5 Ways to Generate Leads for a Sales Team

Every sales team requires several different lead generation tactics to leverage so they never have to lean on just one. Fortunately, technology is making it easier than ever to source leads from multiple channels. Sales managers seeking to provide more sales team leads probably already know about the following five strategies, but most tend to “hobby horse” and just work their favorite one or two.

As you work this week, try to incorporate all of the following and measure how it affects your lead generation efforts:

 1. Become friends with marketing.

If a company’s marketing division is strong, they can flood a sales department with a bounty of hot leads, and not waste salespeople’s time by providing uncloseable leads and then blaming sales for lack of results. Many sales teams operate at odds with marketers and do not create the type of synergy that results in generating effective sales team leads. Both teams need each other for success, so it is imperative that these teams mingle and like each other.

2.  Social Media.

Use the search function at LinkedIn and Twitter to find people at companies who hold decision-making power and follow those people or add them to your network. Reach out to them by answering questions or posing questions about their needs.  Use news feeds on social media to find people who are expressing interest in a product, asking questions about products and looking to buy. These people are easier to convert to customers, as long as you are not too aggressive and “stalker”-like.

 3. Internet advertising:

By using special topical keywords or product imagery in advertisements, salespeople can use advertising platforms such as Yahoo Ads and Google Adwords, to attract qualified leads. It takes some effort to click on an ad, as opposed to passively viewing one on TV or print, so salespeople can be assured that visitors have a strong interest in the offering. Such visitors are likely to buy, browse, bookmark or at least read the content and visit again if the landing page content is optimized.

 4.  SEO:

Sellers must optimize landing pages and store content to fit the natural way prospective customers search for information. As stated above, the use of keywords is effective in online advertising as well as on websites, social media posts and blogs. SEO is a lure for audiences because phrases that mirror their searches let them know they are in the right place. Every seller should learn how to present content, headlines, sub-heads, meta information, status updates and any other communication by skillfully matching keywords and key phrases to the natural language customers are most likely to use when searching.

5.  Networking:

As all sales experts know, a seller can run into a potential buyer at any time and must be ready with a 30-second sales pitch and a business card. If you’re prepared, conferences, professional meetings, speaking engagements and any other in-person event can be a lead generation goldmine.

Other tactics:

• Pay for fee-based lead generation services: These services give access to extensive databases of contacts that have been carefully gathered and categorized for any location or industry.
• Referrals: Ask repeat and satisfied customers to recommend others they know who can benefit from your products and services.
• Content Marketing through blog–like platforms or article directories.
• Affiliates: Let others sell for you. Create a formal affiliate program so that invested bloggers or publishers will pitch your products to their audiences by using affiliate links on their sites. In return, you give them a percentage of profit from the items purchased.
• Email signatures: Sellers spend a lot of time embroiled in business conversations. A passive, but effective way to generate leads is for sellers to include a call to action for a product, website or service in their signature.

There are endless ways to find customers who have an earnest desire and need for what you’re selling. You just have to be creative and have back-up lead generation tactics to use when you favorite way to find sales team leads are producing results.