Sales & Marketing Management - July/August 2008 - (Page 9)

SALES STRATEGY [By Mark Sneider] A BETTER WAY TO GENERATE LEADS Take an honest look at your resources, then maximize them hether it be an insurance agency, financial institution, advertising agency, manufacturing firm, law firm or other business, your organization may not be as well-equipped to generate lifeblood leads as you think. Simply having your sales team drum up leads while they’re busy trying to manage existing clients or in the throes of presenting to new ones—or relying on you, the president or principal, to do it when you have to focus on managing the business—isn’t going to be the most effective or efficient way to manage the lead generation process. That said, if you do opt for an internal lead generation program, there are five best practices that can give yours a substantial boost. Each is a critical step toward building solid pipelines of new business opportunities for your organization. W ing and positioning. Consider this: Advertising agency principals (folks you think would “get it”) will more often than not say the same things when asked what makes them different. Before any prospecting is done, it’s necessary to develop a brand story—a communications strategy that highlights your organization’s “reasons to believe.” These define what really makes a firm different. That differentiation could be expertise, process, insights or some other dimension, or a combination of these. The key is being objective, or bringing in a group that can take an objective look at your world. Once you create this communications strategy, carry it throughout every touch point: letter copy, advertising, public relations, key talking points for your new business manager and (crucially) Web copy. One must be able to see the big picture and navigate through the changes needed to ensure consistency in marketing communications. 1. Be marketing-centric. Before you hand over the reigns to just anybody, establish a clear, concise and well-differentiated message for your brand. Without it, what will you say when the prospect asks, “Why should I consider you?” Most heads of organizations don’t know how to look at their businesses objectively when it comes to marketwww.salesandmarketingmanagement.com 2. Be consistent. Returning to an earlier point, asking salespeople to sell and manage accounts while trying to generate leads will not prove successful to the Mark Sneider is the president of LeadArchitects, an outsourced lead generation and sales firm. He can be reached via e-mail at msneider@leadarchitects.com. JULY/AUGUST 2008 SALES &MARKETING MANAGEMENT 9 http://www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sales & Marketing Management - July/August 2008

Sales & Marketing Management - July/August 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Brian Tracy University Smart Sales Sales Strategy Smart Marketing Marketing Strategy Smart Management Management Strategy The Mother Lode of All Market Data Returns Embracing the Future Training Technology Incentives/Motivation Don't Become a Target Abroad Book Excerpt On the Road The Way I See It

Sales & Marketing Management - July/August 2008

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