Hi Folks,
Lat us go back to Sales-leads generation.As you will realize that although I have categorized "lead generating" in a no of types, the basic idea is the same-you got to develop
a nose for the ‘apparently trivial but it’s not’ stuff.
Where is the source or
where are the sources ? They are all around you .Let me illustrate.
Think of Sunday’s paper job ads..company X wants experienced, dynamic blah
blah for their new plant at Y (news!)..headline in page 5, ..the minister has
said that land distribution will not be a priority (news!)…google new projects
..a lot of leads will come up and some maybe right next lane. All this information collected The fact is that
despite your competence and expertise to sell, in minimum 25% cases you do not
get the news in time. And when you do, it’s too late. (Of course, a few cases will always be there in the “current
flow” but 25% is too high a figure).
We have discussed sales
leads from the net. Sales leads from the newspaper, seminars & conferences,
networking etc. are more or less the same. Therefore, Collect the information, do
some research and be the first with the data. This three activities make
up the second law of Sales Management under ‘Lead Generation’. I will
like to explain (to the extent required) as regards three of the points, as
they differ slightly.
Leads by references : If
you have started practicing relationship selling, then at the end of the supply
& commissioning process, ask the customer to refer a few prospects to you.
If the customer is pleased, he will give you genuine leads-from some meetings,
social occasions etc. A rough rule of the thumb is that such deals work out 33%
of the time immediately and after some time, even 50%.The beauty of this method is that the customer is
pleased to give you the reference and he, as per human nature, wants to please
your company, of which you are the representative.
A word of caution here, the
moment of interaction here is critical. Do not indulge in it when the customer
is not in
a good mood. He may be pissed off at someone else and not at you but nevertheless , wait. Think and observe customer carefully before
you approach him. But, you’ll say, " Dude, if the customer is pleased at my work but is in a bad mood which has got
nothing to do with me, how can this affect me?" It can.. because of human nature. Once the word ‘No’ comes out of
his mouth, he or she will never say ‘YES”-even though he may want to. This is
because most customers like to portray themselves as men of their word.
Otherwise it harms their reputation as macho and business savvy decision makers. So, think thrice before you approach the
customer but certainly do so.
