Generating leads for your company is one of the most important parts of keeping your sales funnel running; your product or service might be the best in the market, but if you don’t have a well-thought out lead generation process, it will hardly reach the interested customers. Last year, we talked a little about what lead acquisition was and how it has improved the way we catch our customer’s attention.
If you already know the basics of how lead generation works, then you may be thinking that the amount of work it requires to create a single lead is too much. Worry not, we have designed this post just for you.
Creating and managing leads is all about finding the right tools and techniques to optimize the process; Read on and learn the essentials of automated lead generation.
How to Effectively Harvest Automated Leads for Your Company
Lead generation is the process of attracting potential customers to your product or service. Even when every business has a product to sell, the process of catching someone’s attention is practically the same; firstly, you need to identify your target prospects. Here are some simple strategies to identify them:
- ChatBot: A 24/7 sales rep is a must-have on any website. ChatBots can be programmed to ask the right questions to sort and choose quality leads for you, as well as store contact information that can be used by live reps to reach out to the customer. The AI allows you to even classify leads for sales reps based on location, level of experience, etc.
- Web forms: This is a basic part of generating leads in a non-invasive way. The form must be somewhere on your web page where it is visible, but not big enough to overshadow it. It should request the basic information needed to reach out, and specific inquiries that give your reps an idea of what to offer.
- Landing pages and Calls-To-Action: Even having multiple channels available like the ones above is not enough because, let’s be honest, not a lot of people are willing to give their info just like that. With these tools, the lead is generated by an exchange of information. “Subscribe to our newsletter and receive our complete guide on how to outsource,” or “Still not sure how automated services might benefit your customer service department? Click here to get in touch with a representative via live chat and start planning a framework” are just a couple of examples how you can easily generate leads.
- Optimize your content for search engines: In order to be relevant for prospects, you need to provide relevant information, not only for your prospects but for the search engine they use. Keywords play an important role in this; People won’t find you if you’re not talking about something of their interest, so highlighting the correct key words is the first step. Also, not all prospects are looking to make a purchase, and in reality, most of them are looking for information on a product or service, so you need to provide that info, instead of bombarding them with offers before they’re ready.
- Customer referrals: Referrals are a big part of generating B2B leads, and while it might not sound like a process you can automate, it totally is. What better way of selling your product than a happy customer advocating for it? An email contacting past or present customers and inviting them to recommend your product might do the trick.
I Have my Possible Prospects, Now What?
After you have your prospects, it is critical to nurture your relationship with them, and automation can give you a hand with this. You could have different reach-out emails for different types of prospects, that way you have more chances to create bonds.
Customers that have explicitly shown interest in your product will try to reach out to you, so don’t keep them waiting! Contact them, provide a demo, schedule an appointment… the most important part of a sales relationship is not the seller, but the buyer. Letting them know you are as interested as they are will surely increase the chances of closing the deal.
There are customers who haven’t contacted you but have shown interest in what you offer, especially in b2b lead generation. Whether it is by visiting your web page, subscribing to your newsletter, or following your media platforms, these prospects have a big potential to become purchasers. Reach out, provide extra resources that might interest them, and let them know you are eager to hear from them.
You might also find companies that you have no connection with but that you know are facing an issue your product can solve. You might have found them because they have similarities with other businesses you work with, or you might’ve been referred to them as a result of another great customer experience. It’s time to show them what you offer, let them know how you have helped other customers based on real cases, and why your service is the best in the market.
After this, it is important to keep track of your prospects’ process in order to keep your pipeline flowing, but it sounds easier than it is. The reality is that one sales representative will be in charge of caring for several prospects, so taking the load off the first step avoids losing time with cold leads, spending days or weeks chasing an unfit prospect, or signing contracts for less than your product deserves.
We hope this article has given you an idea of how automated lead generation tools can help your business get the attention it needs to be the preferred option. Contact us so we can start developing a customized marketing plan for your company.
About the Author: Neal Topf
