The way to get new and repeat business has changed much the last few years. Instead of relying on mass advertising, telemarketing and email; companies must now be quickly found prominently throughout the Web and maintain rewarding long-term customer relationships.
What is Lead Generation? Lead generation is the process of capturing consumer interest to achieve an ever-flowing sales funnel which is the ultimate goal for any successful business.
“Why Shouldn’t I Just Buy Leads?” Not only is buying leads expensive — they don’t know you. Any contact you make is unwelcome and you risk being blacklisted as a spammer or “Do Not Call” violator. Generating your own exclusive leads definitely gives you a big advantage over competitors using stale shared lists.
Qualifying a Lead Qualified leadshave the highest conversion rates because they are people closest to the buying stage of the sales cycle. Leads generated by those already interested in your type of products and services (known as “warm leads”) are much more likely to convert than “cold” ones. Once you attract these individuals you must now collect their information.
The Lead Generation Process:
Prospect: A person interested in your business that finds you through one of your marketing channels, such as your advertising network or social media, with a …
Call-to-Action (CTA): A message that directs the prospect to perform an express task such as a phone number to call or a button to click that navigates to a …
Landing Page: A web page a visitor “lands” on for a specific purpose, product or service used to capture leads through …
Forms: A set of fields that collect prospect information in order to receive an …
Offer: An incentive valuable enough for the prospect to buy or exchange personal information for it.
Lead Generation Best Practices
Create offers for all stages of the buying cycle. When your prospects are not ready to buy, they may instead prefer, for example, a free report on the subject, while someone who is more familiar with your company, at the end of the cycle, is primed for a free trial or demo.
Conversion Rate Optimization What do you know about the people visiting your website? What pages do they visit most and before and after filling out a form? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, then you must start using site analytics to increase sales conversion.
Customer Referrals Current customers recommending your products and services is one of the most powerful lead generation strategies available. Consider offering a loyalty program discount for customers that refer someone to you or sign them up.
