Following Up with Leads

Qualifying Leads

MarketingSherpa had a great article on How to Qualify Sales Leads for IT Products & Services via Telemarketing. The article discusses how to follow up with leads, who to call, when to call them, and what you might say.

Lead Nurturing

An article on MarketingProfs discusses the importance of nurturing leads that aren’t ready to buy yet.

Most economic buyers subscribe to the notion that how you sell indicates how you will service. A recent study of business-to-business buyers shows that sales people who become trusted advisors and understand the needs of economic buyers are 69% more likely to come away with a sale.

The complex sale requires the following:

* Your prospect must be familiar with you and your company, and with what you and your company do.

* Your prospect must perceive you and your company to be experts in the field.

* Your prospect must believe that you and your company understand his or her specific issues and can solve them.

* Your prospect likes you and your company enough to want to work with you.

Trust, therefore, becomes the theme for a new type of marketing.

This is important because most people won’t be ready to buy when they make an inquiry.

An in-depth study for Cahners Business Information of 40,000 inquiries generated by ads and press releases in magazines serving the manufacturing marketplace found that six months after inquiring, 23% of the subjects had bought the product or service, either from the promoter or from a competitor. An additional 67% indicated that they still intended to buy.

Furthermore, of those from earlier inquiries who bought, 11% purchased within three months of inquiring, 17% purchased within four to six months, 25% purchased within seven to 12 months and 47% bought in a year or later.

7 Misconceptions About Lead Generation

Another article on MarketingProfs sums up some myths about lead generation for services and technology firms.

Read the article to debunk these 7 myths:

Myth 1: Cold-calling doesn’t work

Myth 2: Web sites don’t affect lead generation

Myth 3: We need more brand recognition before generating leads

Myth 4: We need more new sales leads

Myth 5: Let’s run some ads first

Myth 6: Direct mail doesn’t work for services

Myth 7: Avoid marketing to current clients

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