Generate Leads to Electrify Your Sales

Establishing a healthy pipeline of qualified leads will supercharge your sales funnel.

Sales start with you. Lead generation is crucial to a successful sales strategy, and it’s important to be proactive in finding local leads who are looking for your business.

Easier said than done, right? Not necessarily.

Generating leads is important, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be complicated. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re a seasoned pro, we’ll explore how to generate leads with a winning sales funnel strategy.

The Spark that Generates Leads

So, what exactly is lead generation, and what does it mean to a sales strategy? More importantly, why should you give a hoot?

Simply put, Lead generation is a set of actions your business takes to attract potential customers. Your approach to lead generation will depend on your industry, and your sales strategy will be tailored to you, your business, and the area you service. There are all kinds of different leads to discover.

For example, real estate and home services will require a lead generation strategy that stays close to home, yielding leads more likely to want to work with you.

You can target these prospects with tools and smart data use, creating a winning multi-channel marketing strategy. For example, to generate a lead from your ideal customer, you might follow these steps:

1. Target them with demographic information.
2. Send them direct mail marketing with a QR Code.
3. Direct the future customer to your website.
4. Nuture that relationship with steady communication.

It takes a process to steadily generate leads, so if you find that one part of your strategy isn’t working, don’t be afraid to adjust until you get the results you’re looking for. Here are some building blocks to help you build a winning approach.

Create Awareness — Your customers need your business, but they won’t be looking for you unless they know you exist.

Educate — You’re here to solve problems that your customers might have. Let them know how and why you’re the best at it.

Build Trust — Demonstrate you know your stuff. Make customers comfortable working with you.

Focus on Sales — Find a way to sell your product or service. This might sound pretty basic, but it is your main goal and is important to keep in mind.

Stay in Mind — A sale might not happen right away. If this is the case, try to stay in your customers’ minds for the next time they might need you.

You hold the power of your sales when you generate leads for your business and strategize your marketing campaigns. Once you know who your ideal client is, you can build a robust lead generation strategy and target your marketing to suit their needs.

Sometimes, your ideal client isn’t quite ready to sign on the dotted line and make the sale. But that doesn’t mean you should write them off. On the contrary, they are on just a single step on a staircase of decisions it will take to work with you. This staircase is often called a sales funnel.

Sales Funnel 101

Your client will go on a journey before they decide to work with you. They begin by gaining awareness of your brand and conclude by completing a sale to become a customer. When you generate leads for your sales funnel, you start your customer’s journey.

In a perfect world, every qualified lead you generate will enter your funnel and come out the other side a happy customer, but that’s not always the case. The sales funnel can either lead to a sale, or it could end with the lead deciding you’re not quite the right fit.

However, the more you generate leads, the higher the probability you’ll find the right clients from those qualified and local leads with a well-structured sales funnel.

A sales funnel is made up of 3 basic parts:

Sales Funnel Top – Awareness

This is where your local and qualified leads notice your brand, product, or service. This awareness can come from a number of different avenues, but by far the most important will be lead generation and outreach. You can use content such as blogs, podcasts, direct mail, ads, and more. You can even use word of mouth and other organic channels.

Sales Funnel Middle – Consideration

You’ve got a warm prospect in your sales funnel, now what? After your lead generation strategy does its thing, you should have an open avenue of communication with your potential client, like their mailbox, inbox, or phone number.

The marketing process can now begin by convincing your qualified lead to work with you. Explain how your services can make their lives better, solve one of their problems, or offer them value.

Middle sales funnel marketing can look like this:

• Real estate agents send direct mail postcards with the addressee’s current home value.
• A roofing company sends emails to its client list with tips on how to maintain gutters.
• An insurance agent makes a post on social media about resources after a big storm.

Things that help clients want to reach out to your business take your qualified leads one step closer to becoming customers. Even if you don’t get a sale right away, you’ll make an impression for the next time you generate interest in that lead, and they’re more ready to work with you.

You can always add value when you generate leads the next time around with testimonials, case studies, and other educational content. Try to remove any hesitation from your client to close that sale.

Sales Funnel Base – Decision

Now it’s time for your qualified lead to make a choice. Should they work with you, or not? You might think this is the part where you stand back and let the chips fall where they may, but there is still marketing work to be done to nudge your lead toward becoming a customer.

Actively incentivize tentative clients with a special offer or discount, or add an additional feature or service to entice them. Success will not only get you a new customer, but also a possible referral and repeat business. Loyalty is another marketing strategy you can employ with the base of your funnel.

This decision stage is crucial. Your lead will be comparing pricing and services between you and your competitors. This is the best time to make your best offer to secure their business with a few incentives.

Generate Leads with These Tools of the Sales Funnel Trade

Your funnel might seem like a lot to manage, but not to worry; there are a lot of tools out there to help you keep your sales funnel flowing.

A CRM, or Customer Relationship Management software, helps you keep track of past, current, and future customers and nurture connections with them.

An analytics dashboard gives you a visual of key metrics, insights, and leads.

Data is the key to generating leads and growing your client lists.

A smart strategy, data, and the right tools can boost your business and help you stay in control of your funnel and generate the leads you need to succeed.

Ready to get started?

Xpressdocs has decades of experience helping enterprises of all sizes succeed. With innovative features that help you market smarter, intuitive products that generate leads, and comprehensive data to get you in touch with your clients, XD is here to take your brand to the next level. Contact us today!