Sales Leads

Guide to Using a List for Lead Generation

Best tactics for selling off prequalified sales leads from a sales leads list
By Greg Brown

	Sales Lead Generation Tips Get specialized lead generation according to your product or service. Use telemarketers to turn sales leads into more closed sales. Track and manage business leads to measure success.

Selling is an art, without a doubt. Perhaps even a sport. It takes energy, guts, brains and a bit of panache to barge into people's work days and win them over. It helps, of course, if they are already looking for your service or product. That's where a sales lead list, or lead generation, comes in.

A properly built list of business leads is more than basic demographics and phone number. A sales leads list is a tool for turning strangers into acquaintances and, if not personal friends, at least into loyal and regular customers. Lead generation is paramount to sales success.

Covered in this guide:

1. Getting the right sales leads
2. Roll-your-own sales lead generation
3. Turning sales leads into clients, fast
4. Turning business leads into repeat sales

Action Steps for Using Sales Leads and Lead Generation

The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

A sales lead list must be specific Make certain your sales leads are differentiated enough for your product. If you sell boat insurance, you'd better be calling boat owners, right? If you sell business insurance, a sales leads list of newly incorporated small businesses will be an easier sell than an established business.

I recommend:  Take a look at the variety of specific business leads lists available from lead generation vendors including Certified Lists, Selectory, Intelius, and USA Data Corporation.

Lead generation is a hands-on task Sometimes pre-cut business leads are just too far off-topic for specialized products and services. In that case, consult a big database company specializing in sales lead generation that will let you slice and dice millions of business leads until you get the richest possible list. If the product matches the sales lead list, sales will pick up.

I recommend:  Sales lead generation, thanks to the Web, is not as mysterious as it sounds. Click on and off attributes -- years in business, zip code, industry and sector -- and get down to the perfect list of sales leads. Check with Zap Data, Hoovers, and InfoUSA.

Get your sales leads from call to close faster Your key salespeople have got the sales lead list figured out: Make contact, close the sale, move on. But they can get bogged down in the sheer logistics of smile and dial: Busy signals, lunch hours, dead leads. It adds up. Alongside lead generation, you might need sales generation, too.

I recommend:  Speed things up by coupling sales lead generation with appointment services. Telemarketers representing your brand make calls from the sales lead list, get the initial "yes" and instantly connect to the salesperson. Try business leads telemarketing services from Aspire Marketing Group and Go Leads. Take a look at lead generation software and lead management at Business.com's directory.

Success using business leads no longer begin and end with a phone call The world of sales leads and the sales lead list is turning into a multi-channel proposition: Phone, mail, e-mail -- anywhere your business leads put their eyes and ears, you'll have to be there, too.

I recommend:  Get that done with business leads software that turns your sales leads into trackable, usable customers you can touch again and again to cross-sell or up-sell. Some key customer-relationship management (CRM) software in this space includes Constant Contact, ContactPlus, Salesforce.com and Act! Not sure? Compare vendors using Vendor Guru.

Track the results of your sales lead generation efforts Your have 50,000 names. But how many sales? Tracking the effectiveness of sales lead lists can be complex, but not impossible with integrated campaign software.

I recommend:  Follow on business leads and test their quality using software from sales leads software companies like AIMpromote, AdTrack and Leads360.

Tips & Tactics for Turning Business Leads into Customers

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• The business books say 'never cold call.' What they mean is, do your homework. If you have a list of business leads, take the time to learn about each one before calling. Appearing clueless is no way to get your foot in the door in terms of sales lead generation.
• Use a sales lead list for appointments, not actual sales. Telemarketers close deals on the phone. Your people should be looking for ways to turn to use sales lead generation to take the individual lead from a cold call to meeting, then to a sale, then to a long-term customer.
• Speed = respect. Very few people will hang up on you flat if you come to the point quickly and make your pitch clearly. Make sure they understand that you respect their time, and the sale might follow.