IT Sales Leads Are Not Just Harvested Info

IT Sales Leads Are Not Just Harvested Info:

from Business 2 Community by Max Stinson


Just because IT sales leads are somehow a unit of information does not mean you can just harvest them so easily with things like IT technology. Sure, you can grab addresses from a directory or use social media searches to root out millions of other non-qualified prospects. That does not mean the results you get are already sales leads. If you think they are, then you have a lot to learn about qualifying them.
How Harvested Data Can Help Sales Leads
On the other hand, sales leads can be more efficiently qualified with the aid of data mining technology. Why? It is simply because you get your info a little faster. And speaking of which, IT vendors would do well to keep in mind that the only way they can maximize the advantage of using this technology themselves is by using the info as a starting boost towards sales leads.
It is like in racing games. The information that you managed to acquire is the same as that critical moment at the start of the race where you accelerate your vehicle precisely when the light goes green. Prepping up your ride to charge up the right spring is like getting that info quickly so that you will achieve IT lead generation faster and eventually turn these sales leads into close deals.
Keep in mind however that if you accelerate at the wrong time or if you raise the speed too high with the brakes still on, the information will barely result in enough sales leads to get your business inches from the starting line.

• Mind the age of the data – How old is the source of your data? Outdated information is not just a nightmare for IT vendors. It is also a major stumbling block to using that info for qualifying sales leads. If the quality of the data is too old and unreliable, expect it to burn up with hardly any sales leads coming out.

• Pick the right method to test quality – Cleaning up information so that it could result in web hosting leads, cloud computing leads, IT consulting leads or any IT lead, can be a harder task than people think. But regardless of what form of communication you use, you will need communication. Period. You will never know if a prospect is interested just because you got a hold of their address.

• Beware of backlash – Using harvested information unscrupulously can lead to people protesting because they never intended their public info to be used that way. Just because you are within your right somehow does not mean your defiance will win you any sales leads. Try to be more careful with how you contact your prospects. Catch them in a good mood and learn when to follow-up.

• Keep an eye on volume – Having a large amount of data can be deceiving. As already said, you never know if a large amount of harvested information will result in sales leads. Furthermore, a high volume will obviously take a lot more time to qualify. Be prepared to work hard at that volume and keep it from overflowing!

So again, harvested data does not automatically mean you can start hoping for sales leads. They are just that bit of fuel you need to get a starting boost in the race to generate qualified IT leads.