8 Lead-Generation Secrets from B2B Sales Pros by InsideView

[Doha]

8 Lead-Generation Secrets from B2B Sales Pros
by InsideView
shutterstock_128859691If you find B2B lead generation challenging, you are not alone. Marketing Sherpa's 2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report stated that 74 percent of customer relationship managers believed lead generation was the most challenging aspect of sales. Being a salesperson and generating leads is a learned and practiced skill. Some people are naturally better salespeople than others, but anyone can get better. Effective sales techniques and tools have already been established. There is no reason to go out on your own and make mistakes when you can learn from the sales pros. The following eight tips will teach you how to win B2B sales deals like the pros.

1. Target the Right Leads

Pre-call research on your leads is important, but it is not enough. You also need to identify what type of business makes a good lead. Successful outbound prospecting relies on high quality lead qualification. In order to target the right leads, you first need to build an accurate profile of your target customers. An accurate customer profile increases the percentage of your leads turning into prospects and customers. Do research on potential leads online by looking at search engines, blogs, social media sites and online communities to learn the right sales intelligence about potential leads.

2. Define the Value of Your Products or Services

The best salespeople truly understand the value their products and services hold for their customers. By accurately defining the value your company provides to other businesses, you can effectively answer your prospects' questions and put together an informative sales pitch. The trick to defining your product or service value is to think of the "value" in your customer's terms. What you find valuable, your customer may not. Consider what your customer is looking to get and needs when defining your value.

3. Target Existing Customers With New Products

Cold calls are difficult. It is much easier to sell to a customer
that is already happy with your products or services. The problem is
that once customers buy from your company, there may not be a need for
repeat business. However, you may be able to find a new product or
service for these existing customers. Many businesses focus their
lead generation efforts on existing customers, says Ruth P. Stevens,
Customer Acquisition Consultant and professor at Columbia Business
School in her book "Maximizing Lead Generation." Review your current customer base and evaluate their needs to see if any new products or services could benefit them.

4. Optimize Your Website

Your company is missing out on inbound leads if it does not SEO optimize its website, blogs and other online presences. If people do not find your company's online sites, your business is practically invisible on the Internet. Sales pros know that inbound leads are valuable and understand that SEO optimization is a great way to get them.

5. Social CRM

Elissa Kline from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth points out in "B2B Social Media Marketing" that social media is an important tool for brand building. It is also a good way for you to build relationships with key people at businesses. Decision makers at businesses buy you just as much as they buy your company, so it is important to establish and maintain relationships with your customers. Social CRM is a great way to build relationships with potential new customers and to maintain relationships with your current customers. It is also a much more cost effective method of customer relations versus in-person meetings; although, it does not eliminate the need for voice calls and personal meetings.

6. Email and Direct Mail Marketing

It is easy to market to prospects who are taking the bait, but what about businesses who have failed to respond to your marketing efforts? Email and direct mail marketing campaigns are the answer. Send your non-respondent prospects special offers through email and direct mail to entice them to consider your company's products or services. After all, saving money is a great motivator.

7. Build Great Relationships

It is all about who you know. Solid relationships in your industry will lead to sales. Get out and build your relationships by participating in events and conferences related to your company's market. Build trust with the key players in your industry.

8. Client Referrals

Sales pros know that leads from referrals are more likely to turn into sales than indirect leads. The best time to ask for customer referrals is after you've delivered your product or service to your customer. Another method for getting customer referrals is to give your customer a referral first, which goes on the theory that a kind act begets a kind act in return.