A good lead is worth its weight in gold in the sales world, and many sales firms will go to great lengths to generate quality leads that have a high chance of turning into real sales.
To this end, companies have increasingly started investing in lead generation software that will help them target prospects who are already interested in purchasing their products. By winnowing out people who are unlikely to ever buy, this helps ensure that a sales team’s time isn’t wasted on cold calling.
But getting high-quality leads is only the first step, and if you really want to generate serious business, you’ll need to invest just as much, if not more, into streamlining your process for turning a lead into a sale. Here are three tips that might help.
1. Acquire the Right Software Tools
Lead generation software has had a radical impact on the entire sales and marketing sector. But lead generation is only the beginning of what modern software platforms can offer — some of the latest breakthroughs have been in integrating lead generation with scripting aids, call recording and appointment-setting software.
If these features aren’t included in your current sales software, you should update your sales engagement platform so that it offers a full suite of modern sales tools.
2. Automate the Call Process
Time is money, and this is especially true in the world of sales where every minute not spent talking to a prospective client is time that could have been used better. An experienced salesperson is a fine-tuned selling machine, so minimizing the amount of time it takes to line up the next call is essential if you want to make the most of your team.
One way to do this is to automate the call process, so that the best lead is always the next one that pops up in the call list. When you automate calls, your sales team doesn’t have to waste time thinking about which number to go with next, and they spend as much time as possible on the phone with prospects.
3. Don’t Try to Close Immediately
Over the years, many salespeople have had once crucial acronym drilled into their heads: ABC, always be closing. And while it might seem natural in a fast-paced sales environment to want to cut to the chase, this isn’t always the best way to proceed.
A good lead can be put off by the hard-sell approach, and it can be worth your while to take things more slowly. Sales is ultimately about trust, and building trust with a prospect over time can yield better results than trying to close them right away.
One of the benefits of modern sales platforms is that they include the tools to help you track and stay engaged with prospects over a longer period of time, so you can cultivate your leads without having to worry about them falling through the cracks.
Converting leads into sales has always been a major challenge for sales teams everywhere, which is one of the reasons why the Internet has so much advice on the subject. Fortunately, salespeople have more tools than ever before to help them get to “yes,” so if you want to make your team more competitive, finding the software that will empower them should be priority one.