Sales leads are not typically covered in sales training books or courses as thoroughly as other parts of the sales process such as closing the sale.  The sales process begins with generating leads, so it is important to understand as much as you can about them in order for your business to be as profitable as possible. 

How many leads did you get last month? Most people can answer that question with a handful of leads that have high potential or resulted in a sale, but a large number of potential leads fall out of the process, sacrificing possible sales. 

So, what’s the big deal anyway?  A huge amount of a company’s resources (both time and money) are spent generating leads that will hopefully result in sales, and the better you understand where and how you get those leads, the better off your business will be.  And, wouldn’t it be worth it to use some of the things you learn about your leads to cut marketing costs or the time you spend getting leads? 

The first step is to establish a system to track identifying information about your lead generating activities.  Here are some things to consider: 

1. What is the main venue through which you get your leads? Before you have a lead, you only have a prospect, that is a website visitor or attendee from a networking event, for example.  Note those places that you pick up prospects, for example your website, advertising, networking events or tradeshows.

2. Next, what are the more particular sources your leads come from? Organic search, PPC, a specific networking event, another website, response to a blog post on someone else’s blog, or a specific advertising campaign are all examples of specific lead sources.

3. Last, what quality would you rank the leads you get from the sources you defined in the earlier steps?  I have found that this is easiest to derive by assigning a percentage value to every lead received from a source.  So a lead that is just kicking the tires gets a lower percentage value assignment than one that you send a proposal to or even ultimately sell.

Once you know where your best leads originate, you will find you are able to spend your marketing dollars and your time much more efficiently. 

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