New Strategies For Generating Sales Leads

In the current economic environment, generating sales leads is one of the most important tasks of any sales and marketing team. Finding leads that will actually generate new business can be challenging even in the best times, and now as more businesses are competing for fewer customers, lead generation has become even more important.

For those with the staff to support this activity, seeking out your own leads can be the best way to ensure that all new customer outreach is targeted specifically to those who are likely to become loyal customers. By implementing new strategies within a company, business owners can tap into new sources of qualified leads.

You could even consider encouraging your existing customers to generate some new leads for you. By offering incentives such as “Money Off” vouchers to clients who refer a friend, you can motivate your clients to send you some new business. For example, an accountancy firm could offer a voucher for 10% off the next fee note if a client refers a new audit or tax client.

This strategy has also been employed successfully by online retailers. Each time a current customer recommends the site to a friend or family member who makes a purchase, the recommending client is given a credit on their account. These credits can be small, depending on the average profit margin per sale for your company, and serve dual purposes. Not only will it encourage loyal customers to recommend your business, it will also encourage them to spend each time one of their friends does.

A great way to keep your leads fresh is to constantly look for new methods of lead generation. Even the best methods can grow stale with time.

Finally, make sure you capture these valuable sales leads in a database. A good CRM system such as Goldmine or Sugar will enable you to track leads as well as carry out permission based marketing campaigns such as e-newsletters.