Mastering the World of Selling: The Ultimate Training Resource from the Biggest Names in Sales

Chapter 76. Optimizing Sales Leads: Moving Quickly from Inquiry to Lead to Closure

Drew Stevens

Stevens Consulting Group

A growing concern for many sales and marketing managers is optimization of sales leads. Each year selling professionals get a plethora of business development leads, but unfortunately unearth less than 47 percent. Worse, over 50 percent remain dormant. Managers postulate, but to no avail. The numbers barely move. In recent research for this article, several clients utilized the Internet for sales leads, but with less than 5 percent reaching closure. To develop and optimize a productive lead-generation program, sales and marketing leaders must formulate a business-to-business (B2B) strategic plan. The following information is meant to initiate dialogue.

CONTENT IS KING

Since the dawn of the Internet, information has proliferated in our society. Current clients can obtain more information about your organization than you realize. Press releases, news stories, earnings, even advertisements all provide data for an analysis of the organization. When a lead finally does reach a selling professional, research illustrates that 87 percent of selling professionals merely repeat known content.

Solution: Sales and marketing must develop strategic client questions that provide client value. Rather than rehash features and claims, new leads are taken through an analysis to better understand needs. An exemplar might provide competitive product samples or packaging. Competitive firms ...