comprehensive knowledge of the previous interactions between the customer and your brand.
It is another online sales lead generation software with different features and use cases. Its instant messaging and chat feature helps to engage with website visitors and collect all the required information.
Once integrated into the system, you can evaluate visitors’ behavior on the website or mobile app and establish message triggers that aid in onboarding, customer support, or retention.
Intercom also has an inbuilt help desk and knowledge base to offer instant assistance to customers.
REVE Chat is one of the best available auto sales lead generation software in the market. It is an omni-channel customer engagement platform that can be integrated on your website, mobile app and other messaging platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Viber and WhatsApp.
Once integrated on your website, it lets your website visitors to live chat with you and get assistance. Through proactive chat, you can also get in touch with them much before they poke you for any kind of help. Apart from live chat, there are other extraordinary features like video chat, voice call, chatbot, co-browsing, screen sharing and many more.
Being an auto sales lead generation tool, REVE Chat’s AI-enabled chatbot can automate your whole customer support facility and other business operations and offer instant assistance to your customers. REVE Chat works as a great medium to capture leads and engage with them for sales conversions.
Want to give it a try? REVE Chat offers a 14 day FREE TRIAL. So, SIGN UP today!
Sales lead generation is important for the survival of any business. A proper understanding of your target audience, and utilizing different data-driven techniques will definitely help you to capture valuable leads and gradually close the deals.
I have listed down several great tips and top lead-generation tools for your reference. What’s your thought on this? Let me know in the comment section below. Till then, GOOD BYE!
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Suvashree Bhattacharya is a researcher, blogger, and author in the domain of customer experience, omnichannel communication, and conversational AI. Serving as a content marketing strategist at REVE Chat, she develops contextual and interesting content for customers from different industries and segments like customer service, customer satisfaction, engagement, messaging platforms, etc. Passionate about writing and designing, she pours her heart out in writeups that are detailed, interesting, engaging, and more importantly cater to the requirements of the targeted audience. Her interests include reading, painting, and traveling.
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