Effectively Using Sales Leads: 5 Steps

By Lauren Alexander, VP of marketing, Underground Elephant

Whatever industry you are working in, effectively using your leads is a crucial part of keeping your business afloat. Acquiring good leads often comes at a considerable expense of time and money. But all too often, leads are squandered because they are lost in the shuffle or go stale before being contacted.

Getting the most out of your lead-generation efforts requires more than tossing them into your sales team’s inbox. It requires an organized process that monitors and tracks leads from their origin to the final sale and beyond. Below are five steps to that process that will help make the most of those elusive sales leads.

Know where your leads originate
Your leads may come from any number of sources including banner ads, referrals or some other type of advertising. Keeping track of the source of leads will provide multiple benefits. One benefit is knowing which lead-generation sources are producing results. Another benefit of knowing where your leads originate allows you to know how often and when to contact them. Without tracking the source of your leads you have no way of knowing what lead-generation strategy is working best.

Keep track of your interaction with your leads
During a doctor’s appointment, a physician will take extensive notes of a patient’s visit so he can track their progress over the course of a treatment. If he didn’t do this, he wouldn’t remember what treatment he prescribed for each patient. The same is essential for monitoring the conversations with leads. To stay efficient, install a customer relationship management tool that keeps track of each interaction.

Respond quickly to your leads
It has been shown that your closing rate goes up considerably if you contact your leads within 48 hours of a prospect contacting you. Acting quickly on leads as they come in is perhaps the simplest way to increase sales. For any number of reasons, sales opportunities are often squandered because too much time passes between a lead coming in and it being acted upon.

Use a script and be prepared for any objections
The first 20 seconds are the most important part of any sale. Make the most of this precious time by showing the lead your product or service has value to them. Learn about their needs by asking open-ended questions and showing genuine interest in their conversation. Incorporating the best methods to effectively use your leads will be of no benefit if you are unable to engage your lead. This is where the rubber meets the road. Be personable, genuine and interested.

Nurture your leads along the sales path
If only all leads turned into sales on the first contact. Fortunately, this hope is kept alive by the occasional lead that is ready to buy the moment we first contact them. But most often, a number of contacts are necessary before a lead commits to buying. Nurturing leads requires more than throwing them at the bottom of the list to contact at a later date. It requires contacting them in such a way as to build value. It could be in the form of a link to your sites latest blog tip with a personal note on how it may benefit them, or it could also be in the form of a limited-time discount on your product or service.

Lauren Alexander, VP of marketing for Underground Elephant, is primarily focused on driving and implementing marketing strategies for online advertising campaigns. She has been recognized by multiple awards, such as The Stevies in Business and the San Diego Business Journal Women Who Mean Business. She is a member of the AdClub San Diego and is an active volunteer for the San Diego Humane Society and SPCA.