B2B Sales Leads

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In this article I examine some of the best direct marketing and online marketing methods of generating sales leads and, based on the experience of 15 years in the sales lead generation business, rank each according to its return on investment. This article is focused on generating sales leads with “white space”, that is, companies that you have not had any business dealings with previously – the biggest challenge of all!

The old maxim that “nothing happens in business until something is sold” could be extended to say “and nothing gets sold until a sales lead is generated”. Sales lead generation is an absolutely critical activity of any business. Until a business can generate a sustainable pipeline of qualified sales leads, its future will be in jeopardy.

1.Search Engine Optimization / Web Site Marketing – 8/10

In my experience, SEO is the very first place any new company should start when considering how to generate leads. It is the cheapest (comparatively) method of consistently generating sales leads related to a business. While the initial costs may be high, the long-term return on investment simply cannot be beaten by another other direct marketing method.

The disadvantage of SEO is that it can produce unqualified leads as there is limited ability to select your target audience initially.

2.Direct Mail – 4/10

While direct mail is often the first activity implemented by a new business, in my experience its success is questionable. Response rates are usually less than a half of one percent (don’t believe the research that show response rates of up to 5%, it simply doesn’t happen in white space).

When you consider that each direct mail piece will usually cost at least one euro to two US dollars, this can be an expensive activity that produces few results.

3.Email Marketing – 6/10

The holy grail of direct marketers! Cheap, easy to implement, and high volume. Unfortunately it is very difficult to obtain high quality lists for a particular sector that are not comprised of “generic” email addresses (info@, sales@, etc).

Nonetheless, when you eventually do find a good list, email marketing can be incredibly cost effective and produce very high return on investment. It is certainly worth the effort of trying to track down a good list.

My suggestion for email marketing software is Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com) which we use regularly. It provides great reporting on click through rates etc, and also allows recipients the facility of opting-out of future contact, a very important part of email marketing.

4.Pay Per Click Advertising – 2/10

Pay per click advertising such as Google Adwords can be a quick way to reach your online target market. It does not require any of the advance work and time required that organic listing through search engine optimization needs.At the same time, it can be incredibly expensive. In my (and my clients) experience, very few click-throughs lead to inquiries, let alone sales. The response rates and costs are actually lower than direct mail.

Based on our experience, we give pay per click the lowest rating of any of the marketing tactics included in this article.

5.Telemarketing – 7/10

Although it can be quite expensive, telemarketing remains one of the most powerful marketing methods that you can use to build new business in “white space”. The ability to select the target market (unlike SEO or pay per click advertising), qualify the lead immediately (unlike any of the other methods) and progress an opportunity through the sales cycle means telemarketing can quickly generate success and win completely new business.

As it is probably the most expensive tactic discussed in this article, it is important to emphasise the importance of planning the telemarketing campaign well in advance. You must spend time testing the script, ensuring the data is accurate, training the staff (or outsourced telemarketing agency) and making sure that all results end up in a good CRM Software system.

By Mike Kelly

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Sales lead generation is the procurement of vital contact information of sales prospects and using them to reach out to them with the right offer.

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Technorati Tags: Lead Generation, marketing analytics, marketing roi, roi, sales, sales lead, Sales Lead Generation

You’ve spent a great deal of time, effort and money putting together your business-to-business sales lead generation programs. How you handle B2B sales leads once you get them makes the difference between a happy sales team and new customers or an unhappy sales team and lost sales.

Here’s a checklist of questions to ask yourself to determine if you have the best chance of being successful with your sales lead programs:

Are you prepared to send requested information immediately?

Prospects have their own agenda and timeline, not yours or your firm’s. So, you need to be efficient and strike while you have the opportunity. Timing of your inquiry handling processes are of paramount importance. Your firm needs to respond to all inquiries quicklythe faster, the better.

Here are some questions to keep in mind:

* Do you know what to send in response to different types of inquiries?
* Do you have electronic versions for those who want the information by e-mail or via downloads from your Web site?
* Do you have adequate supplies of printed materials ready for those who prefer them?
* Do you have the people, systems and processes in place to get the requested
information out the door quickly?

Are you prepared to capture all inquiries in a database for ongoing nurturing and qualification efforts?

To avoid having any of the golden sales opportunities represented by your inquiries fall through the cracks, you need to capture all of your inquiries in a database so you can properly manage their fulfillment, nurturing, qualification and distribution. With this in mind:

* Do you have the database ready to go?
* Do you have the data entry people or outside services lined up to get the inquirers into the database?

Do you have a program in place to “qualify” sales leads before sending them to your salespeople, reps, dealers or distributors?

If your business-to-business marketing-for-leads program is to succeed, marketing, sales and corporate management need to share a unified definition of qualified sales leads. If you all agree from the start on what a qualified lead is, then deliver leads that meet that definition, your sales team will be able to effectively and efficiently follow up and close more sales.

* Have you agreed with sales management on which questions to ask in order to determine which leads are qualified?
* Have you agreed what information is required to know which sales contacts to route the qualified leads to?
* Do you have proactive programs in place to contact and qualify your leads?

Do you have a process in place for distributing qualified leads to sales contacts as they are identified?

Sales leads are worthless unless they are quickly handed off to the right sales contact for follow up. Your lead distribution process has to be well defined and ready to goin advanceso as to prevent delays or misdirection when leads are qualified and ready for sales attention. It also has to be easy for your salespeople, reps, resellers and distributors to access the qualified sales leads and manage their lead follow up.

* Is your sales leads program designed to get the leads into salespeople’s hands without delay?
* Have you made it easy for your salespeople, reps, dealers or distributors to use?
* Can they access leads over the Internet?
* Does it integrate with their existing contact management or email systems?

Do you have a program in place to nurture or cultivate your not-yet-qualified leads?

Salespeople generally focus on those one-in-four sales leads who are ready to buy soon. However, research shows that three of four sales come from longer-term prospects who are frequently ignored by sales. As these longer-term leads represent the lion’s share of the potentional sales, your sales lead management program must be designed to help nurture the longer-term leads until they are qualified as being sales-ready opportunities.

* Does your company have a prospect relationship marketing program in place to keep in touch with these longer-term prospects, using email, fax, mail and phone contacts, until they are identified as being qualified and ready for sales attention?
* Do you know what messages to send as part of your prospect relationship management program?
* Do you know how often to contact prospects with these messages?
* Do you know what offers to use to get them to further identify their needs and situation so you can determine if they are ready for sales?

Do you have a program in place to measure and track the results of your various sales-lead generation, cultivation and sales follow-up programs?

A marketer I know recently reported to her management on the results of the company’s lead generation programs: Awareness of their company and its products among targeted prospects more than doubled; the cost per qualified lead delivered to sales by marketing dropped by nearly 40 percent; 58 percent of the opportunities in the sales pipeline were found first by marketing; and 48 percent of the sales closed; and 62 percent of the revenue during the past 12 months came from marketing-generated leads.

The result? She got a bigger B2B marketing budget and senior management no longer doubts marketing’s contribution to the company’s success. Can you answer these questions and show your management how your lead generation programs are contributing to your company’s success?

* Can you determine your cost per lead, cost per qualified lead and cost per sale?
* Do you know which lead programs generate the highest return on investment?
* Do you know which nurturing techniques worked and which didn’t?
* Can you prove to management that your lead generation programs are paying off in increased sales and market share?

Refer to this checklist of questions to guide the development or improvement of your company’s sales lead management programs and processes and you’ll have the best chance of being successful.

By Mac McIntosh

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Technorati Tags: b2b, b2b sales, b2b sales leads, Lead Generation, leads, sales lead, Sales Lead Generation, sales leads, sales marketing

 Generating leads is actually an easy task although it can take so much time and energy particularly if you want to multiply the number of your leads by tenfold. This will require determination, a truck load of patience, perseverance, and knowledge as to how you can easily connect with those people who are most likely to buy from you.

Here’s how you can multiply your leads:

1. Use your website. You would want to convert each of your web visitors to buying customer, right? You can improve your site’s conversion rate by improving its content and its overall appearance. Your visitors are most likely to leave their email addresses or even their phone numbers with you if your website speaks volumes about your expertise and your credibility. Of course it would help if you make your website easy to navigate and visually appealing to give your visitors great browsing experience.

2. Article marketing. To date, this is one of the most popular and most cost-effective ways to multiply your leads. Keep in mind that people only buy from someone they know and trust. You can win the trust of your prospects if you show them that you are truly knowledgeable and that you are a great source of information. There is no better way to do that than sharing a slice of your expertise by distributing your articles online.

3. Forum posting. Invade forums that are extremely popular among your prospects. Join their discussions by giving out answers to their questions and solutions to their problems. If you are able to help these people or if you are able to give them the kind of information that they are looking for, they are most likely to contact you.

4. Drive more traffic to your website. The number of your sales leads will largely depend on the amount of traffic that you drive to your website. Increase your traffic by promoting your website on social networking sites, popular video sites, blogs, and forums. You can also submit it on directories and search engines to make it easier for your prospects to find it online. Lastly, optimize your web content and build enormous links preferably from established webmaster so you can make your site appear prominently on search page results. The higher your page ranking, the greater your chances of getting online users to click on your website. Obviously, this can generate to enormous sales leads.

 Author: Sean R Mize

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Sales Team Develop

Describe your experience in lead generation or prospective client research. Describe your experience in the areas of cold calling and initiating contact through email or fax.

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Sales lead generation is the procurement of vital contact information of sales prospects and using them to reach out to them with the right offer.

MLM Lead Generation

800-890-4728 www.lessworkmorecash.com Learn How to build a huge downline with using Online, Offline, and Web 2.0 Tactics from Industry Leader Consultant and.

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Technorati Tags: Lead Generation, leads generation, leads lists, sales lead, Sales Lead Generation, sales leads generating, sales leads generation

Do you want more sales leads? Are you constantly looking for more prospects? Are you wearing yourself out at networking breakfasts and still have very little to show for it? It’s time to try something else.

And a good way to get started is by learning from your mistakes…

Take our quiz and discover how many of these five mistakes YOU are committing on your quest for more sales leads:

1) Do you go to networking events expecting to find clients?

2) Do you try to pass out as many business cards as possible at every opportunity?

3) Do you hate to waste time and therefore tell people about what you have to offer as soon as possible?

4) Do you try to close the sale right then and there? After all, you may not have another opportunity.

5) Do you follow up with everyone, making them an enticing offer they can’t refuse? And are you puzzled by their tendency to decline anyway?

How many Yes answers did you give? The correct answer to each of the question, as you might have guessed from the title of this articles, is No.

So what should you do instead?

1) If you are going to networking events focusing on finding clients, you are missing out on what you COULD find: connections. Focus on getting to know people instead. They may not buy your product today, but sooner or later, they might send numerous people your way who will.

2) If you think passing out business cards is a numbers game, you’re sadly mistaken. Instead, focus on getting to know people — and get their cards as well. Quality is far more important than quantity. Make sure that you have made enough of a connection that people will actually remember you when you call later — and remember you in a positive light. To keep track of your conversations, write a brief comment on the back of their business card.

3) Don’t barge in with your offer. If the person you’re talking to is a good fit, it will come up sooner or later, and you’ll be much more likely to make the sale once you’ve established a relationship with him or her. So instead of launching into your features and benefits, schedule a time to follow up with the person you’ve just met.

4) The hard sell is dead. If you want to chase away prospects, this is exactly how to do it. Instead, give them information they want and listen to them. By sharing information, you position yourself as a credible expert and solution provider.

5). When you follow up with people, don’t try to start by selling them. Find out more about their business and their challenges to see what you have to offer to them — other than your product. Work at continuing to build the relationship and share valuable information – not a sale.

Author: Sue Clement

Are you ready to get more out of your own networking efforts? Do you have trouble selling because you’re shy or just not the aggressive type? Maybe you’re just sick of the hard-sell approach that isn’t getting results anyway. There’s a much easier way! Check out Sue Clement’s FREE Marketing Myths teleseminar, and discover a whole new low-pressure, relationship-based marketing system. And in her 3-week “Insider Secrets to Referral Partner Success” teleseminar course, you’ll learn all about getting referrals year after year — with much less effort than you’re putting in right now: http://www.MoreReferralsForYou.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sue_Clement

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