6 Essentials Steps to Increase Lead Conversion by Heidi Anspaugh

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6 Essentials Steps to Increase Lead Conversion
by Heidi Anspaugh

Are you looking to increase your lead conversion rates? According to MarketingSherpa, ?79% of marketing leads never convert into sales. Lack of lead nurturing is the common cause of this poor performance.? Several techniques must be taken into consideration when contacting your leads and to increase the likelihood of a sale. If you're having trouble getting your leads to close, try incorporating these six tips into your sales process.

1. Don't overlook lead data. Pre-call research is one of the most important factors in identifying quality leads and closing sales. It involves gathering data about your target companies ? including contact details, organizational structure, demographics and financial information. Inside sales training expert Steve Richard offers advice on how to avoid one of the cardinal sins of outbound prospecting: going in unprepared. To optimize the research process, InsideView automatically enriches leads with accurate data in your CRM. These insights allow you to understand your customer?s business and determine whether the lead is truly qualified.

2. Prioritize your key accounts. Taking the time to prioritize target accounts can help you to save time and focus on the most promising leads. Determine a methodology for ranking your sales targets based on criteria such as company size, industry, revenue, location, connections, etc. Seek opportunities to increase renewals or upsell to your current customers through referrals. For more information on how to manage key accounts through email alerts, smart agents and people insights, visit Customer Intelligence Powered Account Management.

3. Leverage sales intelligence. Sales intelligence refers to technologies, applications and practices for the collection, integration, analysis and presentation of information to help salespeople keep up to date with clients and drive business. By understanding your target customer?s key challenges and strategic initiatives, you can effectively tailor solutions to address their needs. Sales intelligence filters through news snippets, press releases and social insights to provide critical information to enrich your leads. InsideView for Sales helps you stay on top of influencers at your target accounts through custom watchlists and email alerts.

4. Engage in social selling. In today?s social media world, it is essential to pay attention to your potential customers through social networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Know who influences your customer?s purchasing decisions and where they find information about your products. Connections from your professional network reveal opportunities to find the fastest way to close deals. By monitoring social conversations about your company, customers and competitors, you can discover how their needs are changing and adapt to fulfill their needs. Tools for social monitoring and engagement include Sprout Social, Sysomos, Hootsuite. You can also have social intelligence for key accounts delivered automatically to you via email.

5. Nurture your leads. After contacting your leads, they'll need some time to consider your offer. Make sure to stay in contact and develop trust throughout this process. Lead nurturing involves providing valuable information such as educational newsletters, invites to industry conferences and discounts on product offers. These marketing activities can be automated through CRM platforms such as Salesforce, Marketo, SugarCRM, Netsuite, Oracle or Microsoft Dynamics.

6. Speak at industry conferences and events. Industry related conventions and other social gatherings are perfect places to meet prospective leads. It's also a good place to establish your thought leadership through speaking events. Find out which conferences your target customers are attending and try to meet them face-to-face. Connecting with your lead and adding value through multiple touch points can help to shorten the sales cycle.

What tactics do you use for lead nurturing and conversion? Learn more about Lead Qualification with Sales Intelligence and the correct questions to ask prospects in our free guide.