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Sales Lead Generation Ideas

Some thoughts and observations on all things business development related. Read on to learn about how to generate new sales leads and create sustainable lead generation activity...

Category Archives: Appointment Setting

My time in the UK by Marcel & Daniel

May 11, 2011 – 12:04 pm

For the last 3 weeks we have had 2 German students at Qualifa HQ, gaining experience of living, studying and working in the UK. So we thought we would give you the opportunity to have an insight into their time here and what they have learnt about us and Multilingual Telemarketing. First up it’s Daniel..

 

Quick introduction Hey everyone, it’s me Daniel, who is talking to you. I am 22 years old, live in Germany and I am happy to have the chance to do a work experience for four weeks in England.

Usual friendly English people After we arrived in the very beautiful city Brighton, we went to our host families and I think I do not lie if I say all our host families are fine. In the first week we went to the LTC – Language Teaching Centres and had very nice lessons to improve our English. All teachers were very cute and we had a lot of fun at school. But not only the teachers in school have got a nice character, it seems to be that all English people are very helpful, friendly and polite.

About multilingual lead generation and telemarketing company Qualifa! This impression was also confirmed at the first day here at the multilingual lead generation and telemarketing company “Qualifa” (which is in the centre of the Brighton and is very easy to arrive at) too. Everybody at “Qualifa” helps you to assimilate you very fast and from the first day I felt very welcome. The atmosphere in the office is very nice, too. And if you have got a problem, I am sure there will not be one, because you find every time one person, who speaks your language, doesn’t matter Spanish, French, German, Italian etc..

Learn more than making coffee or tea I did not really need to wait a ...read more

By Becky | Also posted in Multilingual telemarketing, Multilingual telemarketing, sales leads, Telemarketing, Uncategorized | Comments (0)

BANT over BANTer why these four letters are key in your Telemarketing Strategy…

March 21, 2011 – 3:57 pm

It has been a few weeks since my last post and I have decided to blog about Qualifa’s current core business Telemarketing (also multilingual telemarketing). It is what we do best and what businesses are looking for in today’s tough market. As any sales director/manager will tell you finding hot sales leads isn’t easy and many times in my blog I have written about how companies need to be more flexible and open to future sales as finding leads with the right amount of budget, the exact need for their product, and the desire to spend their money now ( always highly unlikely) AND the fact that we have to converse with key decision makers, all makes it rather difficult.

However I’m going to look at a different angle to view sales lead generation. Not just through emailing and cold calling but through targeted calls with a sharp and smart pitch that gets straight to the crux of companies sales problems. With our long list of telemarketing services for example event attendees, profiling, market research and BANT research there is an area of telemarketing that would benefit any company. I mentioned BANT just then and this is an anagram for…

B = Budget A = Authority N = Need T = Timescale

For many of our contracts we use BANT to make sure that all of our clients requirements for a particular lead is fulfilled. Im going to expand them a bit further and explain why they are key considerations when conducting and managing sales lead generation telemarketing campaigns.

 

Budget

Does the company your calling have a budget for what your asking? Would they be able to justify the amount of budget that you are looking for in a lead? Many people would be extremely reluctant to give information on budget to someone ...read more

By Becky | Also posted in Lead Generation, Multilingual telemarketing, sales leads | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Lead Generation – How to prepare for a new Business Development Campaign..

January 14, 2011 – 2:23 pm

So on Monday I came into work and the first thing I was told by my Manager was ‘Phoebe, I have some exciting news for you!’, he then proceeded to disappear to a meeting. So I sat at my desk working and wondering what the news would be, a new heater, a new client, a new office!?!

When he came back he said that we had been given a major sales campaign, by one of my clients to work on. At first I was extremely excited, thinking about the commission and prestige that went with managing such an important campaign. Then I started to think about what they had asked of us… 48 meetings in 2 and a half months, fully qualified with top brands…. and I started to panic.

However, this blog post is all about what you can do to fully prepare for a new campaign and how to make sure you don’t run out of data and consequently sit there twiddling your thumbs. As I have stated in previous blog posts, Sales Lead Generation is invaluable to every single company that operates, if no one will buy their product or service, then they are rendered obsolete. That is why I have the important task of finding these opportunities for our clients to go into a meeting, show them what they can do and how much they can benefit their company and hopefully they will leave the meeting with a new client opportunity.

So to start, it is imperative that you look at the data that you have, you need to have the right contacts within the right companies to target. You do not want to be wasting your time booking meetings with companies that your client does not want to see. Obviously with the brief you are given you should ...read more

By Becky | Also posted in Lead Generation, sales leads | Tagged | Comments (0)

Multilingual Telemarketing

December 2, 2010 – 4:45 pm

Communication is arguably something that we take for granted nowadays, we can make telephone calls from the palm of our hand, instant message people whilst on-the-go and call friends and family on the other side of the world without it costing a penny. Yet with all of these communication capabilities language barriers still exist. In English schools the popularity of studying languages is decreasing rapidly, so where does this leave British companies who need multi-lingual capabilities within their firms? The answer is undoubtedly the native multilingual speakers of Europe and beyond.

Multilingual telemarketing is therefore essential in providing a link between you and markets you may have thought you could not access. Each telemarketer we employ can contact key decision makers within foreign companies and discuss your service or product in an informative and eloquent way, so that your company can be represented impeccably to prospective clients in Europe and around the world. It is also important to recognise the different business cultures that exist not just in Europe but globally, our telemarketers are speaking their native language and so have the experience of working and living in these countries and know the most professional way to address prospects. We offer not only professionalism but an opportunity to expand your business in a way you may have thought impossible, and access markets that may prove to have a great need for you product or service.

Qualifa is however at its heart a lead generation company and we are proud to announce the launch of our multilingual telemarketing capabilities. This means that we can offer our skills in lead generation to companies who are again looking to expand abroad and access perhaps previously unattainable markets.

Multilingual telemarketing is therefore not just about speaking a different language or learning how to say ‘one coffee with ...read more

By Becky | Also posted in Lead Generation, Multilingual telemarketing, Pay On Results, sales leads, Telemarketing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Qualified Sales Leads, What are they?

November 12, 2010 – 9:54 am

A sales lead, is the identity of a human or entity potentially interested in purchasing a product or service, and represents the first stage of a sales process.

Well that’s the easiest part of this blog post done.

The hard part is trying to unpick the word ‘lead’ and establish what one is. After having been working at Qualifa, the smart sales lead generation company, full time for just over 2 months, I can safely say that between different people the definition of ‘Lead’ differs greatly. What some people see as a speculative opportunity, others see as a waste of time. So how can you make sure you don’t waste your time going to bad leads? Answer? Qualify Qualify QUALIFY! I have learnt this a couple of times now and it is hard when you are excited for a client as you believe you have got them a meeting with a top branded UK Company, only to find out that the service or product that your client provides is not quite what they want.  As much as you want a lead to be 100% perfect with the right budget, right size and right ‘name’ at the right time, all this is 100% unrealistic. If you want to utilise the services of Qualifa, a lead generation and telemarketing company, you have to be prepared to go to meetings with prospective clients who you know may not be looking right at this point for your product or service but realise that this is invaluable contact building and relationship building with key members of a company, an opportunity you are unlikely to get otherwise. If you go into that meeting knowing everything there is to know about your company and how your product or service could benefit the prospective client, then there is no reason ...read more

By Becky | Also posted in Lead Generation, Pay On Results, sales leads, Telemarketing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

New business prospecting, what I’ve learnt about sales lead generation in 3 months…

November 5, 2010 – 7:39 am

Hi, my name is Phoebe and I am currently working as an intern here at Qualifa – a telemarketing company for the Internet era! I started in September and already have learnt so much, not just about Sales Lead Generation, but also social media, SEO, PPC, digital marketing, football – the list goes on!

As an intern I had never worked in a professional business environment before and it was quite a nerve-racking prospect. But with the help and amazing support of the team I started to secure meetings for our clients with major high-street brands and grew to love the sales buzz. There is nothing quite like it and I also adore the friendly competition that exists within the office not to mention our weekly table tennis tournaments, it’s a great place to work and us ‘Qualifites’ are a lean mean sales lead generation team.

Before starting my intern-ship I had never really considered a career in sales, I had not done any business units in Sales throughout my academic life and I am greatly disappointed that more people do not get the opportunities that I have so far experienced in my role here. As Qualifa’s Managing Director James Burton says, “Sales is the engine room of a company”and ultimately Qualifa are helping businesses keep their ‘engine’ running by generating qualified new business sales leads. Sales is generally seen as an extroverts career with the stereotypical sales person knocking at your door trying to sell you cheese graters or something. But I can assure you at Qualifa it is nothing like that and I have learnt so much about the methodology behind sales lead generation. Simplicity is key and I have realised that if you have a good product or service and know a lot about it, then ...read more

By Becky | Also posted in Lead Generation, Pay On Results, sales leads, Telemarketing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Keeping it short and sweet

October 5, 2010 – 2:57 pm

You want more sales leads? You want more potential clients in your sales pipeline? No access to a telemarketing company or lead generation agency?

Here’s a simply DIY prospecting guide to sending targeted letters via email…

When writing introduction emails to potential new clients, think about how much time the recipient has to read what you are sending. Has a Marketing Director got time to scroll through a page of text? Has an IT Manager got the spare 30 minutes to read that 10 page pdf? No – and you knew that already.

So, make what you draft succinct, punchy and scan readable.

If the decision maker can take a quick squizz at it in 10 seconds, they’ll make a swift judgement on whether they are interested or whether to pass it along to some one who will be. If they have to read too much information they will most likely file it away for another day (so never read it) or worse still delete it.

Follow this format:

State who you are

State what you do/who you work with

State what it is you’d like to talk to them about and why

Provide a ‘call to action’ to close a telephone call or meeting

It really should only be a maximum of three short sentences. Any longer and they can no longer scan it – so cut it down as far as you can.

Some other must do’s are:

Make it personalised

Make it relevant and researched

Don’t cut and paste ‘blurb’ (it stands out a mile when you do)

Don’t attach large files that won’t get opened and might even mean the email gets blocked.

This isn’t email marketing, its electronic personal letter writing and less is most definitely ...read more

By James | Also posted in Lead Generation, Pay On Results, sales leads, Telemarketing | Tagged , , , , | Comments (1)

Reasons to Speculate on Prospect Meetings

September 7, 2010 – 5:11 am

‘We only want super qualified hot sales leads’ – is what we hear on a daily basis here at our lead generation company. AKA – get us meetings with people who have a need for our product or service and who are ready to buy NOW!

Frankly, that’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. Imagine how hard it’s going to be to find a company that not only needs what you are selling, but who is sat there waving the cheque book waiting for the phone to ring. Hard work, trust us. Fact is, if you are lucky enough to find any of the above they’ll most likely by already talking to suppliers, if not in an advanced state of negotiation on the deal – meaning you’ll be on catch up mode from the start.

So what’s the answer? ‘Speculate to accumulate boy!’ (as my Granddad used to say).

By speculation here we mean that companies looking to build their sales pipeline should research and target their ideal customers and start to network with them and book introductory meetings. There may not always be immediate requirements, but you’ll start the process of being in their thoughts as and when they do have a requirement.

More importantly – GO AND SEE THEM, don‘t just make a phone call. Things happen when you meet with people face to face. Such as:

  • Oh, you provide that service do you? I didn’t realise, we’re interested in a quote for that…
  • You should speak to XYZ company – they need one of those next month…
  • Try speaking to Peter in Marketing, he’s the man with the budget

    More than this, you leave with a new business ‘connection’ that, if used to your advantage should serve you well in the future.

    Make sure you:

  • Get referrals into other people with that company
  • Get ...read more
    • By James | Also posted in Lead Generation, Pay On Results, sales leads, Telemarketing | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

    Quality Sales Leads & Successful Pipeline Management

    March 9, 2010 – 9:44 am

    Many growing digital media companies say that their main problem is ‘closing’ sales opportunities. They get shortlisted in a competitive pitch and stake the next wave of plans on a one in three chance of winning. The reliance most digital media and technology businesses place on closing a small number of key sales leads presents a big problem – if you lose one, there’s nothing to fill the void.

    There’s a tried and tested way of hedging against this situation -successful pipeline management; the more quality leads you have, the more you are likely to win.

    Companies need to protect against over-reliance on winning major projects by ensuring that the supporting pipeline is kept full at all times with quality sales leads and consistent lead generation.

    So, what is pipeline management?

    Typically a 3:1 ratio applies: of three final stage (shortlisted) pitches, typically one will be won. Taking this further back in the sales cycle, the ‘times three’ effect is usually accurate. To get three quality leads to the point of final pitch, you’ll need nine sales leads to get to the stage of formal proposal. To get nine to formal proposal, you’ll more than likely need over 20 ‘value proposition’ meetings or presentations. This means you’ll need around 80 quality sales leads in active conversations.

    Of course all of this doesn’t unfold overnight. Lead management and maintaining a healthy sales pipeline is ongoing and often has a time frame of three to six months from initial conversation to contract sign off.

    With this in mind it makes sense to take a long term view and get strategic about gaining introductions with new business. Setting aside other elements of your marketing and client acquisition strategy (search engines, events & exhibitions etc) the single most effective way to generate quality leads and interest in your proposition is to ...read more

    By James | Also posted in Lead Generation | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

    Sales Acceleration

    March 9, 2010 – 7:49 am
    Sales Acceleration

    By James | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

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