Every single call you make in a lead generation and appointment setting campaign has unique and intrinsic value to your overall efforts. That’s right, even the people who tell you to buzz off! Those less-than-warm prospects are especially valuable.
Sure, leads are the primary focus. They should be.
But why not view that “No” as a potential “Yes” in the future?
In reality, “No” conversations are priceless interactions with long-term prospects. So instead of discarding these conversations as you would leftovers from Taco Tuesday dinner, turn them into a tasty taco salad that would make Chipotle jealous.
Check out these five tips to help you gain more value from your lead generation and appointment setting programs:
#1 Determine contact suitability and update your data.
Ask prospects who may not be interested in your offering questions to determine if they are even suitable for your offering. Sure, asking follow-up questions sounds simple, but many companies overlook that and simply focus on whether or not they are a lead.
This is also an opportunity to update the data on file for that prospect by making sure phone numbers, titles, interests, and other contact details are current.
#2 Have a compelling content offer—and an extra one in your back pocket.
Many prospects are either not buying today or do not necessarily want to take the time to talk with a sales person. In these cases, having a secondary offer of a compelling piece of content focused on an industry topic is a great way to start a relationship. Have your telemarketing or inside sales teams offer to send this secondary piece of content to anyone who is not interested in buying today.
This will give your lead generation team an opportunity to follow up again to find out if the prospect liked the piece and then offer even more content. This process could potentially create a future buyer.
#3 Ask which publications your prospect reads, how they get industry information, and which trade shows they attend.
The information to these inquiries is worth capturing even if you think you know the answer. While the big trade shows and publications are obvious, there may be others that are new to you.
As you track this information over a period of time, you can make sure your lead generation representatives are trained on those topics of interest, as well as the latest trends. It will also provide your marketing team with insight on where to focus their efforts.
#4 Ask prospects to follow you on social media.
Every suitable contact should be offered the chance to follow your company on social media. Of course, this assumes you have social feeds that offer valuable industry information, not just sales messages.
If your business has these platforms, encouraging your non-leads to follow you subtly engages a prospect with your social marketing efforts. It also positions your firm as a thought leader and will help build awareness of your brand for your next lead generation call.
#5 Find out what solution or provider the prospect is using today.
Finding out what solutions the prospect currently uses is a great way to customize future sales pitches. If you discover their current solutions, you can tailor your future messaging to their unique needs and compare your own solution against theirs.
This is easier for most sales reps to do if they have detailed information on these factors prior to their calls (hence the need to always update your data!)
Now, about that offer...
That's what we thought. Start capturing more value from your efforts and let us know how you are doing!
Interested in learning more about the benefits of lead nurturing and progression? Check out our white paper and explore more tactics that can increase lead conversion rates by upwards of 44%.
