What’s a Lead To You?

 

Teleprospecting / Telemarketing / Telesales For the Print Industry I remember the days when I would walk into the shop to the sound of kechunk kechunk kechunk as the Heidelberg and Solna would be running. If the smell of ink and the sound of the feeders grabbing the sheets was not filling the air there was a problem. It would be a problem that really happened 3 mouths earlier, but no one thought about the sales cycle back then and heaven forbid if we understood a sales funnel. Now here we are climbing out of covid and if you had not done anything about marketing in the last 3 months, the question becomes how to generate leads for your business NOW? Are you hold your own or desperately looking to expand your company in this covid time? Good economy or bad, generating leads for your print business, let alone those with print orders can be a difficult lengthy process. However, it is the foundation that helps grow a business, creating a steady stream of sales leads. It can be a bit challenging finding a system that works, so I ask you, why work so hard when I have already created a system which could provide you a steady stream of sales leads?   What’s a Lead? A lead or what I call a suspect, is essentially a potential customer that hasn’t purchased or used your services, yet. A good lead shows interest in your services and can be thought of as prospective client. No lead is ever totally dead. It is amazing how they can come out of the blue even after you stopped calling on them. They might still have your business card or still get your newsletter or email and low and behold the stars line up and they call you. Gong back to the basic question what is a lead? They can be identified in different ways, including Social Media Service/Product Trials Consultations Marketing  Networking & Outreach Teleprospecting So the question arises, how you can generate a leads list for your business. Niche or Know Your Target Audience In order to successfully reach out to gain leads, which is what we here at Larson & Associates are all about, you need to identify your target audience. Knowing the target audience of your business gives you an idea on the ideal type of customers you want to have. The more ideal names in your funnel the faster you sign up or get new business. Research your audience, from their characteristics to the problems they face. Questions to keep in mind: What type of consumer are they?  Where are they located?  What kind of industry are they in?  What is their main problem and how does your service help them solve it? Once you have a stronger understanding of your target audience, it’s easier to narrow down what will successfully reach your leads. Know them. Love them. Understand their pain and what makes them happy. Prospects run from pain and run to pleasure so use this to your advantage, We do. Effective Engagement While cold calling isn’t hard, it certainly is not always an easy technique to find new business, and yet it does work with the right people and sources. Whether you’re speaking to someone on the phone or in person, how you present yourself can make a big difference in how it influences a prospect’s interest. Things to watch out for, when engaging with a potential lead is to pay attention to your tone. The tone of somebody’s voice can say a lot. The speed of your speech also matters; if you talk too fast, it just comes across as you’re in a rush and that you don’t really care about your time with the sales lead and just want to get it over with. Your confidence also says a lot about the value of you and your services. Sounding confidant can give the impression that you don’t believe in your services, so why should the sales lead? The key is to be confident, but not arrogant. Keep it professional and polite; at the same time be assertive in your goal, but don’t be too pushy or else it drives away sales leads. Finally, be knowledgeable. Ya you got to "Know your stuff" in order to be as informative as possible so that sales leads will have confidence in what you say.  Soft skills and hard fact skills. In sales you need both.  At the same time it is easier to  get up to speed in the hard facts of a business then the soft skills of reading people. And I'll bet you that we here at Larson & Associates can learn about the facts of your shop faster than you can learn the soft skills of phone prospecting. One last thing to remember, it is very important to keep your message consistent and deliver on what you promise. Better to under promise and over deliver. If you don't get this order, guess what? The one who did, who promised the moon is going to mess up if not this time, the next. Stay in touch because it will happen!  Success comes with trust and authenticity, and you’re more likely to gain the trust of a sales lead by being genuine and showing that you put a lot of value in providing the right print products for their business needs. How way you present yourself and the way you ask questions and talk to them says a lot about how good your print business is.    It is time for you to make one more call! Face it, wouldn't you would rather be making sales and running sales appointments than sitting at your desk and making phone call after phone call to find that one YES. I have a customer who makes more sales by taking customers golfing than any other way. So what do we do for him? We find other business owners who play golf and set up 18 holes. Fact is the lower his golf average the higher his sales average. AND he is happy! So pick-up that 100 pound phone to call for the help you want and make your last cold call to 847-991-1294. We will talk to you as a fellow sales person who has been down in the trenches looking for clients. Call us because. . .   We Know How! Larson & Associates We Make Good Businesses Great and Great Businesses Even Better Larson & Associates 3475 Steeplechase Way    Suite 101 Grayslake IL 60030 847-991-1294