Sales lead

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A sales lead is the identity of a person or entity potentially interested in purchasing a product of service, and represents the first stage of a sales process. The lead may have a corporation or business associated with the person(s). Sales leads come from either marketing lead generation processes such as trade shows, direct marketing, advertising, Internet marketing or from sales person prospecting activities such as cold calling. For a sales lead to qualify as a sales prospect (or equivalently to move a lead from the process step sales lead to the process sales prospect) qualification must be performed and evaluated. Typically this involves identifying by direct interrogation the lead's product applicability, availability of funding, time frame for purchase. This is also the entry point of a sales tunnel or funnel.

Once a qualified lead exists, additional operations may be performed such as background research on the lead's employer, the generally market of the lead, contact information beyond that provided initially or other information useful for contacting and evaluating a lead for elevation to prospect, the next sales step.

If a sales lead eventually makes a purchase, this is called conversion. The ratio of sales leads that convert is often referred to as the conversion rate, a way to measure the effectiveness of a sales process, sales team, or sales person.

Cinematic reference: the boiler-room salesmen in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross refer to wanting to get "the good leads" which will close more easily (result in closed sales, i.e. a financial transaction).

Below are the TEN COMMANDMENTS TO PROPER LEAD GENERATION/PROSPECTING^{[citation needed]}

I. Quantity will lead to quality. Look to contact a minimum of five new prospects per day. Only by attempting to get a hold of 50 people can you actually speak with 5. And don’t stop at five, keep on rolling, it gets easier at you get more under your belt.

II. Don’t be fooled by the “send me some information ploy”. This is almost always a complete BLOW OFF. Call them back, say that you will be in the area on day X meeting with a client (have a client name available in case they ask) and would like to deliver it yourself. It is a lot harder to blow off someone after they have met you.

III. Qualify your leads. Don’t waste time on small opportunities. Ask for help when qualifying a lead. Talk to more experienced sales people, your Sales Manager or others if you are unsure about the worth of an account. Find out what the prospect does and whom they sell to, this will help to determine potential.

IV. Prospecting equals sales. The fastest way to FAIL as a sales person is to be afraid of the phone and the inevitable avalanche of “No” that will lead to the “YES”. Set aside two hours every day for prospecting. Change your voice mail in the morning so that your clients will know that you are unavailable, but will be back soon. This will stop them from getting antsy.

V. Only meet with clients once you have established their value. Nothing is worse than spending an hour driving to a client for a single $500 job, unless $500 now means $5,000 later.

VI. Use the resources that you have. If you are having trouble getting into an account, enlist the help of your Sales Manager. There are many times that an alternative point of view in regards to the attack plan on an account can make all the difference.

VII. Don’t be afraid of telling a new prospect that you don’t know the answer. Clients would prefer that you call them back with the right answer, over a fake one right away. You only have one chance to make a first impression.

VIII. Let it go in one ear and out the other. If you have properly qualified a lead and they tell you to call them back in a few months, call them back in a few weeks. Many salespeople fail to understand that buyers will do anything to keep the status quo. Familiarity equals comfort.

IX. Out of sight, out of mind. A client will forget all about you if you don’t keep yourself deep in their world. Call buying clients every few weeks. Prospecting means additional business from current clients as well as new ones.

X. It’s okay to be second. If a prospect is very happy with their current vendor, just tell them you want to be their secondary vendor. There will be a time when the current vendor can’t get the job done, and that will be your time to strike and save the day.

Online sources like BizCrest<www.bizcrest.com> can provide Sales Leads which can simplify and maximize sales team efficiency drastically as they provide detailed business information regarding executives across the world.