Sales lead generation services are rapidly replacing the formally tried and true sales company techniques of manual cold calling, list building, referrals, mailings and newsletters to find potential sales prospects. There are a growing number of these service companies using the Internet, advanced computer programs and data mining techniques to generate sales leads tailored to customer’s sales criteria. The goal of a sales lead generation service is to generate and compile quality leads that match consumer inquiry and interest in a company’s services and or products.
For both the lead generation service and the company that uses their service, another goal is to create sales leads that have a strong probability of initial sales and the development of a long-term sales relationship between the company and the buyer. The best lead generation firms spend time becoming familiar with a client’s sales goal, clientele and the market the company focuses on.
Once the lead generation service has a strong sense of the client’s needs, it can perform extensive research that cross references and produces segmented and sorted contact lists to match a wide range of demographic and potential customer data. This data can also be customized to meet a client’s needs in areas such as potential industries, ZIP codes and sales volume.
There is a tremendous amount of data already available on the Internet and the existence of this information has led to the rise of the “self-directed buyer.” These buyers, both individual and company, perform their own research using several different search engines and keywords. It is estimated that these buyers do 2/3 to 90% of the research to identify a product or service they are interest in online before talking to potential vendors. These buyers represent a digital trend that changes the buying process for sellers from finding the customer to being found by the customer.
The trend also emphasizes the need for companies to develop a strong Internet presence to attract potential customers. Sales lead generation companies assist firms in developing that online presence.
Forbes reports that there was a significantly increased speed time of two days in lead response by lead generation firms in 2013. In 2010, the average response time was 56 hours; in 2013, the response time improved to 39 hours. This increase translates to the fact that online customers are seeing companies’ online presence sooner and more effectively than ever before.
Sales lead generation is particularly effective for business-to-business (B2B) purchasing. Companies can be as specific as they need to in determining the criteria for a sales lead generating company to put together a sales generation list. In turn, the lead generation service process can focus on the parameters provided by the client to create an effective lead generation package. The result of this collaboration is a laser-focused list of sales leads that efficiently generate higher sales successes and more long-term customer relationships.