You want to generate more sales leads, right? But opportunities aren’t exactly flooding in through the door. So what is the likely cause of this drought?
There are typically 10 Things that will Bring Your Lead Generation to its Knees and prevent you from generating more leads.
1. Lack of a plan – the old adage is ‘fail to plan = plan to fail’. So what’s your sales plan for the coming year? What strategies will you deploy? Which target markets? What channels and marketing activities will work best? Work out who you’re after and how to reach them. Then focus on implementation and you’ll have a much better chance of success.
2. Lack of a defined target market – I always say that you can be the greatest marksman in the world but if you aim at the wrong target, you won’t hit the bullseye. Understanding your target market, including the buyer role, makes everything in business development easier. Identify your customers groups including sectors, locations, size, type of company and so on and learn why they buy your kinds of services. It’ll enable you to focus your energies, speed up lead generation and save you money.
3. Lack of activity – nothing happens without something happening. Momentum is essential in business development. Activity generates positive energy. And momentum attracts positive things. So get out there and make it happen. Do something related to lead generation every day whether that be attending a networking event, writing a blog, making prospect calls, sending some emails or connecting on LinkedIn. Make it a habit and you’ll see better results.
4. Lack of credibility – do you have good customer testimonials? Does your website show your business in a good light? What does your social presence say about you? Any purchase is a risk and customers want to feel they’ve made the right decision. So back up your sales strategy by making sure everything is in place to showcase your skills and credentials when prospects take the important step of checking you out.
5. An out of date website – we’ve added this as a separate item since there are companies out there with outmoded websites built on old platforms that don’t do the job and don’t do their business justice (see point 4 above). Make sure your website is on an SEO friendly platform and built in the way that modern web surfers like to view. And ensure that the site is interesting and engaging (not just a product brochure) and that pages / content can be shared on social media.
6. Lack of worthwhile content – it’s well understood nowadays that for both SEO and credibility value, content is essential. You write content for potential clients first and search second. But the two go hand in hand. If you regularly write interesting stuff, search engines will reference you higher and your customers will engage with your information, spend longer on your site, share your news and make more enquiries. Make it easy for prospects to find and share your content.
7. Lack of social visibility – people check you out these days on Blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google + and so on. Are you present and what will prospective customers see when they find you? They no longer just find that content on your website. It could be via Twitter, through your LinkedIn profile, on your business Facebook page, via an article on Google +, through a ‘how to’ on YouTube or elsewhere. So, make content marketing part of your lead generation plan.
8. Poor representation – people buy people. If your people lack credibility, the essential tool for lead generation (see point 4 again), it’s hard to see how you’ll generate referrals and business through any person to person interaction. That could be via networking, at events, in face to face meetings, on the phone and even via email correspondence. Knowing how to build rapport is crucial as part of your sales strategy. Your team need to be fit for purpose or your lead generation efforts will sink to their knees.
9. Lack of understanding of your target market and how to solve their challenges – in Point 2 we mentioned the importance of defining your target market. But knowing who they are is only part of the story. What floats their boat? What keeps them up at night? Tapping into the psyche of buyer challenges makes you and your business more compelling. Show empathy, understanding and experience of how to alleviate their challenges and you’ll win more friends and more business.
10. Lack of understanding of where to place effort – where might your customers go for information around your subject? Is it at events, via online groups, trade magazines, Facebook, forums? The more you can combine the other 9 factors with a strategy that seeks out your target, the more likely your lead generation strategy will bear fruit. Be present where they hang out. Participate in the discussion. If you’re there, you’ll have a greater than average chance of success.
Ultimately, no lead generation is perfect. However, you definitely won’t succeed without a clear plan, significant activity and the back up to make whatever you do credible. So, take on board our ten factors above and ask yourself how you fare on each. And make sure your lead generation efforts don’t sink to their knees.
If you’d like to know how GSA Business Development can help generate growth for your business or book one of our new business development and marketing strategy workshops, contact us now on 0845 658 8192 or use the form on this site.
