Friday, December 28, 2012

Lead generation and maturation

Lots of companies use their marketing teams to generate leads, but after the sales team picks out the most promising leads, the rest of the list gets put in file 13.  

There are some leads that will never pan out, i.e. they thought CRO meant Contract Research Organization and I could help them with research for their clinical trial.  However, most leads just aren't ready yet.

It is difficult to capture leads who are perfectly ripe.  You almost have to have inside information to find these leads.  Because companies who are ready to pull the trigger have likely been sitting on the problem for a while, they have already done their research, made their opinions, and know what they want.

Most leads for website Conversion Rate Optimization (my version of CRO), know they have a problem but don't know the best way to fix it.  Either their website isn't performing as well as their store front or they need to grow the business.  At this early stage, there are a number of available options.  Increase presence on search engines (SEO), increase spend on ads (PPC), increase social marketing efforts (SMM/SMO), or increase the effectiveness of their conversion funnel (CRO).  

Since CRO is the new division of the neighborhood, it is my job to help people understand what CRO is and how it can help them.  Only after they understand where CRO fits into the overall strategy will they be able to make an informed decision.  Since I am the one who helped them understand the landscape and form their opinions, more often than not, my name comes to the top of their list when they are ready to pull the trigger.

Keeping your leads alive, even the less promising ones, and helping them mature to the point of purchasing your services is not the quick way to get new business, but it is the best way to ensure strong growth for years to come.

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