• Generate leads through the Internet.  In this day and age, Internet Marketing is a must, not a “nice to have”. Your direct competitors are working on their Internet marketing strategies -if you’re not doing the same, you’re at a competitive disadvantage (read our “Internet 101” newsletter).
   
• Test. Instead of spending your entire marketing budget before you know what works, invest a portion to testing. If a tactic works, invest more. If not, stop – cut your losses so you’ll have money to test other tactics.
   
• Understand where your typical prospect goes for information before you invest in any tactics. If you want to hit the mark, you’ll need to understand your prospects at many levels, including where they go for information.
   
• Figure out what your best competitor is doing. They must be doing something right, including generating leads. Leverage what they’re doing.
   
• Set aside a percentage of revenue to invest in lead generation. It doesn’t matter how much, just allocate something. You have to start somewhere, and you’ll get better results as you gain experience.

Don’ts

• Don’t rely exclusively on advertising salespeople for advice. I’m not suggesting they’re bad or unethical – it’s simply that it's in their best interest for you to advertise, not necessarily in yours. First determine the right communications mediums for your business, then speak with advertising salespeople if necessary. You need to be in control.
   
• Don’t give up if at first you don’t succeed. Investing in lead generation is the right thing to do, but it may take a few attempts to get acceptable results.
   
• Don’t spend money on communicating where your prospects aren’t going to be looking. I know this seems obvious, but we’ve saved clients tens of thousands of dollars by eliminating marketing efforts that weren’t going to be seen or heard by decision makers. Examples are trade shows, pay per click programs and magazine advertising – potentially expensive activities that may not generate leads if they’re not directed to the right audience.
   
• Don’t stop measuring. Measuring is crucial for a couple of reasons – firstly, because you must invest in the things that are working and not invest in the things that aren’t. However, even if your tactics are producing results, you must continue measuring because market conditions change. What works today may not work tomorrow. Don’t get complacent.
   

Rules of Thumb

When we work with clients, our objective is to generate the required number of qualified leads with the minimal amount of investment. This maximizes return on marketing investment, which is what you should be striving for.

You’ll likely need to engage in more than one lead generation tactic. If this is the case, start with the most cost effective approach and work your way up. Once you’re generating all the leads you need, stick with this plan (until it stops working!).

If you target a finite, defined market, use direct marketing tactics. As an example, if your segment consists of 500 businesses in a local geographical area, target them directly rather than through mass means. The chances of you connecting with your prospect are much greater, and it’s typically more cost effective.

If possible, use targeted or niche vehicles (e.g. specialized publications) to reach your audience. The better defined the target audience for a particular communications medium, the better.

Make sure your lead generation tactics work with each other. Don’t view them as disparate events. They should be a well planned group of activities that leverage each other. As an example, if you’re attending a trade show, you may send information before the show. You should also use this opportunity to direct as many prospects as possible to your web site, and your web site should have information about the trade show and what they can expect if they visit you. All your tactics should work together.

Networking is an excellent way to generate leads, but you’ll have to go beyond networking if you want to grow a significant business. It’s a good place to start (low cost, easy to execute), but at some point you’ll likely have to engage in other tactics.

Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals - referrals can be an excellent source of leads. However, you must systemize the referral process if you want it to produce predictable results.

The key to lead generation is consistent execution. “Hit and miss” won’t work - you need to consistently execute over time. This is why you need to develop a one year marketing communications schedule and measure the results. The goal is to build momentum with your lead generation efforts.

The bottom line

Lead generation must be treated as an investment with an objective of optimizing the return. The more insight you have about prospects and competitors, and what works and doesn’t work, the more effective your lead generation tactics will be – and the higher the return.

The key to keeping your sales pipeline full - develop a lead generation plan, measure results, consistently execute and NEVER STOP!
 

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