Any Good Lead Generation/Prospecting Tools?

[wuebben]

As a small business owner who has had some success on the web, I have been able to rely almost exclusively on leads generated online, those who have clicked on our site and asked for more information or a quote. Due to our high rankings for our keyword phrases in natural search, its been a fairly easy, reliable sales channel.

But now, we are looking to grow quite a bit, bringing on new sales people and as a result, need to grow sales opportunities offline, whether through cold calls, referals, using lists, etc.. Im definitley not a sales expert, so wanted to ask everyones advise.

Are there some good Lead Generation and prospecting programs/ideas/vendors out there? How about list vendors? I guess Im a little alien to the whole idea because Ive had the luxury of relying on web leads that come right into my inbox. Its probably put my at a disadvantage, made me a little lazy.

Any help or ideas on this topic would be appreciated!

[radiogirl]

Personally, I would suggest increasing traffic to your site with a pay per click campaign or ramping up your web efforts in some other way rather than searching for ways like cold-calling to generate leads.

In most industries, cold calling doesn't generate enough results to make the effort worthwhile. It seldom leads to good prospects and often wastes the time of both the salesperson and the potential client (or non-client as they so often turn out to be...because honestly - if they have time for you or your salesperson on a cold call, how likely are they to have the cash for what you are selling or to be able to make the buying decision?)

Those who come to a website or call a business looking for information are already looking for what you have...they're pre-qualified to an extent.

Whereas cold calling, whether on a planned geographic scale or using a list broker - will net you tons of people who aren't interested and/or not in the right stage of they buying cycle.

Unless you are just cold calling to drop off a flyer or teaser to get the decision maker to contact you or buying an email list of potential prospects for an email campaign...it's often a wasted effort.

You could jumpstart things by offering a referral bonus to satisfied customers or good network partners in similar or related fields.

HTH.

[wuebben]

thank you! appreciate the ideas

Jon

[Cap]

How involved are you in networking?

Personally, I attend 3 networking events a week. 2 breakfasts and 1 lunch.

I receive a lot of referrals because people know who I am and what I do. Also, I reward those who help me. This may be through a referral of my own, or some sort of finders fee.

Networking is one of the most under used marketing method in sales. The reason is because it does take a lot of work. It will pay off though. It's one of those things that if "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours".