Getting sales leads is vital to every business. Every business has to have customers; and prospective clients are what they identify as sales leads. Even the teenage girl who is eyeing some fashionable clothes in a magazine can be considered a sales lead. The typical sales leads, however, are those that have the potential to be customers whom sales people get in touch with in many ways, several times before they jump into conclusions in buying and procuring the company's product or service. For many years now, sales people have had a hard time generating sales leads.
1. Great Potential For Leads
What they don't know is that they do not go or visit some places that have great potentials of sales leads. They fail to scout for areas that might bring in people who will be interested to buy their products. One of the places that can be considered as a great place for generating sales leads are trade shows. Basically, a trade show is an event that entails related business or companies in order to showcase their merchandise and other services to other entrepreneurs or to the viewing public. Usually, the main purpose of trade shows is to entice people and other businesses to get hold of the opportunity that they give to the public by letting them witness their innovative new products first.
Therefore, since the event itself is all about sales, it would be very beneficial for the sales people to generate leads at this type of gathering. Here, you can find other businesses and different people who might be interested on the services that you will offer them. Not all trade shows, however, can give you equal benefits. When you want to generate good sales leads in a trade show, it is very important to find an event that is highly targeted to your probable targets. Considering that you are able to look for trade shows that will yield your niche market, the next step you have to take into account is on how you will generate your leads at the trade show.
2. Interaction
Communication at trade shows is relatively fast. What you get are complimentary nods or ethical gestures that will only tell you how they have come to know the event. Because of this nippy situation, you might miss some important details that might give you the go signal to start the ball rolling. Moreover, because you are also in a hurry of getting the information of your prospective client, you continuously blabber about everything and anything without giving your prospect a chance to ask questions. Keep in mind that even when the situation is not appropriate for lengthy conversations, it is still important to let your would-be client to talk more and for you to listen attentively. Interaction should happen simultaneously, no scripts to follow, no pitch to memorize. The conversations must flow naturally so that the person you are talking to will not feel trapped or compelled to say yes to the services that you are offering.
2. Project An Image
People will never say yes to everything that you say - they simply don't trust you enough. Besides being doubtful on your products, they will be judging your level of confidence, product knowledge, and overall personality. It is far better, therefore, if you are projecting a positive image. If you look good enough and sound good enough, then, chances are they will think that your products are worth a moment of their consideration.
3. Reach Out
If you are a part of the trade show and one of the organizers, make your booth pleasing enough so as to reach out and grab people who will be interested enough to start a conversation with you or your staff member. Try to utilize a theme that matches with the overall concept of the trade show. Irrelevant information is just waste of time, money, and effort, so strip brochures and your presentation with all small details.
4. It's In The Cards
This may sound trivial, but how well you present your business card or accept one from a new acquaintance may decide whether or not you get their help or business in the future. Once you get to generate leads, the next best thing to do is to contact your prospects and sustain their interest by providing them all the information that they need and to address their problems as soon as possible. As they say, having good leads is one way of getting the peak of business success.
1 Understand the nature of networking Many people you network with will not be able to give you business directly. However, they will know some people who can. Everyone knows between 200 and 400 people. So when you talk to someone, think about the number of people they could put you in contact with if they had the inclination.
2 First give something to build trust For someone to work on your behalf, they must first trust you and that is not always easy to achieve. The most direct way is to help them first by finding leads for them, or helping them with information that they need or by passing on your expertise.
3 Always ask for sales leads Decide what it is that you want and make sure that you ask for it. Style is important and you should practice your approach with someone that you trust. If you are too aggressive, you will make others feel sales anxiety and you will not get what you want. At the same time if you are not direct enough you may give the impression that you are not really interested. Watch for the signals from others and adjust you tone based on what you observe.
4 Have a great elevator pitch In any room of networkers, each person will typically listen to 30-40 sales pitches per session. Yours must be excellent if it is to be remembered. The most important features of an elevator pitch are that it is:
Specific: contains concrete things that you do (not another consultant!) Quick: more than 60 seconds and you've lost them. Clear: what, how, when, where and what I want from you.
5 Be professional with you referrals Follow up any sales leads quickly and always let the lead source know if you have any difficulty getting in contact. There is nothing worse than trying to help someone and then having it reflect badly on you.
6 Make sure that you offer payback Return any favours that you get, either with other sales leads, or by assisting in some other way.
7 Listen and don't be boring If you have a good crisp pitch following the points in item 4, you won't need to dominate any conversation and you can give yourself the luxury of listening to others and making them feel good by letting them talk about themselves. There is a limit however and when it is reached, move on!
Following these simple rules should lead to increased sales leads in a relatively short time. If it doesn't, don't give up. Do ask yourself what could be the blocker: trust, your elevator pitch, giving first? And remember that these things will grow over time, so keep it up.
Markmedia has sinced written about articles on various topics from Business Intelligence, Trade Shows and Direct Marketing. This article is written by Mark McCormack from Markmedia, a Marketing consultancy business in the UK. His website can be found at www.markmedia.org.uk.. Markmedia's top article generates over 1900 views. to your Favourites.