Lead generation used to be quite different than it is today. A company could do some research about potential clients, create some materials, send them out, and count on a certain percentage of leads coming back. When contacting those leads the sales force could have some confidence that the prospects, for the most part, wouldn’t be all that educated in the marketplace and in the product specifics. It would be up to the sales rep to educate the prospect on the product or service, then sell them on the idea that the sales rep’s product was the best for their purposes.
The internet dramatically changed this scenario, along with the effective lead generation. Today a buyer will conduct extensive online research into your product category, comb through third-party product comparisons and evaluations, scope out trade shows, and interact with other buyers in forums and social media. Any promotion they might receive from you will likely hit the round file (virtually or literally) as they’re busy making up their own minds using their own sources.
Does this mean companies should quit marketing? Hardly. It just means businesses should take a hard look at how they’re marketing, and how they can fit in with the new buyer patterns.
Becoming Part of the Research Trail
The secret to steering more prospects toward your company is making sure positive information about your product or service becomes part of the research your potential prospects are conducting. That means “sowing the field” with materials and information that turns up in places they will be looking for it.
PR Materials
There are a relatively few companies today that know the real value of PR (public relations). It is an actual fact that PR actually plants the seeds out ahead of Marketing, so that Marketing can come along and nurture and grow the crop that will eventually be harvested by sales.
One of the first places your potential prospect is going to research is in the area of third-party product evaluations. One need not sit by and let such evaluations “just happen”; savvy companies know that they can have a positive influence on such evaluations by cultivating relationships with product editors, writers and evaluators. Offer them anything they need, including tech support. And of course make sure you send them the best version of your product you possibly can.
Press coverage should be actively sought for effective lead generation. A very active PR department will make themselves fully aware of publication calendars, what topics will be covered when and by whom. This makes it possible to submit materials on your company’s product or service at opportune times, to writers, editors, websites, podcasts and publications that have the broadest coverage and highest impact.
There is much more that can be done with PR—but the bottom line is to get your product or service out there in the third-party arena being positively covered. Make it so that your prospect can’t help but run across it while researching it.
Social Media and Forums
Another place your potential prospect will be researching is in places where unsolicited ground-level opinions can be found about your product. This normally happens in social media settings—and once again, this is not an area which you need to sit idly by and let run as it will. Your company should have accounts and pages on these sites and invite engagement. Your employees should be regularly monitoring such media, responding and participating in discussions.
White Papers and Useful Documents
When a potential buyer is conducting research, much of the time any materials generated by your company itself will be taken with a grain of salt. However, you can play into the research process by providing materials that a prospect will truly find useful. These could include white papers, product trials or other documents that contain truly relevant and useful data for the prospect.
Trade Show Presentations and Effective Lead Generation
Buyers often attend trade shows hoping to find out the latest about products or services they might be interested in. If you’re going to participate in a trade show, for effective lead generation don’t simply set up a booth and be done with it. There are many more activities available, and it’s a unique opportunity to appear live and in person before your potential prospects. Have your CEO deliver a keynote address; have your tech personnel perform demonstrations and answer questions; make sure your booth is more than just a place someone can pick up promotional materials—engage visitors and get them on board.
Evaluating the Influx
The leads that come in from such activities will be far more valuable than the “more information requests” that used to come in in ages past. How will you know which of your lead generation activities are working? Which to keep up, which to drop, which to strengthen? You’ll need a leading-edge CRM solution through which you can rapidly and accurately rate your leads, and follow them through your sales process.
Today the most rewarding and effective lead generation is performed by proactively sowing the field—and reaping the bounty.
What kind of CRM solution do you need for evaluating and tracking your leads? Get your free trial of Pipeliner CRM now.
