Not least with the potential presence of a looming recession, we are all under pressure to generate sales. We all want to see a sales pipeline full of the right kinds of leads. We need to get on enough PSL’s (preferred supplier lists) to drive growth, and to see enough prospective clients to stack the odds in our favour. Yet, in many businesses, a lack of momentum in the sales process scuppers business objectives. A past over-reliance on marketing activity to generate inbound leads means that sales personnel risk taking their foot off the gas in terms of the level of proactive activity needed ..read more

It may or may not surprise you, but your potential customers have lots on their minds. They are busy. They have deadlines to meet. They have budgets and people to manage. Priorities dictate their working patterns. And, they ideally want an easy life.   As a consequence, customers don’t really care about you or your company. They are unmoved by your products and services. You may have the best solution on the market, and have outstanding customer service and reviews, yet your prospects, and even current clients, are only really interested in one thing; themselves. Their interest is p ..read more

Do you find that potential customers spend way too much time sitting on the fence, not making a decision? Do they also ghost you after initial communication? And, after a period of inactivity, do some suddenly respond just to say that the project has been cancelled or delayed?  Simply put, it’s probably that the project you discussed is not a sufficient priority. Your potential customer may just have been putting the feelers out. They may have had an idea for a project, or an opportunity or issue arose that subsequently disappeared. Budget may not have been approved or funds may have bee ..read more

Pretty much everyone knows that the cost of acquiring a new customer is four to five times higher than retaining an existing one. It’s fair to say, therefore, that nurturing your existing client base is a powerful way to enhance your sales and your bottom-line profit.  It’s also probable that existing customers will be more likely to buy from you on an ongoing basis, and they’re more likely to welcome new product launches. They provide upsell and cross-sell opportunities that are usually not present during the prospecting cycle.  Chasing New Business Yet with more than 20 years expe ..read more

Some people get confused when they hear the term telemarketing. Or, they don’t know they’re confused. That’s because it is often lumped together with cold calling or telesales, and it just isn’t the same.  So, what is telemarketing? And, how does it differ from other ways of using the phone to generate business?  What type of Selling do you do?  First and foremost, we need to consider where in the sales cycle the phone is used. Businesses have multiple objectives with both prospects and customers. They may need to: Make customer care or customer service calls to unearth new op ..read more

  In many ways, what represents B2B lead generation is best defined by the decision-maker in an organisation who wants to generate sales leads. The simple reason for this is that leads come in all shapes and sizes and the depth of qualification required also varies depending on: The stage is the sales cycle The requirements of the business The role of the sales team In some respects, we should also split the definition into a definition for a lead and also for the tasks required to generate that lead. What do we mean by that? What is a lead? Our core business is lead generation. Yet, cl ..read more

  Many organisations have technical products, skills and services upon which their clients rely. They offer solutions that ensure that their customers can run their business effectively. Often, companies have skilled personnel that are product or solutions specialists. However, it’s perhaps rare to find product experts that are also proficient in sales lead generation.  We’re talking here about skilled lead generators that can unearth prospects. To distort a well-known phrase, these knowledgeable executives know how to make the horse drink but they can’t find the horse and lead it to ..read more

  It seems like telemarketing has been around forever. It has been called many things such as cold calling, telesales, prospecting, tele calling and a few other derivatives. Ultimately, though, it involves a caller picking up the phone to reach out to another individual with the intention of, ultimately, selling something.  Outbound calling gets a bad name Yet, to simplify telemarketing in that way does it a big disservice. This makes the assumption that it is a short-term sales pitch, and that the seller is not interested in the buyer at all. That approach is the worst type of selli ..read more

There are some pretty gloomy predictions right now in the UK alongside alarming economic indicators. Inflation is predicted to hit 13%. Interest rates recently saw the largest hike for 27 years to 1.75%. And, according to the Bank of England, a 5 quarter recession that’s equivalent to the 2008 downturn is ahead of us for the end of 2022. It all makes depressing reading. As a consequence, businesses need to be prepared. Sitting around doing nothing whilst burying one’s head is definitely not a strategy. Of course, there will be winners and losers as there was during the recent pandemic. But, a ..read more

Have you ever heard the expression ‘it’s a no brainer’? What about the old chestnut ‘low hanging fruit’? Or even, ‘the path of least resistance’? Clients Believe Everything is Unique If you’ve ever worked in a lead generation agency, and been briefed by clients, you may well have encountered one or all of these expressions. Unfortunately, some brand owners either overestimate the attractiveness of their offering or they don’t fully understand their market, including the competitor set. Or, perhaps, they just don’t care. Prospective clients aren’t stupid. Often, they simply aren’t interested in ..read more