How to Generate Sales Leads
How to Generate Sales Leads
“What if it’s hard to get past the name of my company? I have a strong value prop, but as soon as I say my company name, they cut me off with “Not interested”. I don’t even get a chance to get my opening statement OUT before getting shut down. Any advice?”
I can only see that happening if the prospects you are calling are recycled leads.
Meaning you or other sales reps (either past or present) have called the same leads so many times that they already have a prejudgment based on past sales calls, and they don’t want to go down that road again.
So with that being said, the solution (which is something that should have been done in the first place anyway) is to restock the lake.
How to Generate Sales Leads: Sales Prospecting 101
The #1 rule for salespeople when it comes to selling (ok, there are lots of “#1 rules”, but this is one of them) is to add fresh new leads to your database continuously. This is different from your sales pipeline. A sales pipeline measures your qualified prospects that are currently moving through your sales process toward a close.
Constantly adding new prospects to your list is something a lot of salespeople either forget or just never were made aware of, to begin with. Calling the same leads over and over again without adding new prospects to the mix is a surefire way to set yourself up for failure.
How to Generate Sales Leads: 3 B2B Prospecting Solutions
There are lots of ways to attract new B2B sales prospects and continually add to your list, but here are three that come to mind:
1) Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator
What I like About It.
You can determine a vertical or niche market to go after and then seek those who have the TITLE of your normal decision-maker.
Example: If I wanted to prospect for new potential clients for SalesBuzz.com, I could:
- Pick a vertical like “GPS Tracking” on LinkedIn;
- Make a list of those companies;
- Seek out those who have the following titles within those companies:
- CEO
- VP of Sales
- Sales Manager
Once I have my list, I send them a LinkedIn connection request. I now have a new contact to add to my prospecting database for those who accept the invitation to connect.
Note: You better have a WHATS IN IT FOR THEM reason if you expect them to connect with you!
What I really love about The LinkedIn Sales Navigator is its Salesforce application.
It pulls in a leads LinkedIn profile so I can quickly confirm their title and make sure they are currently employed at the company I’m about to call. Nothing screams “cold call” to a gatekeeper faster than asking to speak to a prospect who hasn’t worked there in years!
What I Don’t Like About It
It’s time-consuming. You have to block off time and commit to doing your prospecting or hire an intern to do the work for you.
Faster Alternative: UpLead. It’s a great tool for generating sales leads, and it’s fast.
2) Webinars – Another great way to continuously grow your database is to seek out other organizations that have the same targeted audience as you but aren’t competitors of yours and then offer to do a free webinar for their audience that helps solve a problem (You never want to self promote or “sell” in a webinar presentation)
The benefit to you is you get exposure to a new set of eyeballs, and your new strategic business partner gets free quality content and a reason to send an email to their database.
It’s all about staying in front of your audience with a valid reason, so they remember whom to call when a trigger event happens. Webinars make it easy for prospects to learn about new ways of solving old problems, and smart strategic business partners know this.
3) Write articles and submit them to blog authors that your targeted audience read. It will build credibility in the eyes of your prospects. It’s the kind of endorsement you can’t buy!
Just make sure you have a strong call to action on your website so that you capture the lead when they visit.
– Michael Pedone – Founder of SalesBuzz.com
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