Lead generation

What Does Good Lead Generation Look Like?

In a basic definition lead generation is best described as the action or process of identifying and cultivating potential customers for a business' products or services. At face value, the definition is not complicated.

Good Lead Generation is ensuring that you are attracting the right buyers for your products/services and it is critical to the sales process that this is done at the right time. 

The following is the sort of feedback that we commonly hear from sales team:

"These leads are tyre kickers"

"This enquiry didn't even know what we sell or do"

To improve the leads and enquires from your website, you need to understand the Buyer's Journey . 

What is the buyer's journey?

The buyer’s journey is the process buyers go through to become aware of, evaluate, and purchase a new product or service. The journey is a three-step process:

1. Awareness Stage: The buyer realizes they have a problem.
2. Consideration Stage: The buyer defines their problem and researches options to solve it.
3. Decision Stage: The buyer chooses a solution.

By defining and understanding the different stages of your buyer's journey you will be able to help people buy your products and/or services. Your online content and messaging can be tailored to each stage of the buyer's journey and your sales processes aligned with these stages - often called lead nurturing.

"Don't sell.......help people buy"

Buyers don’t want to be prospected, demoed, or closed.  A salesperson, can personalize the sales process to the buyer’s context by understanding the buyer’s journey.

How do you qualify leads that are generated?

Perhaps you have seen or read the abbreviations for lead types out there called MQL and SQL. The meaning of these are Marketing Qualified Leads and Sales Qualified Leads.

A brief description of these are:

• A Marketing Qualified Lead is a lead judged more likely to become a customer compared to other leads based on lead intelligence, often informed by closed-loop analytics. These leads are usually considered to be early in the buyer's journey.  
• A Sales Qualified Leads is a prospective customer that has been researched and vetted - first by an organization's marketing department and then by its sales team – and is deemed ready for the next stage in the sales process. These leads are usually considered towards the end of the buyer's journey and are ready to buy.

"The businesses that have a steady stream of qualified leads that know your product or services and are ready to purchase, are the ideal leads for your sales team to be working with for best results"