What Does Every Salesperson Need More Of?

I have seldom met a sales­per­son who had enough leads. It’s almost always the opposite. Many sales­peo­ple spend more time prospect­ing for leads than they do actually con­sult­ing or selling. Most sales­peo­ple could use more “at bats”. A sales­per­son can improve their pro­duc­tion without improving their pre­sen­ta­tion skills, product knowledge, or sales tech­niques by simply increas­ing their number of leads.

3 Ways To Get More Leads

Last year, on a road trip with a sales rep­re­sen­ta­tive, I showed him how to cold call. We drove around Memphis, intro­duced ourselves to dozens — and in two days — found seven prospects who wanted pricing. There is a place for tra­di­tional prospect­ing such as mailers and cold calling, but there are other over­looked lead gen­er­a­tion tools which can be very effective.

Using Social Media — Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn aren’t only for social­iz­ing, looking for a job, or staying up on your industry — They are a valuable source of leads. Other sites like Flickr, YouTube, and Pinterest can all be pro­duc­tive lead gen­er­a­tion networks.

Attending Net­work­ing Events — While getting my feet wet in a new position, I attended 3–4 net­work­ing events per week for over 1½ year. By doing this over time, I’ve met hundreds of potential clients, sent prospects to our sales teams, and landed contracts. This was accom­plished by offering help, not by pushing our product.

Pre­sent­ing to Groups — One of our sales con­sul­tants, Jason Scheurer, gave a pre­sen­ta­tion to 30+ customers at another printing facility last week. He talked about the types of graphics we offer that the other shop doesn’t. Last May, TKO held a National Sales Meeting and invited our asso­ciates from all over the country to attend two days of training seminars – we already have orders from both. Also, we present to lead­er­ship and social media groups at least once a month.

These three lead gen­er­a­tion tech­niques aren’t pie in the sky; they aren’t “the­o­ret­i­cal” sources of leads; they are not something to try because it’s the new thing — heck, two of them are pretty old-fashioned methods. These are lead sources that work for us. Do you have enough leads? What lead gen­er­a­tion sources have worked for you?

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