Hey guys, seems to be the right place for this, is a sort of guide, enjoy!
A short insight about lead generation and how I became successful with it and how I can transfer these skills to Internet and Affiliate Marketing.
I had started my career in sales and marketing at quite an early age without any formal qualifications in that area.
I am now seeing how I can translate these skills to the online arena and within IM and think it will be interesting to see the areas that overlap and those areas that are not effective online as they are offline.
Lead generation has by far been the most enjoyable sector within sales and marketing I have experienced as it allowed me not only to fully qualify leads with companies but also to gain many insights, including different pains associated with certain roles within a company, to simply learning how to overcome 'gatekeepers'. It gave me a visual image into how different organisations operate according to structure and hierarchy and heightens the ability to empathise leading to fully understanding pains and needs potential clients may have.
Most of my lead generation was within the IT sector for companies such as IBM, EDS, Overland, HP and Solid Edge. From products ranging from physical storage systems to advanced CAD programs.
The main differentiator back then was that we had time to create these leads and to be fully qualified you must speak with all those concerned with whatever product was on offer at that time. To have a fully qualified lead for a client you must confirm the following always: Budget, Authority, Need and Timeframe. For this I used to start at the very beginning, with the guys who will be utilising the said product/s. This usually meant first contact was with a system administrator or IT manager. These guys will always tell you what problems they are having and what solutions would help them complete their roles fully or to maximise their potential and efficiency or security and performance.
Once this has been discovered and discussed and you have conducted yourself in a professional manner and a good rapport has been established they will of course then tell you that it is not in their remit to authorise or purchase said product. But the first steps are complete. Now they will give you the contact of the person who does have authorisation and possibly even introduce you. When taking the next step on the ladder we may now be speaking with an IT director or equivalent and we hold relevantinformation to talk with them.
Once an introduction has been made you can start to qualify what the person before told you. For example, if the system administrator informed you that it takes 2 hours per day to organise physical storage and that the reliability is unsure on weekends then we ask the IT director if this really is an issue for him and that 10 hours a week is wasted with this task we can start to add value to his team and budget. Once agreed, you have now gained not only credibility with two people in the organisation but also qualified a need and some authority.
Usually the IT director or equivalent will tell you there and then what kind of timeframe they are looking at, usually according to financial year or if they have plans to restructure or implement new tech. At this point we can now go forward and press regarding budgets, that usually needs to be qualified further with either the contact or Financial Director or the Managing Director.
I ask to be introduced to the next contact that I have to speak with at this level in order to get through any barriers or gatekeepers that are set.
Once talking with the person who makes the overall decision and holds the budgets we now hold all the information necessary to overcome any objections as we have already qualified a need, timeframe and possible budget by speaking with the people further down the chain, all we are looking for now is the authority to say 'yes we can implement.'
When confirmed by the decision maker we can now complete our report and hand over the lead to the client so that the inside sales team can close.
The complete report could be many tens of pages long. My best practices included the history of the company and the industry they are in and where they place themselves within said industry. Next, to achieve a flowing, methodical report, I would make a section regarding the persons that I have talked with and explain any obstacles that had to be overcome and the personalities and profile of each person that I have spoke with or qualified the lead with. This gives the sales representative all the physiological and personal information needed to generate rapport instantly with each contact.
Then confirmation of the B.A.N.T. in full, describing any things that may become a barrier in the process and possible solutions to overcome them and conclude with a suggested next steps and any other information that would be useful for a sales team to close.
This was 'my way' for lead generation and served me very well in my career, it was by far my favourite role within the many roles we do in marketing and sales. I felt that all parties benefited from this method and would eliminate any false leads and the potential buyer has all the information needed regarding specs, implementation and costs thus reducing potential barriers at the closing stage.
In my perception, taking into consideration feedback from clients and employers, feel confident that a well qualified lead and subsequent report would lead to a sale with minimal effort involved from their side. They value the information and the time taken to talk with the potential buyers as it gives confidence to the sales team. With a solid pipeline, targets and future performance has more realistic data attached to it and detailed forecasts are more confident.
Translating this to a more faced paced environment with the use of instant messaging and practically 24hr online connectivity in my view can only make this a more streamlined and efficient process. It can be done remotely and queries can be answered almost instantly worldwide.
Organisation is a skill that is transferable everywhere and has to be learned and honed, when dealing with any pipeline or numerous potential sales or affiliates then responsiveness and preparedness will go a long way. Whether it be solving issues to planning the day for maximum effectiveness.
As affiliate marketing / management is a responsive industry/role, I believe that instant reaction is imperative. This could be simple inquiries or urgent requests. If a client believes that you value them or at least understand that time is a cost factor then half the battle is won. I believe that creating rapport with integrity is vital to build credibility and a sound lasting relationship that could only benefit all parties involved.
If anyone else has any insights to add please do below, many thanks and best success to you all.
A short insight about lead generation and how I became successful with it and how I can transfer these skills to Internet and Affiliate Marketing.
I had started my career in sales and marketing at quite an early age without any formal qualifications in that area.
I am now seeing how I can translate these skills to the online arena and within IM and think it will be interesting to see the areas that overlap and those areas that are not effective online as they are offline.
Lead generation has by far been the most enjoyable sector within sales and marketing I have experienced as it allowed me not only to fully qualify leads with companies but also to gain many insights, including different pains associated with certain roles within a company, to simply learning how to overcome 'gatekeepers'. It gave me a visual image into how different organisations operate according to structure and hierarchy and heightens the ability to empathise leading to fully understanding pains and needs potential clients may have.
Most of my lead generation was within the IT sector for companies such as IBM, EDS, Overland, HP and Solid Edge. From products ranging from physical storage systems to advanced CAD programs.
The main differentiator back then was that we had time to create these leads and to be fully qualified you must speak with all those concerned with whatever product was on offer at that time. To have a fully qualified lead for a client you must confirm the following always: Budget, Authority, Need and Timeframe. For this I used to start at the very beginning, with the guys who will be utilising the said product/s. This usually meant first contact was with a system administrator or IT manager. These guys will always tell you what problems they are having and what solutions would help them complete their roles fully or to maximise their potential and efficiency or security and performance.
Once this has been discovered and discussed and you have conducted yourself in a professional manner and a good rapport has been established they will of course then tell you that it is not in their remit to authorise or purchase said product. But the first steps are complete. Now they will give you the contact of the person who does have authorisation and possibly even introduce you. When taking the next step on the ladder we may now be speaking with an IT director or equivalent and we hold relevantinformation to talk with them.
Once an introduction has been made you can start to qualify what the person before told you. For example, if the system administrator informed you that it takes 2 hours per day to organise physical storage and that the reliability is unsure on weekends then we ask the IT director if this really is an issue for him and that 10 hours a week is wasted with this task we can start to add value to his team and budget. Once agreed, you have now gained not only credibility with two people in the organisation but also qualified a need and some authority.
Usually the IT director or equivalent will tell you there and then what kind of timeframe they are looking at, usually according to financial year or if they have plans to restructure or implement new tech. At this point we can now go forward and press regarding budgets, that usually needs to be qualified further with either the contact or Financial Director or the Managing Director.
I ask to be introduced to the next contact that I have to speak with at this level in order to get through any barriers or gatekeepers that are set.
Once talking with the person who makes the overall decision and holds the budgets we now hold all the information necessary to overcome any objections as we have already qualified a need, timeframe and possible budget by speaking with the people further down the chain, all we are looking for now is the authority to say 'yes we can implement.'
When confirmed by the decision maker we can now complete our report and hand over the lead to the client so that the inside sales team can close.
The complete report could be many tens of pages long. My best practices included the history of the company and the industry they are in and where they place themselves within said industry. Next, to achieve a flowing, methodical report, I would make a section regarding the persons that I have talked with and explain any obstacles that had to be overcome and the personalities and profile of each person that I have spoke with or qualified the lead with. This gives the sales representative all the physiological and personal information needed to generate rapport instantly with each contact.
Then confirmation of the B.A.N.T. in full, describing any things that may become a barrier in the process and possible solutions to overcome them and conclude with a suggested next steps and any other information that would be useful for a sales team to close.
This was 'my way' for lead generation and served me very well in my career, it was by far my favourite role within the many roles we do in marketing and sales. I felt that all parties benefited from this method and would eliminate any false leads and the potential buyer has all the information needed regarding specs, implementation and costs thus reducing potential barriers at the closing stage.
In my perception, taking into consideration feedback from clients and employers, feel confident that a well qualified lead and subsequent report would lead to a sale with minimal effort involved from their side. They value the information and the time taken to talk with the potential buyers as it gives confidence to the sales team. With a solid pipeline, targets and future performance has more realistic data attached to it and detailed forecasts are more confident.
Translating this to a more faced paced environment with the use of instant messaging and practically 24hr online connectivity in my view can only make this a more streamlined and efficient process. It can be done remotely and queries can be answered almost instantly worldwide.
Organisation is a skill that is transferable everywhere and has to be learned and honed, when dealing with any pipeline or numerous potential sales or affiliates then responsiveness and preparedness will go a long way. Whether it be solving issues to planning the day for maximum effectiveness.
As affiliate marketing / management is a responsive industry/role, I believe that instant reaction is imperative. This could be simple inquiries or urgent requests. If a client believes that you value them or at least understand that time is a cost factor then half the battle is won. I believe that creating rapport with integrity is vital to build credibility and a sound lasting relationship that could only benefit all parties involved.
If anyone else has any insights to add please do below, many thanks and best success to you all.
