Lead Generation: 9 Things To Check Before You Resort To “Doing More”

Lead Generation: 9 Things To Check Before You Resort To “Doing More”:from Business 2 Community by Michael Trow

10 Things To Save Your Lead Generation

More is not always better, especially when it comes to sales and marketing.
They phrase ‘Doing More’ in this context is in reference to those that panic and feel that they need increase their activity to reach the results they desire.
This is not always the case.
Oftentimes a simple tweak can make the biggest difference in the effectiveness of ones outreach. This is whether you are making calls, sending emails, networking or leveraging direct mail etc.
I recall one time early in my career when I was
demandedasked to make more calls. At the time I was responsible for generating leads for the sales director and was making, on average, 100 calls per day. For a few days I ramped this up to 170 +/- calls per day. (I start to sweat thinking about it!)
After suffering extreme anxiety and the results not increasing in proportion to the output I took it upon myself to review 9 key elements of my work.
The conclusion? I found the errors and worked towards positive change. Results went up, output went down.
These are the 9 things to check before you resort to doing more:

1. The Offer - People often try to promote too many things. Is your promotion concise and easy to understand?
2. The Medium – Is it possible that you are not using the best medium in line with your skills or the audience? Maybe you aren’t making the most of integrating your activity through multiple channels.
3. The Call To Action – Is this clear and of benefit to the audience? Are you making them do too much?
4. Your Targets and KPIs - Are you working towards realistic goals and tracking the key components of your performance? This will determine whether you need to improve areas of your activity or do more.
5. The Data Set - Are you targeting the right market? Is the target market specific enough? Is your data of good quality? Do you have a good data management policy in place?
   
6. The Process – Do you have a robust process that you are following?
7. The Message -  Is your message compelling AND relevant to the target market? Are you illustrating the result, benefits AND adding value?
8. Prospect Qualification - Do you have qualification criteria in place so that you are spending your time with the right people?
9. The Schedule - Do you know what to do and when?

Sure, not everybody is a content whiz, a guru on the phone or a sales and marketer at heart. If you check these 9 points off the list and go back to generating leads without success – then maybe it’s time to pivot and change direction. However, more often than not tweaking one of these 9 areas leads to vast improvements in lead generation AND having sales conversations with qualified prospects.
The most common areas that hinder success are:

• The chosen target market
• The data
• The message

Review these at the very least.
We’d love to know more about some of the challenges you have overcome in your lead generation. Which areas do you think can be improved in your current activity?