Generating leads has always been among the key priorities of businesses across the world, and the recent surge of online sales lead-generation strategies centered around social media has certainly been a newfound revelation, in the least. However, when one analyses the ground realities, it is understood that in terms of generating concrete leads, social media isn’t quite the deal it’s made out to be. So, platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn might be great for promoting a good brand image, but they pale in comparison to more effective sales lead generation tactics.
The first among these is customer referrals. We’ve all heard umpteen times how word-of-mouth marketing is the best form of advertising there is. and it’s for a reason. Not only is the lead pre-qualified, the client is also almost sold out on the value proposition of the company. This makes it easier to close the deal and get things going faster in terms of getting revenues. Obviously, this is the perfect scenario for the sales and marketing team, since the client is more or less very eager to come on board with the product or service being offered. Sometimes, there are cases when the client themselves walk up to a company – and that’s nothing short of a dream come true!
As per Google, tech buyers consume nearly 14 pieces of online content before they make a buying decision. Regular buyers, on the other hand, consume just 9-10 pieces. Regardless of the difference, one can certainly presume that companies that produce original content that makes sense to their TG are going to enjoy better brand equity compared to their competitors. Generating leads, hence, becomes a matter of time. There may be some concerns about this sounding counterintuitive, but one must always avoid selling directly. By giving information in the form of blogs, whitepapers, and e-books, among others, one can win the trust of customers as well as their business.
Industry events like trade shows and conferences also offer sales lead generation opportunities. If one has the opportunity to speak at such a gathering, or give a presentation and follow it up with customized letters or calls. Even emails can do the trick, all that’s needed is to keep in touch. By speaking in front of so many prospective customers, one gets instant face and brand recognition, which goes a long way in closing the deal!
LinkedIn is among the fastest-growing sales lead generation channels in the online world today. Research shows that traffic from the professional network has a high visitor to conversion rate, to the tune of nearly 3 percent. This is close to three times the percentage of Twitter and Facebook. The main reason for this phenomenal success is that LinkedIn has a tremendous number of professionals. So, B2B marketers looking at sales lead generation can easily get in touch with their target audience.
Also, the fact that LinkedIn Groups have been created specifically for this purpose also helps. Hence, it’s easier to see and know what potential buyers are expecting and to modify the offering as per the current trends. However, a point to be emphasized here is that one must never try to hard sell. As mentioned in the previous post, creating valuable and relevant content goes a long way in getting the attention of prospective clients. For instance, infographics, videos, and whitepapers can be a great ice-breaker for getting interactions with those who matter.
