Salespeople often lack the support of a dedicated marketing team that does lead generation programs for them. So they do their own sales prospecting.
This is especially true for salespeople working in small businesses.
Here’s what I mean:
Sales work to succeed despite it all.
In fact, they must generate their own sales leads and meet their revenue and targets with little marketing support.
Call it prospecting, business development, or cold calling.
All of which means the investment of your time to get their foot in the door. After that, there must be a shift from prospecting back to selling.
First, let’s discuss how marketing supports sales.
In lead generation, the marketing department’s job is to develop leads to match the buyer’s readiness to buy and the seller’s expectations of selling.
Ideally, marketing should say to sales: “We get the leads. You get the sales.”
That said, some organizations still place the responsibility of lead generation on sales for various reasons.
Does this sound familiar?
If so, you’re not alone.
It can be overwhelming figuring out how to do lead generation for yourself on top of everything else you do.
The good news is that you don’t have to split yourself or your focus into two to make it work.
The two can become synergized, more effective in their impact, and less frustrating to manage.
Here are 10 tips for developing lead generation as a part of your sales process.
10 tips for salespeople who do lead generation
1. Build an ideal customer profile and use it
Focus your energy on leads that best fit your ideal customer profile. Both the companies and the individuals you wish for as customers.
- What separates your best and worst customers?
- What are their attributes and demographics?
- What organizations/associations do they belong to?
Because you’ve had first-hand experience directly helping customers through the buying journey, your insight is extremely valuable in defining the ideal customer.
2. Talk to your best customers
How much do you genuinely know about your current clients? A simple phone call can generate plenty of helpful information that you can use going forward.
This is where empathy-based marketing shines.
People make decisions in business the same way they do in their personal life.
They feel it out.
This is where you figure out the emotions that supported their decisions. We are talking about discovering your customer’s “why.”
