There’s nothing worse for your sales team than struggling to convert a cold lead into a sale. This can feel like an impossible task, especially if a lead generation company generates the cold lead through a phone call or email. But, the truth is, there’s a way to convert cold leads into customers, and you can use these three strategies to make it happen.
1. Make the Lead Easy to Follow Up On
The key to converting a cold lead into a sale is making it easy for your sales team to follow up with them. This doesn’t mean you should make it easy for the lead to get away, but you should make it easy for your sales team to stay in touch and nurture the lead.
One simple way to do this is to give your sales team a phone number to call or an email address to reach out to. Your sales team should be able to easily find this information in their CRM or on the company’s website. If the person who made the lead doesn’t have this information readily available, they will probably not be interested in following up with it.
You can also make it easy for your sales team to reach out to the lead by setting a specific reminder in their CRM, so they’re prompted to follow up within 24 hours. This will ensure that your sales team doesn’t forget about the lead and that they’re prompted to reach out at the right time.
Finally, you should provide your sales team with information about the lead. For example, if you have a customer profile on file, your sales team should be able to access this information and use it during their follow-up call or email. This will make them feel more comfortable following up with the lead and make it easier for them to connect with the individual on a personal level.
2. Make the Cold Lead Feel Welcome
You can’t expect your sales team to be able to convert a cold lead into a sale if they don’t feel welcome to reach out. So if you receive a lead from a lead generation company or an individual, let your sales team know about it. You can send them an email or instant message letting them know you have a new lead and then provide the information about it.
This will make your sales team feel you’re paying attention to them and trust them to follow up with the new lead.
If you don’t want to be bothered with contacting your sales team every time you receive a lead, tools are available that allow you to automate this process. You can set up
your lead generation company to send the leads directly to your sales team’s CRM and then set CRM reminders for them to follow up with the lead.
This will allow you to keep track of all the leads coming in and ensure that your sales team follows up with them.
3. Make Yourself Available
Think about the last time you received a sales call from a company you didn’t already do business with. If you were interested in what they offered, how likely would you buy from them? If there was any hesitation on your end, it’s likely because you couldn’t connect with a live person on the other end of the line.
The same is true for your sales team. If they have questions about the lead, they’re not going to want to call a company that doesn’t have a live person they can speak with. Even worse, they’re not going to want to call a company with someone who isn’t interested in helping them out.
You should ensure your sales team can access you whenever they need it. Whether they have questions about the lead or need help establishing a connection with the individual, you should make yourself available. This will help your sales team feel like you care about their success, and it will help them convert cold leads into customers.
Improving Your Leads Quality
The key to increasing your lead generation numbers is to follow up with a larger number of leads. This will increase your sales team’s productivity and help them close more deals.
However, this doesn’t mean you should follow up with every lead you receive from your lead generation company. Some leads shouldn’t be followed up with, and other leads aren’t going to be worth your time.
In this chapter, we’ll talk about how you can determine which leads shouldn’t be followed up with. Conversely, we’ll also discuss how you can determine which leads are worth following up with.
Screening Your Cold Leads
When you receive a lead from your lead generation company, you must review it before your sales team starts to follow up with it. This will help you determine whether or not the lead is worth your time.
Here are some things you should look for:
1. Is the lead in your target market?
It would be best if you only reached out to leads in your target market. You should be able to tell this information by looking at the contact information on the lead. If you’re unsure which market the lead is in, ask your lead generation company to provide you with this information.
2. Is the lead interested in what you have to offer?
One way you can tell whether or not a lead is interested in what you have to offer is by looking at their contact information. Here are some things you should look for:
3. Does the lead have a valid email address?
If the lead has a valid email address, they’re likely interested in what you have to offer. If they don’t have a valid email address, you should assume they’re not interested in your offer.
4. Does the company have a website?
If the lead has a website, they’re likely interested in your offer. If they don’t have a website, you should assume they’re not interested in what you offer.
5. Is the contact information appropriate for your business?
When you receive your leads from your lead generation company, you should look at the contact information and make sure it’s appropriate for your business. For example, if you’re selling office supplies, but the lead is contacting you about a computer repair service, they’re likely not interested in what you offer.
6. Is the lead listed on a do-not-call list?
If the lead is listed on a do-not-call list, likely, they’re not interested in what you have to offer. If they’re listed on a do-not-call list, you should assume that they’re not interested in what you have to offer.
7. Do you know anyone who knows this lead?
Suppose you know someone who knows the lead; the lead is likely interested in what you have to offer. If you don’t know someone who knows the lead, you should assume that they’re not interested in what you have to offer.
8. Is the lead actively looking for a solution?
If the lead is actively looking for a solution, they’re likely interested in what you have to offer. If they’re not looking for a solution, you should assume they’re not interested in what you offer.
9. Are there any other red flags?
If you notice any other red flags, likely, the lead isn’t interested in what you have to offer. If there are other red flags, you should assume that they’re not interested
likely that they’re interested in what you have to offer. If you don’t know someone who knows the lead, you should assume that they’re not interested in what you have to offer.
10. Does the lead come from a reputable source?
If the lead came from a reputable source, they’re likely interested in what you have to offer. If the lead didn’t come from a reputable source, you should assume that they’re not interested in what you have to offer.
The lead is likely worth your time if all of these requirements are met. Conversely, the lead isn’t worth your time if any of these requirements aren’t met.
For example, let’s say you’re selling welding equipment and you receive a lead from a company that sells welding equipment. In this case, the lead comes from a reputable source; they’re in your target market and have a valid email address. However, they don’t have an active website, so you should assume that they’re not interested in what you have to offer.
In this case, the lead isn’t worth your time. However, the same leaders would be worth your time if the contact information differed. For example, if the person who made the lead had a website but no email address, it would be worth your time to follow up with them because they’re actively looking for a solution.
It’s also important that you have a system in place to keep track of your leads. You need to know which leads are worth your time and which ones aren’t.
For example, you could create a spreadsheet with all your leads on one column and why they’re not worth your time on the other column. This way, at a glance, you can see which leads to focus on and which ones to ignore.
With this strategy, you can keep track of the leads that are worth your time and ignore the ones that aren’t.
By using these strategies, you’ll be able to narrow down your list of leads and move forward with the most promising ones.
Conclusion
When choosing a lead generation strategy, it’s important to focus on the right kinds of leads. By focusing on the right leads, you reduce your chances of wasting time on leads that aren’t worth your time. And by doing this, you’ll be able to focus on the leads more likely to turn into paying customers.
These are some of the most important strategies for generating leads for your business. Use these strategies to generate more high-quality leads for your business and increase your chances of turning them into customers.