The Best Sales Leads

09 Thursday May 2013

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In today’s marketplace, you can’t waste precious time on bad sales leads that won’t pay off in the end. The use of the internet, advancing technology, and an ever-evolving competitive landscape, you have to bring your “A-game” each and every day or risk falling behind, or worse, failing. Back in the day, a great deal of drive, time and energy was put into every meeting. Prospects were sporadic and hard to come by, thus the time and focus on each and every one. It took time, attention and a lot of courting to get a sale. But, times have changed and if you’re still doing things the old way, you must reconsider what you’re doing and do it quickly.

It sounds a bit like the obvious, but you must learn how to properly qualify a lead. It can mean the difference between landing that big sale, contract or client, or wasting a lot time and, even worse, a lot of money. It’s imperative to take immediate control of the conversation and ask the right questions. If you do this properly, thoroughly, and with a bit of speed, you’ll be able to determine if your prospect is a solid lead or a dead end. One of the best pieces of advice any salesperson could receive and understand is to be prepared. Write out your questions and have a game plan.

The toughest thing to learn, whether you’re a rookie or an experienced salesperson, is knowing if and when a consumer lead is hot or simply not worth the trouble. You must see the big picture when a lead bites off a telemarketing or mailing list. Contain your enthusiasm and really consider where this “bite” might lead you in regards to the relationship. Consider budget, needs versus wants, their chain of command and their timeline. Nothing kills a sale quicker than an over-zealous sales person that simply doesn’t get the big picture.

Another mistake many people make is not asking the right questions. Write your questions down, if you need to, prior to the conversation. Avoid jumping into your sales pitch and talking about your product before first listening to your customer and understanding their needs.

Put to practice these basic sales habits and you’ll quickly be able to recognize those sales leads that are worth your time and those that are not. As they say, time is money.

Qualifying Your Sales Leads

03 Friday May 2013

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In today’s competitive marketplace, be sure to qualify your sales leads. There are not enough hours in the day to chase bad leads, and thus, wasting your time and energy. It’s imperative to qualify each and every lead to ensure you move forward with the prospective customer.

Qualifying a lead can be done multiple of ways. The use of the internet can help you determine if your prospect is even legitimate. A lot of selling is done over the phone, and if you don’t know the prospect or know anything about them, it’s good to do some background analysis just to confirm basic information. Typing their company name into a search engine can provide you a quick snapshot of their company. Do they have a website? Does it seem to be a one-person shop, or does it look as though they have more than 20 employees? How legitimate are they?

if they pass the online “smell” test, possibly the next step is to give them your test.

Get the prospect talking about their business. It sounds a bit like the obvious, but you must learn how to properly qualify a lead. It can mean the difference between landing that big sale, contract or client, or wasting a lot time and, even worse, a lot of money. It’s imperative to take immediate control of the conversation and ask the right questions. If you do this properly, thoroughly, and with a bit of speed, you’ll be able to determine if your prospect is a solid lead or a dead end.

Have a list of 6-10 basic questions that can help you qualify a prospect quickly. Write down those questions, learn them and listen to the responses. Consider budget, their needs vs their wants, time-frame, their decision-making process.Understand where the prospect is in their company or in their life, and what product is best for them. In other words, don’t oversell because it will only kill the sale.

The goal is to say the right thing, at the right time, every single time.

Easier said than done, but it’s a good goal. A good tip is to map-out on paper how you think the conversation might go. Think of every response you may get from the prospect, and your answer to each one. You won’t get 100% close, but you will bring every one to closure. And for us sales people that’s all we really want. We can handle “No”. We just don’t like chasing.

Put to practice these basic sales habits and you will quickly be able to recognize those sales leads that are worth your time and those that are not. Good luck and keep prospecting.

Use E-Mail campaigns to Grow Your Business

25 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in B2B Leads, Direct Mail, Email Marketing, General Business, Grow your Business, Mailing Lists

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Small and medium sized businesses know buyers are all about digital. Owners of these companies understand that traditional marketing, cold calling and direct mail cannot be used without online marketing, yet they continue buying mailing lists and sales leads. Wonder what they do with them? It’s no secret-they grow their business with traditional marketing efforts, online marketing and e-mail campaigns.

If you know how to write a sales letter, you’re in a good position to execute a successful email campaign. If you’ve never written a sales letter, you’re still in a good spot for email success. Take a look at this simple approach:

·         Know your goal: Make it narrow and measurable, like “Generate 75 new qualified leads from life insurance providers.” Or “Get 85 senior marketing professionals to subscribe to our newsletter.”

·         Know your audience: Stay specific. According to the noted goal, your audience would be:

1.    Life insurance agents/Insurance agency owners

2.    Marketing directors or vice presidents of marketing

·         Develop an Offer: Whether you offer a new product, great price, white paper or webinar, provide something your audience needs.

·         Create a landing page: This is your transition from email to your offer. It’s also a good place to gather contact information from prospects. If your company isn’t very well known, include an “about us” paragraph on your landing page.

·         Determine your distribution: Make sure your mailing list matches your audience. Not only does this help it reach the right people, it helps keep you off the SPAM reports. Buy your sales leads from reputable companies and credible suppliers. Lease your mailing list from trusted sources.

·         Create the e-mail: Use the subject line to demonstrate the benefit instead of the offer. Keep the body short and simple. Begin with the industry challenge. Introduce your offer and list of benefits, and then apply the call to action like, “Sign up for our newsletter!”

·         Send: If you’re not sure how to send mass emails or execute email campaigns, talk to your mailing list provider. They may provide this as an additional service. When you receive sales leads from your email, follow up within 24 hours while your company is still fresh on the prospects mind.

Grow your business with a consistent, ongoing effort. Include traditional marketing pieces with online marketing and email campaigns. Combined, these efforts will grow your business.

Grow Your Business with These Tips

25 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in B2B Leads, General Business, Grow your Business, Residential Leads, Sales Leads, SEO

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With so many ways to grow your business, it’s surprising more companies aren’t successful. According to the “experts” at least 50 percent of all companies fail. That’s an astonishing figure, but without proper management, planning, online visibility and appropriate marketing efforts, it’s easy to see why some businesses don’t make it. Having a dream or goal to own your own business is a great starting point, but you need a lot more than ambition to grow your business.

·         Current and fresh sales leads: Contact a reputable company who specializes in custom sales leads. Be sure to invest in current leads lists and work with knowledgeable sales executive. It’s best to discuss your needs, intentions and target market with your leads representative so they can create a list without a wasted leads or improper data.

·         Create or improve your online visibility: Today, more than ever, if you are not easily found online, your company is not set up to succeed. Having a high page Google ranking is vital to your success, as is your social media presence. Every business, large and small, should have an active Facebook page, LinkedIn profile and Twitter account-at the minimum! Without these online marketing tools, it will be difficult, at best, to grow your business.

·         Traditional Marketing: After you purchase sales leads, use them! So many companies purchase data lists but aren’t sure how to use the information to build their business. Act quickly once you’ve got the data, because it is fresh and current but may constantly be changing. Reach out to prospects with traditional marketing, like telemarketing, postcards, door hangers, flyers, and sales letters. Though it’s important to have online visibility, it’s regrettable to not rely on the tried and true marketing efforts that have worked for years!

Don’t let your business become a failed statistic. Find reputable companies who can help you grow your business. Develop a solid online visibility and use sales leads to grow your prospect list. Don’t forget about traditional marketing efforts, but don’t rely on just one form, either. Call a qualified leads list company/online marketing firm today if you want to grow your business.

Social Media Marketing helps with Retention

25 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in Blog, General Business, Grow your Business, Online Visibility, SEO, Social Media

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Social media marketing is key to customer retention, which is just as important as prospecting. Use social media to engage current customers and develop a higher rate of retention.

·         Engage your customers in relevant conversations.

·         Respond to comments on social media sites in a timely manner.

·         Treat complaints and concerns with a professional courtesy.

·         Reward and recognize your best followers.

·         Invite offline customers to join you in your social media circle.

·         Repost and link to relevant blogs, tweets and Facebook posts written by others in your industry.

How do you retain your customers? Is social media part of your approach? The more you participate in social media, the more online visibility you have. Though your online presence may not lead directly to sales, it is vital to improving brand recognition, brand trust and loyalty. If you don’t have social media accounts set up and active, you’re missing great opportunities.

Why you should use SEO-Search Engine Optimization

25 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in General Business, Grow your Business, SEO, Social Media

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A business worth anything uses SEO-search engine optimization to get noticed online, gain sales leads and build relationships with their clients and consumers. Companies who don’t use social media marketing miss thousands of prospecting opportunities each day-no joke! Here are a few reasons you should use SEO-search engine optimization andsocial media marketing for your business:

·         It costs you very little to use online marketing. In some cases you pay for hosting and setting up a blog, but if you go through an SEO company, like GoLeads, you only pay for the content and SEO work. This cost is relatively low compared to banner advertisements or pay-per-clicks. Posting on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn is free; it just costs you your time, unless, again, you have a company do all your social media marketing for you.

·         Online marketing tools are a great way to monitor your brand and engage consumers. If you monitor your social media outlets (and you should!) you know the minute someone says something positive or negative about your brand, your customer service or your company. You can use social media to show your gratitude to customers, new followers or prospects. You can showcase quality sales people within your company, highlight clients who’ve got longevity with you and create discussions where you gain insight about your customers. Use social media to listen to your clients, and learn from them. Consider new “likes” new sales leads. Follow up with them and find out their needs.

·         SEO-search engine optimization lets you compete with all companies in your industry, even the big ones. An effective SEO strategy and social media marketing will give you the same opportunities your competitors have, no matter what their marketing budget is.

·         Everybody’s doing it-really, nearly all your prospects and customers are involved in social media and the internet. Everyone is connected, and with smartphones and other wireless devices, everyone’s connected a lot! People use the web to research products, compare prices and get the background of a company before they make a purchase. Consumers are internet savvy and know how to navigate through all the muck to make informed purchasing decisions. Make sure your customers can find you, because you know your competition isonline.

Utilize SEO-search engine optimization and social media to introduce your brand and embrace your customers. Though you won’t likely land direct sales with internet marketing, you will gain sales leads and interactive relationships with prospects and clients. Get seen online today, with SEO and social media marketing.

Increase Online Visibility with GoLeadsPlus!

25 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in B2B Leads, General Business, Grow your Business, Marketing, Online Visibility, Social Media

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Everybody’s talking about how to increase visibility, get noticed on the web and ways to get noticed by search engines, directories and other online networks. We don’t just talk about it; we do it at the GoLeads Network! It’s such an exciting time for us, because not only do we use our proven methods to continue growing and expanding, but now we share them with smart businesses that are driven to succeed. Our business network does much more than increase visibility; it gets our customers noticed and so much more! Take a look:

GoLeads provides consistent, custom content that gets you noticed on social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Our social media marketing services get people talking about your product, your service, your business. GoLeadsPlus excels at social marketing by coordinating social media, SEO and social networking efforts that drive leads to you.

We’ve got a team of professional internet marketing copywriters who create custom blogs specific to your business and your industry. Then our amazing IT department uses the content and introduces companies to search engines, directories and so many other networks, you’re seen by potentially millions of prospects. And, GoLeads knows how to drive these prospects back to your website. That’s right-they can’t help but visit your home page. We make it so easy for them! We send traffic to your site, a lot of traffic!

Did you know the top online tools used by small businesses are websites (98%), email marketing (95%), social media marketing (81%), and online advertising (66%) – CMO Council, November 2011.

If you haven’t been using social media and blogs as part of your online marketing strategy, we’d love to get you caught up to your competition. We’ll even help you pass them by so YOU get noticed online first!

GoLeadsPlus gives you access to GoLeads’ targeted databases of businesses and households for your prospecting and direct mail needs, AND we give you the opportunity to receive referrals and inbound phone calls from people and businesses interested in your product.

We know it takes a lot of time and energy to grow a business. And that’s why we help you maximize your marketing dollars with GoLeadsPlus. No other list company includes you in an online business communityhttp://www.b2bvibe.com/Sales-Leads-Mailing-Lists-GoLeadsand increases your visibility on the web.

Take advantage of this opportunity to increase visibility, get noticed on the web and get noticed by search engines, directories and other online networks! We’re not kidding-our system works-isn’t that how you found us? Online? We’d love to share our success with you, and get you noticed online.

Youre Going to Need a List

25 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in B2B Leads, Business Leads, General Business, Grow your Business, Residential Leads, Sales Leads

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Companies of all sizes should be using sales lists to reach more prospects. Without solid leads to start with, it’s nearly impossible to reach your target audience. Whether you prefer to send out direct mail pieces, emails or tele market, every business should have easy access to a qualified sales list.

If your company is fairly new, you’ll need a list of businesses to contact for sales, presentations or just introductions. Get your sales list from a reputable company, one who’s been in the data sales industry long enough to understand the needs and expectations of their clients. A solid sales list company should:

·         Have at least a basic knowledge of your industry.

·         Maintain relationships with vendors to provide exceptional leads lists.

·         Give you an accurate count each time.

·         Understand the urgency or your sales list needs.

·         Have fair pricing.

·         Listen to your intentions so they can better help you with the right leads list.

·         Encourage you to use the lists in a timely manner so they don’t become outdated.

·         Share tips on best practices for your selling needs.

·         Be available for questions and concerns.

·         Discuss the realities of accuracies.

Don’t rely on an unknown sales leads company to provide you with accurate sales lists. In order to establish, maintain and grow your business you’ll need a list of businesses, prospects, competitors and more. Don’t go into your sales blindly; use a current list of businesses you can contact easily.

As you get more established, remember which company’s provided you with good solid leads when you need a list to showcase your new products or feature new business specials. Working with a reputable company to help you develop a list of business contacts is essential when you’re just starting out, relocating, unveiling a new product of just trying to expand. A solid sales list will get you in front of an eager audience.

How to Create the Best Sales Leads List

25 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in B2B Leads, General Business, Grow your Business, Local Leads, Marketing, Residential Leads, Sales Leads

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When you’re looking for the best sales leads list, don’t go to those “free leads” sites unless you want old, used lists that often don’t have correct information or have all been opted out of.  Research leads companies and try one that’s got asolid reputation and is transparent in their process. You should be able to select your criteria from a good-sized database. Your options for selection should be varied so you can narrow down the target for your marketing. Here are some key criteria to creating the best sales leads list:

 

Options for residential leads list criteria:

·         First Name

·         Last Name

·         Address

·         City

·         State

·         Zip

·         Phone

·         Age

·         Date of Birth

·         Gender

·         Marital Status

·         Children

·         Home Value

·         Income

·         Length of Residence

·         Home Owner / Renter

 

Options for commercial leads list criteria:

 

·         Contact Name

·         Business Name

·         Address

·         City

·         State

·         Zip

·         County

·         Carrier Route

·         Phone Number

·         Fax Number

·         SIC Code

·         SIC Description

·         Year Started

·         Number of Employees

·         Total Annual Sales $

·         Business Started Year

·         HQ / Standalone

·         Web Site

 

After you pick your criteria and narrow down the target for your marketing efforts, make your selections. When you get your data from a reputable sales leads list company, like GoLeads, you can be confident you’ve compiled the best residential or business leads list available. The list will be accurate and acutely targeted with solid information on each lead.

 

Whether you’re targeting working moms or single men, an effective sales list will get you more prospects than you can imagine. Take your list and make your move; after all, when you get to pick from the best data available, you create thebest sales leads list.

Interesting Facts and Stats on SEO and Blogging

25 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in B2B Leads, General Business, Grow your Business, Mailing Lists, Residential Leads, Sales Leads, SEO

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Business owner’s focus on sales leads and lists, but according to these stats and facts, they should also put some effort in SEO and blogging. While sales lists help with outbound calls and more traditional marketing pieces, SEO work and blogging help with inbound calls and brand recognition. Take a look at these facts and then decide how to incorporate SEO and blogging with your sales lists and leads to truly round out your marketing efforts:

 

·         “57% of B2B marketers say SEO has the biggest impact on their lead generation goals.” (Mindjumpers)

·         “Social media sites and blogs reach 80% of all U.S. internet users.” (Mindjumpers)

·         “Increased frequency of blogging correlates with increased customer acquisition, according to…HubSpot. 92% of blog users who posted multiple times a day acquired a customer through their blog, a figure that decreased to 66% for those who blogged monthly and 43% for those who posted less than monthly.” (Marketing Charts)

·         “For those looking to outsource, a professional consultant will generally charge $1,000-$3,000 for setting up a blog, $1,000-$3,000 per month for ongoing content development/editing, and ballpark of $200 for a single guest post.” (Mack Collier)

·         “Search provides the highest quality leads. According to research by HubSpot, “SEO leads have a 15% close rate, on par with the close rate for direct traffic, and ahead of referrals (9%), paid search (7%), social media (4%), and outbound leads (2%).” (Marketing Charts)

·         “Social networks and blogs account for 23% of all time spent online — twice as much as gaming.” (Mindjumpers)

·         “Blogs are the single most important inbound marketing tool. “When asked to rank the importance of the services they use, 25% of users rated their company blog as critical to their business, while a further 56% considered them either important (34%) or useful (22%)” for a total of 81%.” (Marketing Charts)

·         “The most popular frequency for blog posting is weekly (60% of bloggers). Just 10% post daily.” (Marketing Charts)

·         “B2B companies with blogs generate 67% more leads per month on average than non-blogging firms.” (Social Media B2B)

 

When you want to do more than call from your leads list or mail out more postcards, consider adding SEO and blogging to the mix. According to many of us in the sales/marketing/business world, a combination of efforts reaches the intended audience. So be bold and add to your traditional marketing moves with lists and sales leads and incorporate SEO and blogging.

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