When business owners embark on a lead generation strategy, their expectations are all wrong. Ā It doesnāt matter if theyāre hiring a sales rep, focused on appointment setting, running social ads, holding events or implementing email campaigns. Their expectations are wrong.
And when lead generation expectations are wrong, so is everything else: the process, the budget, the activities, the content, the staffing.
Theyāre chasing the wrong goal.
āWe just want to close one deal a month.āĀ
āWe just want 2 new appointments a week.ā
āWe just want 10 qualified companies a month to call.ā
Those all sound easily attainable with the right lead generation strategy ā to the business owner.
But these arenāt realistic expectations.
In the beginning, you achieve these goals. Unless youāre Microsoft, who has big name recognition and a big list, it just doesnāt work that way.
So, whatās the right goal if you need to show a return on investment?
The goal is conversations. Conversations that lead to information about contacts, qualification in and out of your list, identification of future opportunities, the start of relationships, future call back dates, and future opportunities. In short, the goal is conversations that will lead to future opportunities when prospects are ready.
Our data shows that if your list is not accustomed to hearing from you, it takes a year of consistent nurturing using multiple attraction strategies (including warm calling) targeting the same contacts in the same target market to begin to get sales qualified leads. Now youāre asking, why so long? If weāre nurturing them, shouldnāt we get more leads, faster?
Not really. With new business development, youāre starting communications earlier in the client buy cycle. You reach out and monitor those people who engage with the content youāre sending. Many of those marketing qualified leads are just becoming aware of the problems youāre bringing to their attention. Those contacts havenāt figured out yet if they want to address the problems. Thatās why when you call, they may tell you they arenāt yet ready.
Contacting prospects earlier in the Client Buy Cycle with your lead generation campaign puts you at a distinct advantage:
- It allows you to begin establishing yourself as the subject matter expert contacts should watch until they are ready to engage in the sales process.
- While it lengthens your sell cycle, it gives you the opportunity to influence how contacts perceive their need and what they want in a proposal when they move to that point.
- You gather information about your prospects. From number of locations and users, who they are using today for your services, what frustrates them most, to their strategic initiatives.
- It gives your sales reps a business reason to contact prospects, creating a whole different conversation and leaving a lasting impression.
You have a different goal with your lead generation with different expectations. Your goal is no longer the transactional 2 appointments per week. Your new goal is conversations that lead to future opportunities when prospects are ready. Your new expectations are an increase in conversations with contacts in your list and segmenting of those contacts into near-, mid- and long-term opportunities.
Yes, you still want appointments, but if you donāt look beyond that, youāre missing the real value of your strategy. Ā Too many companies quit well before they have reaped the benefits. Are you one of them?
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