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| Misconceptions of Leads | ||||
| Websites Don't
Affect Lead Generation: “We have a website up because we have to have a web presence, but our website has no affect on whether we attract or win new clients.” Websites affect the buying patterns of 100% of this group, and affect at least 50% of the attendees' decisions to become sales leads for another company. Let's put this misconception to bed right now. Also, a website can generate leads from search engines, registrations for events and seminars, and can also act as a communication channel between a firm and its prospects. Contrary to popular opinion, your website greatly affects your ability to succeed with service lead generation. A) Need More Brand Recognition First: Why not just start with directly generating the leads? For every well-known service brand there are dozens of service firms that most people have never heard of. Yet, they find clients and do well. Name recognition doesn't hurt, but for the most part name recognition building should be a by-product of something else like lead generation campaigns, PR and publishing, events and speaking, or word-of-mouth about your services. In the end, regardless of your brand recognition, what you need to do in order to fill the front end of your sales pipeline is develop a compelling value proposition and then find qualified prospects. If brand recognition is the goal in-and-of-itself you'll end up spending a lot of money with little return. B) We Need More New Leads: According to a report by the Aberdeen Group, over 80% of generated leads are never followed up on, dropped, or mishandled. Service firms are particularly adept at neglecting the leads and business opportunities that they already have in-house just waiting to be called. And the negative results are staggering. BtoB magazine reported in April 2003, “An 11% reduction in dropped/lost leads, combined with a 1% improvement in lead-to-order conversion rate, increased annual gross profit by 136%.” Seems far fetched, but I've run the numbers…they're right. Many service firms think they need more leads when, in fact, they could see improved results just by better handling and nurturing the leads they already have. C) Let's Run Some Ads: Service firm leaders – those that hold the purse strings for the marketing budget – are subjected to thousands of ads a day just like every other person. These ads do a great job too, as they influence many service businesses to equate service lead generation and marketing with advertising. Service firms run ads in business journals, trade magazines, and trade shows with eager anticipation. They're proud of the ad's creative design, copy, and message. More often than not, however, they're disappointed with the ROI from advertising. Ads are a waste of money for most service firms. As a service lead generation vehicle, advertising should be on the bottom of your list. D) Direct Mail Doesn't Work: There are a thousand ways to fail with direct mail. Yet, much like cold calling, direct mail can be a major vehicle for service lead generation success. E) Cold Calling Doesn't Work: Most service firm gurus argue that cold calling doesn't work – inconceivable even, that you would give it a second thought. Many professionals have tried cold calling and it hasn't worked for them. Another subset of professionals believe that cold calling can work, but because they find it so distasteful they neither engage in it nor advocate for it. Service lead generation misconception #1 steers many service firms completely away from cold calling. Yet, applied correctly, cold calling can be an amazingly successful lead generation tactic that can return excellent results, often times very quickly. Don't Market to Current Clients: Don't ignore your current clients. Don't worry about upsetting your current clients by interrupting their time with your marketing message. First, a current or former customer, assuming they're relatively satisfied with your services, is an order-of-magnitude more likely to respond favorably to your lead generation campaigns than are non-customer companies. Second, your competitors want to get to your customers (and they're trying), and other companies are vying for their attention. If your clients are not focusing on your messages and value, they're focusing on someone else's. |
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More reading on other websites: Leads and the Internet VISITORS and LEADS on YOUR WEBSITE |
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