Increase Your Percentageof Sales-Ready Leads

Ten steps to keep your stalled leads engaged until they’re ready to buy

Turn Leads into Sales Opportunities

When 70 to 90% of leads never receive follow up, huge revenue opportunities are missed. These 10 steps will help you turn nearly 50% of your leads into sales opportunities.

How to Increase Your Percentage of Sales-Ready Leads

In simple terms, marketing and sales have differing definitions of a "sales-ready lead." To marketing, a sales-ready lead has a business problem their company can help solve. Therefore, it should be handed to sales for prospecting. To sales, however, a sales-ready lead is ready to buy, today. If marketing sends leads that match their criteria for “sales-ready,” sales simply does not have enough time or man power to nurture those leads. Tossing out gold, due to the gap between these two important components of any business, 70 to 90 percent of leads never receive follow up. On top of this, most of the leads generated today aren't ready to buy today, but within the next eighteen months--increasing the length of time and work sales has to perform in order to close a sale. This eBook will present 10 actionable steps your organization can start today to start filling this gap and increase your percentage of leads sales can focus on closing.

Do You Have Too Many Leads that Aren’t Ready to Buy Today?

To sales, however, a sales-ready lead is ready to buy, today. If marketing sends leads that match their criteria for “sales-ready,” sales simply does not have enough time or man power to nurture those leads.

Companies using the 10 steps presented in this eBook: • Have proven results

Increased their sales-ready lead percentage from less than 10% of leads generated to greater than 50%.

• Increase their top line revenue five timesExample:Current revenue from leads (<10% are sales-ready)=$1,000,000Incremental revenue from leads (50% are sales-ready)= $4,000,000

• Receive a better marketing ROI

Increased lead generation top line ROI to better than 30:1

Get These Results

1. Talk to Your Customers

2. Choose a Customer Problem(s) Focus

3. Create an Email Campaign

4. Create Whitepapers and eBooks

5. Post Whitepapers and eBooks on Your Web Site

6. Cleanse Your Lead Database

7. Send Your Emails

8. Follow Up by Phone

9. Document the Results

10.Do It Again

10 Steps to Increase Your Percentage of Sales Ready Leads

Understanding the problems of your customers determines the success of these 10 steps. Buyers seek solutions to their problems, and if you provide these solutions in the form of non-product information before the sale, you will be the one they buy from. In order to understand customer problems, call some of your best customers and talk to them like a friend. Identify the key problems or issues challenging them. Pay close attention to those problems unrelated to your particular product or service. The idea is to get clues as to what problems you can help them solve. For instance, a network engineering firm asks its customers what their No.1 initiatives are this year. The majority of their answers will not directly be “to build a new IP network.” Their customers will give answers like: “I need to reduce customer turnover.” “I need to reduce time to and increase ROI.” “I need to overcome competitive threats.” The information gained through the above conversation can help the network engineering firm focus all their messaging around what the customer sees as important. Again, speaking your customers’ language and providing solutions for their problems will get you in the door faster and deeper than any other method. If you are uncomfortable having this conversation, you can have an inside sales person or customer service person do it. Use the interview outline included on the next page. Be sure to take very accurate notes.

To obtain the interview and the complete guide, click here.

1. Talk To Your Customers