If you happen to be in charge of marketing for your organization, you’re probably judged by the volume and quality of your lead generation. Unfortunately there are far too many organizations who depend on a subjective analysis of that quality, and that typically leads to a finger pointing match, instead of a constructive conversation over how to increase the volume and quality of those leads. The following are some tips you can use to make you the “hero” by increasing both!
1 | Strengthen the Relationship Between Marketing and Sales
The age old battle between sales and marketing over the number and quality of leads generated goes way back to before Al Gore invented the Internet. In fact, if a time machine is ever created, I’m sure we could all go back in time and witness arguments between the dinosaur sales people, and those responsible for generating traffic to the “dealership.” This certainly isn’t a one-sided argument, as this conversation quickly escalates to debate that if the sales team was “better,” they’d be closing the excellent leads you’ve delivered.
It’s not only important to realize that sales and marketing are part of the same team, but to also realize they can be each other’s best ally! The best way to understand the problems your “buyer” is looking to solve is to have a conversation with the people within the organization charged with speaking to those prospective customers every single day. On the other hand, the best way for the sales people to receive a constant flow of “hot leads,” is to provide consistent, constructive feedback to the marketing team so they can optimize their approach.
Whether you’re a marketing person or a sales person, if you’d like to massively increase the number and quality of leads, take the time to reach out to the “other side” and develop a strong relationship. After all, you’re both on the same team, so do what you can to work together to crush your competition! It’ll be far more fun and rewarding than pointing fingers.
2 | Seek to Serve Your Personas
It’s important to keep in mind why your organization exists. Many people believe a company exists to create profit. Other people think a company is started to create jobs. I personally believe that a company exists to serve people by helping solve some of the most pressing issues they face.
Regardless of why you feel your company exists, I can promise you that if you get out of bed seeking to deliver value and HELP your personas rather than creating a situation for your sales team to SELL them, you’ll be far more effective in driving leads. The old saying, “Always Be Closing” has shifted to “Always Be Helping,” and if your approach is authentically consistent with this new way of doing things, you’ll quickly see an uptick in your lead count.
Did you notice that I said, “authentically consistent” with this way of doing things? If you are truly focused on HELPING, you’ll take the time necessary to fully understand the personas you serve, and what they’ll need along their individual buyer journey. When you’ve done this effectively, and provided as much value and information as possible, you’ll quickly find that not only will the volume of leads increase, but the quality as well.
3 | Ask for the Opportunity!
One of the most disappointing scenarios I find is when an organization has invested tons of time and energy to understand their personas and create awesome content for them to consume. Although they’ve done so many things right up to this point they ultimately leave this visitor hanging, or force them to figure out what to do next!
I’m not talking about having a button that says, “Contact Us” or “Request a Quote.” I’m talking about anticipating how you can leverage the goodwill you’ve gained by delivering valuable content, and building on it by anticipating how you can help further. Is there a report or an eBook you can offer for download to provide a deeper understanding, or a tactical approach to solve another problem you know they’re probably facing? Think it through, and never leave your visitor hanging again.
4 | Avoid Premature Selling
One of the quickest ways to ruin a perfectly good opportunity, is to have your sales team “jump out of the computer” and try to start selling the second you have their identity. It’s not much different then dating. You’d never consider talking about your desire to get married and have kids with someone on your first date (if you’ve done this, I’m sorry but, you’re probably crazy!). So why would you try to close the deal the second you receive an inquiry?
I get it! Salespeople have quotas and, if you’re not selling, you’re not doing your job. This is the perfect reason to NOT sell prematurely. The better the marketing department is at understanding the buyer journey of your customers, the better they’ll understand how many “touches” need to occur before your lead is ready to start considering your products or services. Work together to gain a deeper understanding, and consider implementing a lead scoring system. Once you’ve done this you can help the sales team by ONLY giving them true leads that are ready to be contacted.
Speaking of being contacted, if you’d like to chat more about increasing your leads or getting further help aligning your sales and marketing teams, we’d love to chat. Click the button below to get started.
