In today’s business-to-business sales environment, the process of making a sale has become increasingly complex. If you are selling a product that provides a critical solution for a business, many factors must be addressed in the sales process. Many different stakeholders may have to be involved to acquire and implement your solution. This means that it may take anywhere from 6 to 36 months (or sometimes longer) to close a sale. Due to the considerable length of the sales process, most salespeople simply do not have the time necessary to spend with prospects who are not interested or not ready to buy right away. Having a large quantity of leads is not enough. These leads must be qualified so that they represent prospects who are likely to purchase. Here are eight ideas on how to generate qualified business leads for the complex sale.
Make Sure that the Marketing and Sales Teams Are Aligned
This should go without saying. But we’ll say it anyway. In order to generate qualified leads, the marketing and sales teams must work together. The marketing team needs to know what a good lead is in order to effectively target their efforts. The sales team needs describe their ideal leads to the marketing team. Both sales and marketing need to agree on a clear definition and have the same answer to the question: “What is a qualified lead?” This effort will pay off in higher quality leads and more sales.
Create a Profile of Your Ideal Customer
The first task for marketing and salespeople is to develop a profile of the ideal customer. These profiles, or buyer personas, can be used to further qualify and classify leads. Potential leads can be asked a serious of qualifying questions. Only qualified prospects talk to salespeople, while the rest are placed in a lead nurturing system.
Reach Out on Multiple Levels
Since the decision to purchase often requires input from individuals on multiple levels of your customer’s business, you need to have marketing materials designed to reach out to people on each of these levels. Executives may need different material than those who will actually use the product. Your marketing and sales efforts must aim broadly to address all these concerns. Take some time with a whiteboard, good old fashioned Post-it notes or make a mind map to help visualize where those stakeholders sit in your prospect’s organization, what their interests are, and what part of the buying cycle they influence.
Develop Great Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing is designed to attract and educate potential customers. This means developing a content strategy that establishes your company as a trusted expert in your field. Blogs, email newsletters and social media are all important aspects of a content strategy. When people see you as an expert in the field, they will be more likely to buy from you.
Position Your Salespeople as Trusted Advisers
Aggressive salespeople after the quick close are not going to do well in complex sales. The salesperson should instead act as a trusted adviser. Businesses are looking to your company for a solution to critical problems. You need to assure them that they are in good hands. Have your salespeople leverage the the content from your inbound marketing efforts to help your prospects solve their pain points. This will reposition your sales team in the minds of your prospects, from salesman to a valued resource.
Evangelize the Value Proposition
Your salespeople need to focus on adding value to the sales process. By acting as a solid source of information and experience that the customer can rely on, the salesperson can add value to every aspect of the process. This means doing the proper discovery early in your lead generation process, and asking the right questions to uncover your prospects needs and pain points. Then tying your value proposition back to those needs. When people know that they are going to get something valuable from every interaction with your company, as they will when your lead generation includes the proper identification of business pains, the sales will come. Help your sales team do this by evangelizing your value proposition. Share your customer success stories with the sales team, not just your prospects. Show your sales team the results your customers get. Make them believers in your value proposition and they’ll be better equipped to tie it back to their prospect’s needs. And they’ll be better equipped to generate qualified leads from the businesses you want as customers.
Help the Customer Develop a Buying Process
Customers may not have a clear buying process in place. Your salespeople can help the customer put together a plan for navigating the complex sale efficiently. Coach your prospects about how to make this important decision. Show them how other similar companies have done it successfully. Client case studies can go a long way here. Once again this will help strengthen the trust and relationship, which speeds the sales along.
Nurture Your Leads
Prospects who are not qualified at this time may become qualified in the future. These leads should be placed in a lead nurturing system. We strongly recommend using marketing automation tools, but also including regular phone follow-up to actively push prospects through your pipeline. Email newsletters and social media can be used to continue the relationship with these leads. When these leads do become qualified, a salesperson can contact them.
There you have it. Eight simple ideas on how to generate qualified business leads. If you implement just a few of them, you’re sure to see improved results from your lead generation efforts. Have something to add? Leave a comment below and let us know how you approach lead generation for the complex sale.
Or, for a no obligation, professional analysis of your business lead generation pipeline, contact us today.
