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How many times have you heard fellow salespeople exclaim:
Man, these leads suck!
Who the hell’s in charge of lead generation?
Sales folks complain about lead quality all the time and in most cases, never do a thing about it.
Some of these complaints are warranted but we can’t rule out operator error.
It’s an ongoing dilemma with no end in sight.
Unless, you’re willing to roll up your sleeves.
Whether you’re fed leads from a Lead Gen /Demand Gen Specialist, Campaigns, or Marketing, there’s always a beef.
The leads are too small, from the wrong territory or industry, a parent, child or cousin of an existing account, incorrect/ incomplete data, defunct or they’re just plain mean and refuse to buy.
Mutual Assured Destruction
Skillful lead generation in Sales is a non-negotiable.
There are so many variables that go into closing business consistently that bunk leads put you at a serious disadvantage.
Your month, quarter and year depend on this fundamental aspect of Sales.
And when improperly executed, heads roll and people lose jobs.
Lead Gen and Marketing mean well but they sometimes miss the mark.
After all, when’s the last time you heard Lead Generation/ Marketing make cold-calls?
The answer’s never.
They’re not in the same trenches as you.
They don’t know what they don’t know which isn’t their fault.
But before you get too high on your horse, ask yourself…
Can you do what they do?
Exacerbating the situation is the lack of dialogue between Sales and Lead Gen/ Marketing departments.
People talk behind each other’s backs but rarely to each other.
Somehow, the groups that need each other the most, communicate the least.
Lead-off Hitter
Sales has and will always be about ownership.
Your managers, coaches and associates are there to support you but you have to pull your own weight.
At this stage of Life in the Sales Lane, the blame game gets you nowhere.
Excuses are yesterday’s news.
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One way to ensure your leads are always quality is to generate some yourself.
Not only will this exercise help you identify ideal clients, it’ll increase your pool of prospects.
I’m not advocating you spend call time or the power hour on Linkedin but, you should definitely carve out at least an hour a week to source your own leads.
If you can’t commit to the extra effort, you’re in the wrong business and would be better served in a 9AM to 4:59PM role.
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Take an hour early in the morning, at lunch on your phone or home on nights and weekends to generate a few leads at a time.
There are leads literally everywhere!
TV commercials, news, business channels, company trucks, vans, sedans, billboards, banner, pop-up ads, job sites and postings just to name a few.
And the ultimate treasure trove for lead generation…
The Database you use for researching company info and contacts before cold-calls and meetings.
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Set up a folder in the cloud or in your inbox to add leads on the go by taking pictures with your phone, using Notes and/ or emailing yourself.
In most cases, company descriptions and About sections include history.
They spun out of another or split, acquisitioned, merged or expanded.
Some of them could be companies you’ve never heard of.
Capture those names.
And while researching Contacts during call and meeting preps, review their work history and jot down company names for later use.
Homer
And of course, there’s old faithful – the Competitors list.
If you’re going to generate leads from this section, never do it during prime time because the possibilities are endless.
With each competitor having its own list of competitors, this project demands commitment.
Lead Degeneration
Teams responsible for lead generation and marketing are always juggling projects.
As a salesperson in command of your destiny, you need to milk the available resources.
Remember…
You’re here to hunt and close voraciously.
Management didn’t hire a Salesperson who’s content just hangin’ out – nibbling.
You eat what you kill and the more you kill, the more you eat.
Part of owning your sales process is engaging in constructive collaboration with Lead/ Demand Generation and Marketing.
Chances are, they’re sourcing leads that look sexy but in actuality aren’t.
Respectfully guide and instruct.
Show them a cross-section of your last three closes as a template to emulate.
Align your objectives.
By exercising your lead generation muscle, you increase Sales Power.
You become more adept at identifying choice leads.
And through these efforts, finding the appropriate point of contact in large organizations, becomes second nature.
The Diamonds Are in the Rough
In Complex/ Enterprise Sales, you don’t always have the luxury of the internal referral.
Your research skills need to be on point when seeking executives responsible for handling your initiatives in global organizations of tens of thousands.
Maybe there are 3 or 4 CFO’s and dozens of finance professionals, over fifty attorneys and more IT Directors than you could shake a motherboard at.
By relying on your own devices, and not the names haphazardly uploaded by support staff, you learn to drill-down.
Maybe it’s not enough to just cold-call or cold-email the CFO.
You might need the CFO for North America, LATAM or EMEA.
Or, your solution requires you speak to a Procurement/ Finance Attorney (not just Corporate Counsel), the VP of Strategic Sourcing (but for Raw Materials), a CIO specializing in (Commercial Services Technology, Digital Workplace or Enterprise Platforms) and so on.
The more you look for leads and identify targeted contacts in your own time, the better you’ll understand your offering, the players and how to find them.
Within a month of making lead generation your side-piece, you’ll accumulate a few dozen qualified accounts that meet your criteria to a tee.
You’ll be giddy as a schoolgirl before calling them, knowing they’re hot to trot, since you sourced them yourself.
Lead Generation and Marketing teams are spread thin.
As a result, they only skim the surface when generating leads and source identical accounts as your competitors.
So everyone’s calling the same executives – selling similar services and wondering why nothing’s closing.
When you take ownership and supplement the accounts handed to you, you’re investing in yourself.
Mutual Agreed Satisfaction
Ideally – Sales, Lead Generation and Marketing are working in tandem.
Each department respects the other and creates an atmosphere where they lift each other up.
But in reality, most organizations are too preoccupied with minutiae to realize The Kumbaya Effect actually works.
So, it’s up to you.
I always close deals from my personal lead generation efforts.
The key is to use windows of opportunity and time blocking to avoid dropping the ball on other responsibilities.
Otherwise, before you know it, you’ll be whisked over to the other side of the office with the Lead Gen/ Marketing team you used to talk smack about.
And if you’re numbers are tanking, your grind should be Herculean.
Cos at the end of the day, when the rubber meets the road, push comes to shove and the bullet hits the bone…
You can’t write the book and complain about the ending.
Man, these leads rock!