I need more leads.
We’ve got to get new leads.
We need better leads!
We need to start a new lead generation campaign!
Those are magic words that you hear every single day when you’re working in the lead generation space.
Leads are the starting point of every sales process from small to big companies all around the world.
But what is a lead? What makes a lead a “good” lead, and how can you start generating leads?
What is a Lead?
A lead is basic contact information about a person that may be interested in a product or service that may result in a sale.
This usually consists of having the name, email address, and phone number of an individual.
The exact definition of a lead tends to vary between industries depending on their nature.
Leads for an online magazine subscription business, for example, are not the same as insurance company leads.
An online magazine company would require a name and an email address to start sending special offers and promotions to that potential customer.
In the case of an insurance company, they would likely require the name and phone number to contact the person over the phone or via SMS.
As a general guideline, the more information you can get from a lead the better. This way you’re able to pinpoint right away which ones have the best opportunity to convert into a potential customer (aka a sale). The more details a customer gives you, the more interest they likely have to purchase your product or service and the higher potential they have to convert.
We live in an era that constantly bombards consumers with a wealth of digital information. From cat videos to food recipes to celebrity gossip, consumers now have a lower attention span than ever before (8 seconds and ever-shrinking, to be exact).
Timing is important
Another important aspect of a good lead is the time it takes to be followed up on.
A lead that was generated a few minutes ago versus one that’s a month old have very different chances of conversion.
Speed-to-lead is an important concept in the lead generation space. As the name implies, you have better opportunities to close a sale from a lead generated recently vs an old lead.
This is because potential buyers are looking to solve their problems right away. The more time it takes you to contact them, the slimmer are your chances are to convert them to customers.
However, there are different contact strategies that can come into play, so while fresh new leads are generally the most sought after, there is still ample demand for older leads in the lead purchasing space as well.
For example, though fresh leads generally have a higher chance of conversion, they also sell for more as well. That’s why in the lead buying industry, many companies and marketers specifically seek cheaper older leads.
What is lead generation?
Let’s talk about generating leads.
In a nutshell, lead generation is the process in which consumers provide basic contact information so they may be contacted about goods and services in which they may be interested.
This is usually accomplished by having them fill out a form, subscribe to a newsletter, giving their name and/or email address in order to download or access exclusive content, completing a questionnaire, or doing a survey.
Laws and regulations such as TCPA are in place to ensure that businesses obtain customer consent when procuring data to discourage predatory practices. For those in the lead generation space, it starts and ends with consent. In fact, using data garnered without customer consent can result in fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions. The moral is, consent is sexy!
Autodialer for TCPA Compliance
See how Pipes.ai helps you stay compliant in your lead gen efforts.
Now let’s discuss the steps that you have to take in order to get the lead generation process running.
Lead Generation Process
First, you must define the goals and metrics you’re trying to meet.
Perhaps you want to increase the total amount of customers in your business within the next three months, or maybe you want to generate more sales for a specific product or service over the next holiday season.
Next, identify your audience and your target customer profile, their needs, their problems, and the solutions that you have to offer. The lead generation process goes hand in hand with a marketing plan; the clearer your objectives and audience, the better the results.
After you have this defined it’s time to move to strategy. How are you going to convince consumers to provide their information?
Lead Generation Strategy
While the words “lead generation strategy” may sound daunting, convincing leads to provide their data can actually be pretty simple!
You only need to identify how are you going to drive your potential customers to your landing pages or contact forms. These can be made through the following methods:
- Paid advertising on search engines (Google or Bing Ads)
- Paid advertising on social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, etc)
- Creating a compelling post on social networks that captures consumers’ attention
- Thorough SEO content on your website for organic search
- Using Facebook Lead Ads, a popular way to advertise on Facebook. Facebook Lead ads are simple to set up and make it easy for a potential customer to provide contact information using a short form within the ad.
Are you giving justice to the leads you worked so hard to generate?
Don’t just throw your leads down the pipeline and hope for the best. Here’s how Pipes.ai can help.
Tips for Better Results in Lead Generation
These simple tips can help you achieve better results in your campaign:
- Be very clear about what you’re offering and how you are the solution to their problems.
- Create visuals that appeal to your target audience and always provide quality information, useful insights, expert knowledge, and a unique value proposition.
Once the leads are in your database, it’s time to contact them.
Contacting Your Leads
There are different ways to get in contact with a potential customer.
Ranging from SMS to emails, you have some options; however, the best way to convert a lead into a customer is with a phone call.
It’s true that a lot of people prefer communicating through SMS. But when it’s time to acquire a service or product, numerous studies have shown that people like to talk to people – simple as that.
The challenge comes not from calling the customer, which can be done quickly and easily through an autodialer, but actually getting ahold of someone and getting the call to convert.
Introduction to Autodialers
An introductory guide to autodialers.
There are many reasons why your calls can fail to convert. Some common factors that hinder conversion rates include:
- Too much time has passed between when the lead provided their information and when they were contacted
- Poorly trained agents, or agents with poor language skills
- A weak script, or failure to adhere to script
- Calling at a “bad” time; when the customer is sleeping, working, or otherwise preoccupied,
This can really hurt a business’ conversion rates since this process can easily “burn” a lead. Burning a lead is when you had the opportunity of getting a person on the line but due to your call center workflow or dialing inefficiencies, your call does not convert.
Where Pipes.ai Comes In
- Being too slow to contact leads
- Agents veering off-script
- Weak scripts, IVRs
- Calling at bad times
- Dialing out on bad data
- Accidental TCPA violations
- Fragmented, incomplete reporting
- Lacking or clunky integrations with 3rd party systems
These are all common problems that cause a business’ conversion rates and cost per acquisition (CPA) to suffer.
With years of lead generation industry experience, Pipes.ai was specifically designed to fill in the common pitfalls that plague marketers’ conversion rates.
The ULTIMATE Tool for Lead Buyers and Lead Generators
Pipes.ai is an automated outbound lead engagement platform that gives marketers and lead generators control over the different aspects of their business.
Powerful AI-backed machine learning algorithms and intelligent, automatic functions make Pipes.ai a bridge between a business’ marketing efforts and call center operations.
Maximize each leads’ conversion potential from the time they enter your CRM, to the validation process to filter out bad leads, to when they pass through your call center.
Simple, intuitive software allows you to be as hands-on (or off) as you’d like thanks to intelligent automated programming. Easy self-service means more control, no commitment (do as much or as little as you need to) and a fraction of the cost of other lead engagement platforms.
