Cold-Calling & Referral – Best Sales Lead Generation Techniques

Sales lead generation is a key step in sales management process. Marketing firms need to gain sufficient information about their sales prospects before the actual lead generation process can be kick started.

B2C

One of the time tested yet grueling methods of lead generation is cold-calling. Most sales people are averse to it because of the lukewarm to negative replies that they get in return. In the actual cold-calling process, the sales person simply advertises for the product. When talking about the product or service, the he must be able to assess whether the person can be a potential prospect for the sales effort.

The real effort must be involved in asking questions to derive the need. And once all questions are answered, the next step would be to seek the person’s attention, just like a TV advertisement. Cold calling must be treated as one-to-one advertising to understand how it works. The call must focus on bringing the prospects attention to something lucrative and worthwhile, for which there is a dire need.

There are many limitations in the cold-calling method; the primary one being – negative responses. But, no one can take complete responsibility for a negative answer. This is because no one knows whether that person really needs or wants the product. Even if it is a need, most people are reluctant to make purchases for various monetary reasons. The only amend that can be made here is in the way the prospects are convinced about the use of the product.

In cold calling, the number of calls made can be used to judge the efficiency of lead generation. It is advisable for the sales rep to set targets for each day or week and work towards making successful business deals.

B2B

The highest quality sales deals can be made with the complementary referral scheme. In B2B businesses, friendships forged between sales reps of companies in same business can work in the long run for generating successful sales leads. A good example is when a software firm and hardware firm tie up for business deals. The formers customers can be made the latter’s business clients through simple word-of-mouth referral scheme. Online business directory listing can also help in finding appropriate sales prospects.

Conclusion

Both these marketing scenarios require people who can speak convincingly about the quality of the product and how it can satisfy the prospect’s needs. Once sales lead generation is successful, the other phases in sales management can be carried out with ease.