The efficiency of the old methods of obtaining information and appointments has been divided by three in less than ten years. In the 2000s, a day's worth of calls yielded a minimum of two to three appointments.
Today, it's clear that most salespeople who make a hard call barely get one!
Why is that? Because the Internet has profoundly changed people's behavior! With search engines, prospects can do their own initial search for information, and have access to virtually the entire range of products and services available. They no longer need sales reps for information.
But the challenges of sales management for the company remain the same: how to obtain enough contacts with prospects? How can you keep sales costs reasonable so that you can continue to grow profitably?
To answer these questions, a new approach has been developed: with "lead generation".
Literally, "lead" means " track ". It is a term originally used in CRM SOFTWARE software, and is now commonly used to refer to a sales lead. Lead generation is the process ofidentifying potential customers.
Your market today is made up of hundreds or thousands of buyers who, once they've identified their problems and needs, will start searching for information using the most practical and cost-effective tool of all: the Internet. All these Internet users, until they click on your site, are unknown to you, invisible. You know they exist, that at some point they'll have a need that you'll be able to meet, but for the moment you don't know them! The challenge is to get in front of their radar during their research phase and turn them from anonymous visitors to active visitors on your site. There are two prerequisites for this:
- First of all, you need to be well referenced and identified, so that whatever the user's search criteria, they end up on your site (on this subject, see our article on the attractiveness of websites),
- then offer attractive content to multiply the opportunities for visitors to obtain information and interact.
To generate leads, you'll need to focus on quality, targeted content that positions you as a key player in your industry and geographical area. By doing so, you'll increase the chances of multiple visits, as web users will have associated you with their "favorites". You'll generate leads at different stages of development. The first is the "unknown lead", which boils down to a location, or even an IP address, but has too few qualifications to be exploited. The second is the "identified lead", whose e-mail address or telephone number, for example, is known. The third is the "qualified lead", who has multiplied his actions: increased number of pages visited, several articles read, more and more visits... and has communicated usable information. At this stage, if this lead is entrusted to a sales representative, it can become a prospect.
To encourage visitors to take action, you need to create triggers so that they leave their contact details, or even express a need. White papers, webinars, video conferences, online questionnaires to carry out a free audit... the solutions are numerous and need to be defined according to your market and the specificities of your clientele. After several visits, reassured by the quality of the content and the match between the offer and their needs, web users will become active visitors.
Generating a lead means taking a contact from unknown to qualified.
Today's business challenges revolve around the management of three strategic phases.
This new approach clearly shows that upstream work to attract contacts requires considerable resources (technical expertise, available time, follow-up, information sharing, etc.).
Lead generation doesn't stop with lead qualification. There are three key phases in this sales strategy that companies need to master.
- Lead acquisition", which consists in qualifying the lead by means of a scenario and specific targeted actions, as described above.
- Lead nurturing, where we seek to create and develop a strong bond, by feeding the lead, getting him to react, proposing content, inviting him to offline events... The challenge is to make the right adjustments, not to be too pushy, nor too little. The link is a dynamic thread, but not too taut.
- Lead conversion is the critical moment, when the salesperson comes into play. It's a delicate stage, because it involves direct interaction, and requires the right sales skills and the right posture, the right distance to avoid doing anything.
Steering and monitoring
Of course, all these stages are taking place at the same time. At any given moment, a company has before it leads, prospects, customers, a whole volume of contacts at different stages of development, with a great deal of data to manage. All this creates a complex, constantly shifting picture that calls for new skills, a different approach and a fresh perspective.
Kestio LiveKestio Live, with its pragmatic, tailor-made approach, helps SMEs to structure a customized Lead Generation strategy, and to be effective in the three key phases. We first help to describe the buyers personas, then develop the most effective interaction scenarios, and finally help to manage the whole process, with regular contact that prioritizes long-term follow-up and performance.
Adopt a tool adapted to your business and your expectations: choose a CRM... To better understand the usefulness of CRM and choose the right tool, watch this webinar:
