Without new business your corporation will close its doors forever sooner or later. Thirty years ago consumers didn’t have as many choices available as we do today. It was easy for the old school ad agencies to develop a following for a certain brand. In the early days of television, brands like King Gilette owned the airways. They sponsored the shows, flighted commercials, and literally owned the networks.
Today, getting new leads isn’t always easy. Consumers are inundated with marketing messages and generally tune out anything that smells like a sales ploy. So the easy answer to get more leads is to develop the most loved products in your category. This is the purple cow theory. And it’s correct; but it’s not always easy to turn the R&D aircraft carrier. Another easy answer is to spend more on marketing/branding/advertising. Again, not a bad component, as long as its part of a greater strategy. If you can afford it. Unfortunately only the top brands in the world can truly spend enough money on mass marketing to sway the general public.
If you’re responsible for sales today, the best way to generate leads is to become known as an expert in your industry. This doesn’t mean that you know more about your products and services than anyone else. I want you to become the person that is sought out when a customer has a problem to fix in your specialty. Lead generation, and sales, is not about who you know. It’s about who knows you.
So how do you become known as an expert you ask? The foundation of becoming an expert starts in elementary school. Start writing. Honing your ability to write so that you can solve business pain points, without overtly recommending your solution, will position you as an industry specialist. Get in front of your audience and present. Whether its industry tradeshows or local business groups, if you’re in front of the audience, you’re the expert – as long as your content is valued.
It will take time, but the long term benefits are too enormous to ignore. Cold calling may get you in the door once in one hundred calls. But you’ve also just irritated ninety nine other prospects. Not a good ROI (return on investment). Your time is much better spent writing and speaking. No one likes to be sold. But all of us like to buy. You have to create a buying environment. In retail, you don’t have Banana Republic or Adidas calling you to try on their merchandise unless your a Hollywood celebrity. Sure they entice you to come in, but you already know what stores you’re going to shop at regardless of what flyers are in the Sunday paper. A B2B sale isn’t much different. When you’re recognized as a problem solving industry expert, people want to buy from you. And when people want to buy, price is not an issue. You’ve elevated above the competition and that’s a profitable position.
Nick Rice
I agree that sales is a lot easier if people consider you a valuable resource instead of just a vendor. I would like to point out though that if your cold calling is annoying 99% of the people you talk to and only generating 1% leads, you are really doing it wrong. Properly done, cold calling will convert 20% to 98% into leads, (Yes, 98%, really) and annoy no one. Do the calls sound like the ones you get most often? Probably not. But then most people aren’t an expert at cold calling. Cold calling should be a productive, positive experience. Most people just do it wrong is all.
Nice post. As a CPA in Huntington Beach I find I get more prospects if I target a specific industry and appear to be an expert in that industry. Accounting work is competitive and this often give me the edge. Thanks for your insight.