Lead Generation

Each part of the sales process is crucial to success.  Without a steady flow of new leads, your current sales book may eventually dry up. Hence, it is necessary to keep replenishing your sales prospects (known as your pipeline) and achieve this by constant lead generation. There are really two main methods of lead generation – Classic Lead Generation and Advanced Lead Generation. From a cost perspective, classic lead generation may appear the cheaper of the two options on face value; yet in practice it is generally Advanced Lead Generation that can often lead to a significantly higher return on investment.

For an expert Sales Consultant in Advanced Lead Generation contact Stephen Law  on  0870 042 1263 or email stephen@sl-freelance.co.uk www.sl-freelance.co.uk

Classic Lead Generation

Classic lead generation is the text book process for those who lack expert sales skills/knowledge/experience. The classic text book process for lead generation is to start by identifying potential customers (suspects), communicating with lots of people (prospects), and narrow this down to those who want to meet you and finally those who buy (customers). Classic lead generation starts with a high number of suspects and ends with a very small number of customers. Due to the classic lead generation process of ‘sorting the wheat from the chaff’ the figures are top heavy at the start and so this is often referred to as a ‘sales funnel’.

Advanced Lead Generation

Advanced lead generation is a process used by expert Sales Consultants to maximise the resources of lead generation. Advanced Lead Generation is often referred to as Opportunity Creation as opposed to differentiate it from Classic Lead Generation. Advanced lead generation uses the same initial Classic Lead Generation processes, but overlays a filtering method from start to end. These advance lead generation filters are generally inserted by sales experts who build a picture of potential customers based on demographic analysis.

For example, if you are selling a product that is only likely to be purchased by businesses with 200+ employees within the South East of the UK, there is little point aiming at businesses with less than 200 employees or businesses that do not work in the South East UK. The improved accuracy of targeting using Advance Lead Generation can mean spending far less resources and less time, by focusing efforts on suspects that are more likely to become customers.

Lead Generation Methods

Methods of Lead Generation generally fall in to 2 main categories – “Active Lead Generation” and “Interactive lead generation”, as follows:

Active Lead Generation

• Gaining Client referrals
• Reading paper or digital publications
• Advertising & Public Relations
• Direct Mail
• Email Marketing
• Physical or Internet presence
• Social Media Marketing

Interactive Lead Generation:

• Telemarketing
• Foot Canvassing
• Trade Show and Network attendance