Leads, lead generation and lead management - the three "L" of explosive sales – Brutal Marketing blog

After the CRM is selected and installed, you need to properly build the sales funnel. What is needed for this? Determine processes for attracting new customers and ways to bring them to the stage of purchase. In order to properly configure all this, you and I need to speak the same language. You are ready?

Lead – this is a potential customer who has shown interest in your product or service. Not only did I see an offer to buy a new product, but I also followed the link and gave feedback.

It is necessary to clearly understand for yourself who is already a leader, who can potentially be one, and who will never become one. Otherwise, there will be no object with which our sales systems should work.

Every business defines leads differently. There are differences in the speed of making a purchase decision, the method of sale, and other decisive factors.

The most common mistake is to divide potential customers into "leads" and "those who are just interested." This is the very artificial barrier that will negatively affect the company's sales in the future. By overestimating its requirements for the buyer, the seller himself, without suspecting it, automatically limits the circle of people with whom he is ready to work.

Lead generation is the process of attracting new customers. There are various ways and means of introducing the customer to the product. Sometimes it is enough to make an announcement, in other cases, direct processing of the future lead by the company is necessary. Product promotion is of different types:

Advertising in the media - the sale of air time or part of the band for the presentation of someone else's products. This block includes advertising on radio, TV, in the print press, in catalogs, bulletins and various reference books. The coverage of the audience, for example, on TV channels, is high, so a large number of people will learn about the product, and the thematic magazine will read the most targeted traffic.

Outdoor advertising - all visual ads that you see on the street. These are advertising boards, posters / announcements, inscriptions on asphalt and walls, banners on the windows of houses, etc. Depending on the location, they have a large coverage in terms of the number of people who saw it.

Print advertising - paper / cardboard with the company's presentation. This includes business cards, calendars, postcards - various inserts for purchases and a street handout.

Promotional events - the organization of various events aimed at familiarizing and / or popularizing the product. This area includes promotions in supermarkets, conferences, concerts, promotions and other activities in order to create a positive image of products.

Direct advertising is the activity of the business itself. This yulok includes mailing lists, cold calls and meetings, personally handed out brochures, special offers. Works more on targeted traffic, rather than a wide audience. For example, a client has already ordered a nature magazine by mail, then it is highly likely that he will be interested in another series of a publishing house with the same subject.

Internet advertising. In its own way, it is similar to each of the methods listed above, only in its modern form. Includes banners, pop-ups, advertising on various video channels, social networks, direct advertising (various types of mailings) and other ways to promote a product that Internet users encounter daily.

And other types of advertising, various souvenirs (pens, notepads, badges with a logo), advertising at points of sale (promotions, discount announcements, stickers), stickers on vehicles.

When we talk about lead generation, you need to understand:

1. What is the market. You must be clear about your main competitors, what you can do against their product and how to attract new customers.
2. What is the target audience for the business. It is important to identify the markers of your customers: how much money are they willing to spend, where do they buy, what is a sign of quality for them?
3. How can the process of attracting new leads take place within a certain company. Targeted traffic may not be enough, then you need to expand the offer for a secondary audience.
4. How much does it cost to attract one new lead. First of all, it depends on how much time the company can afford to spend on each potential client and bring it to a purchase.
5. A shoe store will always have many potential customers, the main thing is to learn how to attract them. But the company selling aircraft parts is having a hard time - there are few customers, the barrier to entry into the air transportation market is high, therefore, new buyers rarely appear.

The loss of just one partner is equal to a large cash outlay. Any, even a potential client, is of great value.

When the company has a new lead, the stage of bringing the client to a purchase begins. The process consists of two stages: pre-sale, when you just need to fix the lead and not lose it, and work directly with the buyer until the sale is made.

Lead management depends on working with the sales funnel. To successfully complete the transaction, it is necessary to develop a competent set of state statuses through which the lead must go through before the purchase. The stages where the client can be lost are singled out separately.

A well-designed funnel will answer the question why your company has a low level of sales, as well as show the places that prevent the lead from completing the purchase.

We approached the question "What is more important for a business: attracting new customers or bringing existing ones to purchase?". This formulation of the question is somewhat similar to the formulation of the question to the child, whom he loves more: mom or dad.

It is important to do everything, and consistently. Got a set of leads? Get them to buy the product. When all leads make a purchase, find new ones.

You must first deal with those leads who are already close to the end of the sales funnel. The cost of a lead increases as it moves towards a purchase. Often working with those at the end of the sales funnel takes 3-4 hours a day, a cold call takes several minutes.

And since a warm client is already ready to buy from you anyway, work with him is postponed in order to devote time to lead generation. As a result, the transactions are not closed, the money is spent, but the profit does not go.

For our own research of sales teams, we choose companies that buy expensive advertising, for example, in Google Adwords. If a business has spent a lot of money on promoting itself, it is logical to assume that the company is ready to sell now and is waiting for new customers. The work of the marketing department is obvious. The lead generation process was successful - we saw the ad and came to buy.

What happens next? More than half of sales departments merge a client without even fixing a contact for the future. Lead management doesn't work. Bought/didn't buy – it's up to the lead himself.

The sales department does not even try to "squeeze" the buyer and find out why the transaction was canceled and under what conditions it is possible to complete the sale after all.

What we most often encounter in our research and work.

1. Managers do not fix clients

Be sure to record everyone who has not reached the stage of selling the product - perhaps in the future they will be ready to purchase the product. Whatever business you are in, the number of your customers is always limited. If the customer didn't buy today, he can buy in a week. If a client bought from your competitor, after six months you can return to him with a profitable offer and lure him over to your side.

2. Calls are accepted by the information bureau, not the sellers

A potential buyer can choose between products from different companies. In this case, you need to convince the client of the merits of your products, and not just answer questions. Interest in the conversation will not leave you indifferent, but the information bureau does not cause such rosy emotions - alas, ah!

3. With a long transaction cycle, the client is not reminded of the product

When buying an apartment, the client will think for a long time which option suits him, since many factors influence. And first of all - the high price. With the help of a banal chime, you can keep the attention of the lead and push him to complete the deal. Unfortunately, this is often forgotten in the real estate market.

4. Difficult clients scare, they are automatically sent to the dump

Salespeople like to work with customers who would have made a purchase without them. Dealing with difficult clients is hard: you have to answer questions, understand problems, waste time. However, this is exactly what the sales department is created for. To prevent managers from choosing which of the clients they are interested in and which can be discarded, use the Digital Funnel. With it, the manager can set certain tasks for the employee and monitor the performance.

5. Low cost per purchase makes a potential customer uninteresting

The travel industry, for example, likes to work on this principle, however, they do not take into account that now most customers are not ready to spend a lot of money on travel, and so, without serving them or serving them poorly, they lose the bulk of their profits.

6. The work of managers is not controlled by anyone

Perhaps your salespeople do not even understand what they are doing wrong, or they understand, but do not want to strain. If you track how conversations are conducted with the client, you can identify the main mistakes of the staff and avoid them in the future. In addition, it will force managers to serve at a good level. Nobody wants to lose their job.

The process of creating new leads is, of course, important, but with new clients it is not known who will show interest and who will simply pass by. In no case should you scatter leads. Unfortunately, most of the companies we tested don't remember this and end up losing a customer.

1. Lead - a potential client who is interested in your product.

2. Not a lead - if you are not interested in further obtaining information about the product.

3. Lead generation is the process of creating leads. There are 2 methods: advertising and your work as salespeople.

4. Advertising should be understandable to a potential client, and should not be limited only to the target audience of the product.

5. Lead management is the process of bringing a lead to a purchase. This stage is closely related to the sales funnel.

6. Properly configured sales funnel statuses will help the entrepreneur track bottlenecks where many customers are lost.