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Most sales training books and courses spend a lot of time on closing the sale, but very little time is spent on discussing the leads that, well, lead to those sales.  Every sales process begins with generating leads, so the more you know about sales leads, the more profitable your small business can be. 

Can you count the number of leads you received over the past 30 days? The quality leads that are the most probable to end up in a sale are usually easy for people to name, but a great deal of other probably leads are actually lost each month. 

What’s the big deal?  Because a company spends so much time and money to get leads, the more you know about them, the more profitable the business will become.  Would you find it worth it to learn something more about your leads if you were able to cut the time you spend getting leads, or even better marketing costs? 

First, you need to be able to track specific information about how you get leads.  Here are some things to consider: 

1. What is the main venue through which you get your leads? A “pre-lead” is really just a prospect, for example a website visitor or someone you shake hands with at a meet-up group.  Identify your main sources for gathering prospects, such as the Internet, trade shows, networking events, or direct advertising.

2. What “specific sources” do your leads come from? For example, specific sources could be a particular trade show, an online blog a direct advertising campaign, an existing client referral or a pay per click advertising campaign.

3. Finally, what is the quality value for each of the leads you receive from those general sources and specific sources?  The best way I have found to pinpoint this is to assign a percent value to each lead.  So, if a lead actually results in a sale, it receives a higher percentage value than one that expressed interest but didn’t get past the proposal stage.

You will be able to spend your marketing budget and your time much more efficiently once you understand where you leads come from and the quality of those leads. 

Get more small business success strategies and claim your free white paper: “7 Ways Your Stone-Age Accounting System is Stealing Money From You Every Day … And, How to Get it Back This Year”  to learn about an online accounting program that makes it simple to track your leads and conversion rates.

Most sales training books and courses spend a lot of time on closing the sale, but very little time is spent on discussing the leads that, well, lead to those sales.  Every sales process begins with generating leads, so the more you know about sales leads, the more profitable your small business can be. 

Can you count the number of leads you received over the past 30 days? The quality leads that are the most probable to end up in a sale are usually easy for people to name, but a great deal of other probably leads are actually lost each month. 

What’s the big deal?  Because a company spends so much time and money to get leads, the more you know about them, the more profitable the business will become.  Would you find it worth it to learn something more about your leads if you were able to cut the time you spend getting leads, or even better marketing costs? 

First, you need to be able to track specific information about how you get leads.  Here are some things to consider: 

1. What is the main venue through which you get your leads? A “pre-lead” is really just a prospect, for example a website visitor or someone you shake hands with at a meet-up group.  Identify your main sources for gathering prospects, such as the Internet, trade shows, networking events, or direct advertising.

2. What “specific sources” do your leads come from? For example, specific sources could be a particular trade show, an online blog a direct advertising campaign, an existing client referral or a pay per click advertising campaign.

3. Finally, what is the quality value for each of the leads you receive from those general sources and specific sources?  The best way I have found to pinpoint this is to assign a percent value to each lead.  So, if a lead actually results in a sale, it receives a higher percentage value than one that expressed interest but didn’t get past the proposal stage.

You will be able to spend your marketing budget and your time much more efficiently once you understand where you leads come from and the quality of those leads. 

Get more small business success strategies and claim your free white paper: “7 Ways Your Stone-Age Accounting System is Stealing Money From You Every Day … And, How to Get it Back This Year”  to learn about an online accounting program that makes it simple to track your leads and conversion rates.

While most books on sales training or classes do a good job covering closing a sale, few cover sales leads.  Every sales process begins with generating leads, so the more you know about sales leads, the more profitable your small business can be. 

How many leads did you get last month? The quality leads that are the most probable to end up in a sale are usually easy for people to name, but a great deal of other probably leads are actually lost each month. 

Why does it matter?  A huge amount of a company’s resources (both time and money) are spent generating leads that will hopefully result in sales, and the better you understand where and how you get those leads, the better off your business will be.  Would you find it worth it to learn something more about your leads if you were able to cut the time you spend getting leads, or even better marketing costs? 

Your first action plan is to create a way to track key information about the ways that you generate your leads.  Below are some questions to ask to get started: 

1. What main sources did your leads come from? Before a lead becomes a lead, they are only prospects – someone who visits your website or that you meet at a networking group.  Note those places that you pick up prospects, for example your website, advertising, networking events or tradeshows.

2. What “specific sources” do your leads come from? Organic search, PPC, a specific networking event, another website, response to a blog post on someone else’s blog, or a specific advertising campaign are all examples of specific lead sources.

3. Finally, what is the quality value for each of the leads you receive from those general sources and specific sources?  I have found that this is easiest to derive by assigning a percentage value to every lead received from a source.  So a lead that is just kicking the tires gets a lower percentage value assignment than one that you send a proposal to or even ultimately sell.

Once you know where your best leads originate, you will find you are able to spend your marketing dollars and your time much more efficiently. 

Get more small business success strategies and claim your free white paper: “7 Ways Your Stone-Age Accounting System is Stealing Money From You Every Day … And, How to Get it Back This Year”  to learn about an online accounting program that makes it simple to track your leads and conversion rates.