Some companies do such a terrific job of demand generation (advertising, direct mail, telemarketing, etc.) that their salespeople never have to prospect. These lucky salespeople have access to more leads than they will ever have time to pursue.
Unfortunately, the reality in most companies is that salespeople must source some or all of their own leads if they are to have any hope of achieving their sales targets. COMPREHENSIVE Prospecting Plans will help your salespeople maximize their return on prospecting time invested.
What is a Prospecting Plan? Basically it is a calendar that lists a salesperson's prospecting activities and the amount of time they intend to invest in each activity. The most effective prospecting plans don't focus on a single activity; instead, they include a MIX of activities. Examples include:
- Cold Calling
- Networking
- Referrals
- Strategic Alliances
- Speaking
- Writing
Which prospecting activities
do your salespeople perform? How productive is each activity? Are your salespeople's
opportunity pipelines as robust as you would like them to be? Is your company
meeting its revenue growth targets?
Turn your company's website into a Sales Lead Generating Machine!
Does your company have a website? How many sales leads does your website generate? What percentage of your website visitors contact your company to request more information?
Websites can be powerful demand generation tools, but only if they are intentionally designed to accomplish three very specific objectives:
1. Help visitors RAPIDLY answer two questions: "What does this company do?" and "Is there anything here for ME?"
2. Encourage visitors to OPT-IN to receive free information resources: This keeps website visits from being one-shot opportunities. If you offer visitors the opportunity to opt-in to receive free, value-added information, and you provide truly useful information on a regular and consistent basis, you will earn trust and build relationships. This increases the likelihood that your website visitors will buy from you over time.
3. Motivate ACTION: If a website page is going to motivate a reader to take action, the focus needs to change from you, your company and your products and services to your visitors and their problems. Plus, web pages that motivate action are not distant and aloof. Instead, reading them feels like a one-on-one conversation between you and the reader. The copy engages the reader's emotions, plus provides enough supporting details to enable the reader to feel comfortable making a decision to buy online or to contact your company for more information.
Most website designers
are just that - designers. They probably know how to design attractive, visually
appealing websites. But, do they know how to write compelling sales copy? Are
they familiar with proven strategies for convincing visitors to contact your
organization to request more information about your products and services?
For more insightful sales tips and information from Alan Rigg and 80/20 Sales
Performance, click here.
