We learn a lot about what grows business from our clients. They tell us every day what is working. Thankfully, they often cite the “Magic 5 of Content Based Email Campaigns that Drive Sales”. In a series of five articles, we will dig deeper into this tried-and-true system. We will begin with how to increase the number of ideal prospects in your pipeline.
Sales people always want more leads. Then they complain about the quality of leads. It can seem like a hopeless cycle with no solution. Sometimes the problem is the way sales people approach today’s skeptical buyers. The sales techniques from a decade ago are sales repellant for the skeptical purchaser.
What if the quality of the leads is bad? What can you do to improve your sales results with the best leads possible?
One – Clearly Define Your Ideal Customer
Having a huge number of leads and dumping them on a sales team is a quick way to dispose of both your marketing budget and the time of your valuable sales personnel. Get a smaller number of leads that precisely duplicate your very best current customer and it is much more profitable.
Spend time digging into the data from CRM database to define that ideal customer. What is the specific industry, level within the organization, geographic location, gather even age and gender demographics. Continue to dig deeper to find all the common characteristics your most profitable clients share.
Make this persona description the smallest niche you can deduct from the data. Start there. Sure, you may have lots of great clients outside this small niche. Don’t worry; you can get to them later. For now, make sure your “ideal” is clearly defined.
Two – Find Prospects that are Like Your Ideal Customers
The internet has many ways to get targeted lists of prospects. Some are very costly. Some only offer general descriptions. Most do not give you email addresses or social media contact information. We prefer Lead Ferret. They offer more than 10 million contact records and all of them include email addresses. You can find prospects that fit even the smallest niche of ideal prospects.
Three – Nurture the Prospects That are Not Yet Qualified to Purchase
According to Forester Research, “Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales ready leads at 33% lower cost.”
In the next four parts of this “Sales Growth Webinar Series, we will give you very specific information about how to tease out the prospects that are ready to buy right now. We will outline the steps to identify your prospects pain, create content that addresses the pain, and qualify the prospects that are currently ready to purchase.
The biggest majority of the leads will be placed into a model that builds relationships. The fifth segment of this series will help you get started with providing the type of educational content that your ideal prospect wants. Instead of trying to “sell” your solution, you become a trusted source of information. The prospect often comes to you ready, willing and able to purchase after you have nurtured the lead.