Stop Trying to Get More Leads

Image
April 10, 2017

Your marketing team is really hustling to get your sales team a ton of leads from your online marketing efforts. You’re working harder than ever, and you’re proud of the numbers you’re producing.

But wait! Do you realize you’re so focused on the quantity of your leads, you’ve lost sight of the quality? You’re actually hurting your sales process by racking up higher numbers! B2B companies that center their marketing on getting more leads don’t actually NEED more leads— they need more sales.

You’ll see a better ROI on your sales and marketing efforts and you’ll close sales faster if you concentrate on finding those prospects that are more likely to want or need what you’re offering and “get” what you’re all about.

Find Your Audience and Ditch the Rest

Telling your CEO, “Boss, we need to forget about these hundreds of leads here and focus on those dozens over there,” might lead to an, um, challenging conversation. But remember— you’re armed with the facts. Remind your chief that most online lead conversion rates are just 1 percent, and then pique her interest when you mention that extremely qualified online leads often result in a 2 percent (in other words, doubled!) conversion.

Target Your Perfect Prospects from the Get-Go

Talk to your sales reps and sift through information about your buyers to identify the general types of people who are becoming clients. Figure out what do they do and what their function is in their company. Determine their educational background, their gender, their age…anything that you can about them.

Above all, why did they end up buying from you? If necessary, talk to your current or past customers and ask why they purchased your product or service instead of a competitor’s.

Once you know who these buyers are, you can then create buyer personas. Be as detailed as possible as you create them because all your marketing will be targeted to these “ideal customers” – your perfect prospects – from now on.

Nurture and Sell To the Right People

Now that you know who loves you and why they buy from you, create content that speaks to their pains, their driving questions, and their desires. When you do this, your marketing will be relevant and valuable to them. They will continue to buy from you, tell their (equally qualified) colleagues about how amazing you are and then…your targeted audience will grow.

Fewer Leads = More Sales

This might go against your instincts, but it works: ignore leads generated via non-targeted means. Instead, identify your tribe and then reach out to them in meaningful ways. Give them something useful to help them solve their problems, reach their goals, and achieve success. Do this repeatedly to nurture your leads and watch them convert into sales.

Image

The key to understanding
your sales funnel.

read the guide