What Are the Best Ways to Identify Business Leads?
Going out and getting business leads is arguably the most important part of running a financially successful enterprise. Leads are essentially the potential customers that you attract throughout the lifespan of your business.
You must first identify what your leads will be, followed by what your strategies will be for getting them into your business portfolio. For example, suppose you are running a record company that sells rock albums from the 1970s in best-of-hits collections. In that case, you will need to target the demographic originally interested in buying the product back in those days.
People who are now in their 60’s and 70’s will feel a flood of nostalgia and will be expected to pounce on reliving these classic musical memories from their youths. Now that the lead has been identified, you need to connect with them and make them customers.
Folks in this demographic tend to get up earlier in the morning and still get their news from the TV rather than social media. Put your ads on early in the day and on channels that already air programming catering to this demographic.
Finding Trade Show Leads
In the case of a trade show lead, figure out where the product will hit home the hardest and put all your attention into getting leads in that place. If you are selling your new line of cheeses and dairy, think about putting up your booth in Wisconsin. If you display new products in the tech sphere, Silicon Valley or Seattle would be better suited.
Unfortunately, location can be an expensive factor to consider, and you must get more creative in applying these tactics to the booth you are putting in your location. You should train your sales reps and marketing people to identify the customers showing up at your booth.
Follow Up with Leads
Strategies for following up on potential leads after the show are imperative to making actual worth from the event. Will you give them coupons for future purposes or give out surveys on the spot that allows for email or phone follow-up in the coming weeks and months?
Electronic marketing that doesn’t need the efforts of real people to continue after an event is a popular way to continue gaining leads. Still, you need to make sure the marketing cost doesn’t outweigh the sales you get from the acquisition of a new customer.
Trade shows are always difficult to calculate how much worth is coming from the event and how many show-goers are in the sales umbrella in perpetuity. Therefore, new technology has successfully influenced the ways that marketing teams can capitalize on these events.
Little things are quite effective in making a lead a continuous customer instead of a one-off transaction. Follow-ups should always come in the first two days after the show. The people who came to your booth are less likely to become customers if they can’t remember what you were selling or what your values are.
And Remember: The Sale is in The Follow-Up
Put your energy and focus into the people you feel are truly interested in your company. Not everyone who comes through your booth should be pursued as a continuous customer. Feel out their vibe and ask if they are interested in more products, emails, or marketing fair given to them.
There is a large difference between fruitless marketing and effective lead acquisition. Promote people in your company who have experience at trade shows to put their expertise to good use. These folks are the ones who understand the way times change and the constant upheaval of best lead-garnering practices.
