While most books on sales training or classes do a good job covering closing a sale, few cover sales leads.  Generating the leads is the first part of any sales process, and the more time you spend understanding this important step, the more efficient your business will become. 

Are you able to name the number of leads you got over the 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. 

Why does it matter?  Because a company spends so much time and money to get leads, the more you know about them, the more profitable the business will become.  Would you find it worth it to learn something more about your leads if you were able to cut the time you spend getting leads, or even better marketing costs? 

The first step is to establish a system to track identifying information about your lead generating activities.  Here are a few areas to start analyzing: 

1. What is the main venue through which you get your leads? Before a lead becomes a lead, they are only prospects – someone who visits your website or that you meet at a networking group.  Identify your main sources for gathering prospects, such as the Internet, trade shows, networking events, or direct advertising.

2. Then, answer the question, what specific sources do you get your actual leads 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. How would you rank the quality value of each of those leads from your source and specific source?  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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