Generating new leads is vital for any business seeking to increase sales and boost profits. By utilizing a wide range of marketing tools, businesses can expand their consumer base and encourage additional sales from existing customers.
Many small businesses make the mistake of pursuing a small number of tried and tested marketing methods, which could cause a problem if one or more of these fail to deliver results. The key to success is to implement a wide range of marketing tools and even businesses with small marketing budgets will discover there are many cost-effective ways to generate sales leads.
Telemarketing
Despite its negative image, telemarketing is an important component of lead generation. Most telemarketing consists of cold calling potential customers with whom you have had no prior contact. You will need to build a database of contact details for potential leads, or you can purchase an existing one from a specialist company. The advantage of the latter is that you can select to have contacts categorized into various sectors. For example, an IT telemarketing list could consist of companies cataloged by location, size, specific sector and job title.
Online
The web has paved the way for the latest in lead generation. Ensure your site has an area for visitors to provide their contact details and offer them an incentive for doing so. Make your content interesting by adding a relevant blog and invite people to comment. Twitter and other social media platforms can also be used to remain in contact with existing customers in addition to generating new leads.
Word of Mouth
Word of mouth is still the number one way to generate leads and has the advantage of being completely free. Bear in mind, you’ll need to deliver great products and excellent services to reap the benefits of personal recommendations. Satisfied customers will usually be delighted to refer others to your business.
Trade Shows
In our increasing digitally connected world it is easy to forget the power of face-to-face networking. Networking events can offer your business a powerful way to meet potential customers in a short space of time, which is likely to be helpful to your company. There are other benefits too. You can use the event to generate publicity in trade magazines, on social media platforms and on your website. You can also use the event to investigate what your competitors are doing. Do ensure that potential leads are followed up promptly.
Alliances
Consider developing a relationship with a business that shares your target market. You can partner them in customer targeting and share knowledge. Mutually beneficial strategies include sharing costs at trade shows, swapping website links and including information about both organizations in newsletters.
Generating new business leads is not difficult, particularly if you are willing to be creative and take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself.
Many marketing activities such as PR, social media campaigns, blogging and networking events can be implemented with little or no budget and could expose a large number of potential customers to your products or service.
Mark Smithis a consultant who specializes in IT telemarketing. He also writes on the subject for various blogs and websites..