It’s no secret that most of us in business are in business to make money. But in today’s market, there are many businesses out there that do not know how to lucratively generate leads. Lead generation is certainly not a new concept, but launching a B2B lead generation campaign that yields high-quality targeted sales leads your sales team can follow-up—and convert—can be arduous without a plan.
Here are a few basics on how to improve your lead generation:
Identify Your Targeted Sales Leads
Before you find your next client, you first need to devise a strategy.
During your planning, you should start identifying who your targets are by asking yourself two questions:
- Who is most likely to buy my product or service?
- Who will appreciate the value of what I have to offer?
And if you’re still not sure who your target market is, you can usually find this out by examining your current client base. Your goal is to find a common denominator amongst your current clients and then use it to identify your best sales prospects.
For clients, identify why they buy from you or what is unique about your product or service. Once you determine exactly what sets you apart for your current customer base, you’ll not only know who your prime targets are, but what your unique selling proposition is too.
Find out more about identifying your target audience in this blog post.
Observe Prospect Behavior
The next stage is to understand your prospect’s buying patterns and behaviors. For example, a stealthy lion observes its target’s movement and behavioral patterns before making its move or much like how military reconnaissance serves to plan where and when to strike based on the behavior of their targets.
Being aware of prospect’s behavior when they seem most ready to buy, or when their budget cycle begins and ends should aid you in knowing which of your targeted sales leads are ready for your well-timed approach.
Approach with Sales and Marketing
Tactical strikes not only require an understanding of the lay of the terrain and the behavior of the targets involved but also need to have a good sense of when the right time is to engage.
A good marketing strategy can provide you with these indications and should align and function on the same level as sales to yield good results. Truly compelling messages, effective offers, calls to action, sequence/timing, personalization, brand consistency, great creative which are all necessary to make sure that when you engage with prospects they are prepared to buy and ready to buy from you.
So align your sales and marketing today, so when your prospects are ready for conversion—or even ready to take the first step—you’ll be waiting.
