Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it.
with Alexi Boyd from Boyd Office Management Services
Date: 20 February 2018
Last time we had Gary on the show he taught us all about the importance of sales and how to improve your sales technique with new and existing clients.
In a second of this series, our Sales expert Gary Loewensohn will be sharing with us Top Tips to improve Lead Generation and a small business. And loads of them are FREE!
Welcome back to the show Gary and thanks for coming back on the show to share more of your insight into small business sales techniques and lead generation.
Topics we’ll be covering:
- Lead generation success factors
- Key point is that in my own experience and what I see across my consulting peers is that there is no one technique that is a winning technique. So this means we all need a blended approach to lead generation utilising all means available to us. Email, cold calls, referrals, Inmail on LinkedIn & LinkedIn referrals Facebook, etc,.
- Its an industry proven fact that getting through to your prospect in a B2B engagement can take as many as 12-14 touch points for a senior exec in a larger business so persistence is key to success. I see business that say I called 3 or 4 times and gave up. This means that they only achieved 25-33% of the activity required to connect with a possible lead. For a smaller business I think 5-6 touch points is more realistic to connect with an owner or MD. Of course, you need to mindful of not pestering someone so using your better judgement on when to stop based on the size of organisation and level of contact you are chasing.
- Messaging of communications needs to show a promise of value and be tailored to the customer you are approaching. Generic approaches of any type look exactly like that are swiftly dealt with. You and I do it every day. So, you need to be personalised in the approach and have engagement.
- Target contact/s. Who are you best approaching. Is it the ultimate decision maker or an influencer or perhaps both independently? Careful consideration on this one as the approaches may be very different but cannot undermine one another.
- Sales Strategies using these outbound techniques to drive results
- Email - Email addresses can mostly be found be found using browser plugins for chrome like Lusha for LinkedIn , Hunter for websites etc, simply asking switch for email address or just guessing the extension.
- LinkedIn - Inmail can only be used on paid version of LinkedIn but is essentially an email to a person through the LinkedIn platform.
- Phone - So many are afraid of it but still a favourite when used in a blended approach. If you are following up on email or Inmail it makes the call a lot warmer than a cold call.
- scripting of content (The most important component of all)
- Promise of value and customised to the target
- Research the customer through web / LinkedIn / FB/ other contacts
- Ensure your content and approach aligns with the value the customer would want to see from the product or service you are offering. Don't just pitch your product.
- Think about the emails / calls you get and which ones engage you and keep you reading or listening. Ask people you know to give feedback on how they see your approach.
Indecision, procrastination and overthinking things are such inhibitors to lead generation.
You just need to get started. And yes you will need revisit and re-shape your approaches as you
go but the key is to make a start.
And as always…. Don’t forget to Keep your reps happy!
To find out more go to their website: http://www.yoursalesmanager.net.au
Free plugins
Lusha – finding contact detrails up to 5 people per month
Hunter – emails on the website found
Hobspot – great CRM program
Yesware – tracks emails sent