APOLOGIES

Sorry to all of you out there. I was thinking about posting the first post about sales leads but it will be delayed a little. Watch this space same time tommorrow. We will start with sales-leads from the net and I promise you, this is gonna get an A+ in originality.
Hugs from
BILBO



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SALES LEADS : GENERALIZATION AND CLASSIFICATION (ON THE BASIS OF THEIR GENERATION)

In "Corporate Capital Equipment Selling" we will discuss "Sales Leads and their generation" in detail since "sales-leads" are the first obstacle which confronts the beginner.

There are no dearth of books on "sales leads" but Indian Management Gurus are sadly silent on this subject. Therefore, as the beginner consumes book after book in search of that elusive magic potion called "success", the young debutante falters as she (Instead of "he" , this chapter is being written with “she” to avoid charges of gender bias)follows method after method, but nothing succeeds so the debutante finds herself denouncing self-help sales books, getting frustrated , being suspicious and ultimately even quitting sales altogether. This is a pity as there are few professions which offer the challenge, dynamism and creativity as Sales.

"Sales-Lead" generation my friends, is the easiest part of the sales process"-and that is a fact which I hope to be able to make you see for yourselves through this blog. The first law of "sales of capital equipment" is that the ease of sales-leads generation is directly proportional to the sales value. It becomes all the more interesting when the values are moderate or high.

Again, if the debutante salesperson is subjected to pressure from all sides, one fine day, the salesperson will lose interest in his job which is a lose-lose situation. This is something all bosses should try to avoid. Treat your subordinates like your less experienced equals, (which they are) indulge in pep talks every now and then and lead from the front. Most importantly, brief your assistant as to the purpose of his work. (There is nothing more demeaning then asking your  junior to do a task and not telling him/her why the work has to be done) If all these are carried out, I can say without doubt that your sales will be spectacular. For this special effort, your rewards (they will start to show after about a year) will be your position with your customers. You will be able to pluck orders from the air and insert it wherever you like.

“Sales leads” to which we return now, can be divided into various types based on different parameters. However for easy comprehension, I feel that the following classification based on source is very helpful.

1.     Leads via the Net:

2.     Leads via Newspapers

3.     Leads via consultants

4.     Leads via references

5.     Leads via Networking (sales leads)

6.     Leads via friends

7.     Leads via marketing ploys or Guerrilla leads

       8.  Leads via seminars, conferences, exhibitions etc..

....to be continued

HOT LEADS AND HOW TO GENERATE THEM

In Sales & Marketing parley, you must have often heard  people going on and on about ‘leads’. What are these leads in the first place? Leads are discrete packages of information, which if handled right, can make the sale. It’s a FACT that whatever you are selling, there are people in your sales area at any moment of time who need to buy the item or has a problem for which, the item you are selling is  the solution. What we have here is a genuine case of demand and supply. What has to be done is to find out where the demand exists and to whom you have to meet to do so. The hardest part is this 'finding out part'.

Let us hypothetically consider a case study of a is A who is selling 'b' goods/services. At the same time we have a customer C who either wants to buy b outright or will buy b, once it is explained to him how b will fulfill his need. Here, your cue is to interrupt saying “so what’s the big deal?” the big deal is that both A and C are unaware of each other’s presence in the planet. Unless A is aware that C needs his product, he cannot make a sales call to C. Forget the demand in C’s company, A doesn’t even know that there is a person called C who is capable of taking a decision regarding purchase of b and thereby he can make an easy sale. (When I say easy sale, I do not mean a con game. I mean that C is knowledgeable about B and/or really requires B).

Now let us suppose that all such information are packed into small boxes and kept separately, in an organized manner. Whenever a sales-person wants to make a sale, he just collects a box, opens it, reads the info inside, says “Aha!” and off he goes to a buyer(whose information was there in the box), makes the sale and everyone is happy. This box is therefore the lead. Leads are indispensable little boxes of information, which will escape your attention maybe 8 times out of 10.  But these simple leads and your rate of generation of them, can make all the difference between a successful salesperson and a failure.

This is all the more true today as the rate of change in today's world is very high. Time is at a premium and there is no time for practice or 'dummy-runs'. Trying your best is just not good enough. This is very important so let me explain it again with the help of an analogy. Say you are a soccer player in the EPL. Now, maybe you are so skilled that you can bamboozle all defenders and kept the ball in the opponent’s penalty area for 30 minutes. But until you shoot and the ball bulges the netting, your soccer skills are of no good. So, working hard but failing to get orders due to ignorance about lead generation, is not going to get you a raise. And if you repeat all that hard work without sales for a few months, chances are more that you’ll get the pink slip. Today, in the sales bus, there is no room for passengers.

Now that we have clarified about LEADS, we will talk about how to generate them next time. Till then, its love from


BILBO