Understanding How Targeted Lead Generation Works

With the current financial state of things, you might think that it is difficult to find new business during the recession – but it’s there, you just have to know where and how to look. I talked for years in Klixxx about the importance of targeting your audience, knowing who your target demographic is and all of that, but were you really paying attention back in the heyday? During the “years o’ plenty,” traffic and customers were everywhere it seemed - so much so, in fact, that many businesses didn’t even focus on retaining customers and subscribers as much as they did on attracting new ones. Knowing your target demographic and then targeting your sales leads is now more important than ever before.

Before we get started we need to focus on the basics. A sales lead is when a person receives some advance information about your website, products, services or business as a whole and indicates by clicking on a link, registering for more information or some other action that they are interested in finding out more about what you have to offer. You can generate sales leads in a number of ways, through telemarketing, direct marketing, Web-based marketing – the options are pretty much endless. Getting leads and making sales is a somewhat symbiotic relationship, making it essential that you coordinate your approach and continue to convey the same message from start to finish in order to make the sale.

One approach is to look at this opportunity as a way to layer information, or tell a story about your business if you will. If you keep your approach current, well-thought out and methodical, you will be able to enrich your message and sales pitch, proving through each step how your products and services will deliver what it is that they are looking for, encouraging conversions without having to resort to hard-sell tactics.

Lead generation should also be used to help build a sales database that you can use to contact and re-contact interested consumers in the future. Consider categorizing your database by variations such as location by country, region or language; topic of interest by niche, product or specific service; and even by the way that they expressed their initial interest through on-site registration, e-mail request, social networking tools, etc. You must carefully build and structure your list in order to yield the maximum result from it.

Additionally, it is important to keep your list current. Make the effort to direct market or e-mail your leads in order to ensure that your information is up-to-date. Just as it is important to have customers opt-in or even double opt-in to join your mailing list, it is equally important to ensure that they are still interested to avoid wasting your time marketing to someone that will never, ever make a purchase or join your site. All leads must be nurtured.

Every single communication between you and your leads must be consistent and confident, delivering valuable and relevant information to continue the building of your company’s story to help build your credibility, reputation and relationship – the relationship between you and your prospective customers and clients. It is through these well thought-out and highly targeted campaigns that you will be able to continually build on that very first communication that captured their interest and made them want to learn more.