As nice as it would be, sales leads don’t grow on trees, and generating real, viable potential customers actually takes a good amount of work (not to mention research and strategy).
Are your lead gen efforts producing the number of leads your business needs? Most importantly, are they producing qualified leads who actually want to buy your products or services?
If not, you could be making one of these all-too-common lead-generating mistakes:
1. Asking For Too Much Info Up Front
Leads are just that: people who could, potentially (and if treated right) lead to a profitable sale. But they’re not there yet. In fact, they might know very little about you, save for a quick demo they saw at your trade show booth or a blog post they read on your website.
The point? They’re not ready—or willing—to give away all their details yet, nor do they have the time or motivation to do so. Asking them to fill out a 10-field form just to get on your email list or learn more about your product is a sure-fire way to kill a lead. They’ll either get bored and jump ship, or they might even head to a competitor—one whose barrier to entry is lower.
Solution: Always keep your lead-gen forms short and to the point. Get their name, their email address and maybe the company they work for. Once you establish a rapport, give them value through great content and start to establish a connection. Then, you’ll have grounds to ask for more information—or even a sale.
2. Mismatched Marketing Materials
Your lead generation efforts need to be working in tandem, providing a consistent experience (and messaging) from start to finish. If you bring someone in on an ad for accounting software but send them to a landing page with 10 different software options, you’re not driving home your point very well. More importantly, you’re not making the sales journey clear.
Every point in the lead generation and nurturing funnels needs to be consistent and aligned. In the accounting software example, that ad should send the lead to a landing page that breaks down the benefits of your solution and what it’s done for others in their business. Once they sign up, your emails should have related content as well—content that helps solve their accounting challenges or assists them in achieving their goals. Proving you understand your leads, the problems they face, and what they’re looking to achieve, are the top ways to close a sale and make a customer for life.
3. Not Having a Sense of Urgency
Converting a lead to a sale requires establishing some sense of urgency. Is the lead losing money the longer they wait to buy your product or service? Are they missing out on a huge deal or discount if they don’t act within a certain amount of time? Are there only a few spots or products left to claim?
Your lead gen campaigns should always make the issue at hand seem important and urgent. Your CTAs should always be very pointed and specific to drive action. Steer clear of anything vague or broad, and really personalize your CTAs to align with the lead’s goals, challenges and unique demographic. Make acting now the only choice.
Trade Show Lead Generation Made Easy
Are you looking to generate more leads at your next trade show? Exhibit Options can help. Stay tuned for next week’s post on trade show lead generation, and get in touch for help with your next booth.
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