10 critical steps to great lead generation

1. Great data is your best friend – look after it and it’ll look after you. Save time, money and effort and buy data from a data house.

2. Profiling your target audience will help you to get the very best results. Look at the profile of your customer base (the ones you want to replicate anyway!) and make a list of what they “look like.” This should include detail such as, turnover, number of employees, it is a parent or subsidiary company, what do they do, are they growing or in decline? Where are they based etc.

3. Make sure you’re legal and your data is checked against the telephone, fax, mail and baby (if appropriate) preference services. This is a requirement of the data protection act and applies to everyone – I did some marketing consultancy for a small business who claimed it didn’t apply to them .. it does.

4. Be aware, data goes out of date very quickly – don’t expect it to clean, it won’t be. So factor cleaning your data into your campaign – you’ll save yourself wasted budget and time if your get your preparation right – like most jobs, the preparation accounts for a high % of the work. The better the preparation the better the results.

5. Combining a letter or email (ideally both) with a telephone call will increase your success ratio massively. Don’t mail, email or call in isolation of each other.

6. Direct mail will get you noticed. Take care to write your letter to one individual, not a mass audience and tell your prospect what your product or services will DO for them. If you struggle with this, imagine you’re explaining what you do to your friend (say it out loud) and then write down what you’ve said. Keep it real, don’t use jargon and the chances are it’ll work for you.

7. In your letter tell your prospect that you’re going to call them and why. Wait a few days for your letter to reach them and then make the call – you might be surprised at how willing they are to talk to you.

8. Before you make the phone call, have a list of questions to ask to qualify your prospect to ensure they meet your criteria – there’s no point in nurturing the wrong type of customer.

9. When you qualify think BANT. Budget, authority, need and timescale. If all of these are in place you’ve got a great lead.

10. When you make your call, have an objective in mind – are you finding out when they will be ready to buy from you or are you seeking a face to face meeting?