Transcript
Intro:
Hi, everyone. I'm Ben Wright, successful entrepreneur, corporate leader and expert sales coach to some of the most talented people our amazing planet has to offer. You're listening to the Stronger Sales Teams podcast, where we bring together and simplify the complex world of B2B sales management to help the millions of sales managers worldwide build, motivate, and keep together highly effective sales teams…teams who grow revenue and make their businesses actual profits.
Along the journey, we also provide great insights and actionable steps to managing your personal health. A happy and productive you is not only better for your teams, but everyone around you. So if you're an ambitious Sales Leader who wants to build the highest performing and engaged teams, Stronger Sales Teams is right where you need to be.
Ben Wright:
Welcome back to Stronger Sales Teams, the place where we provide real-world and practical advice to help you develop super-powered sales teams. We are back to a solo episode today. It’s been a little while since I went just myself in a recording. However, I have had such an overwhelming request for support around lead generation that I decided it’s probably time to hear from me and some of my experience around, in particular, how we go about generating leads.
So today we are going to be focusing all around my top 15 lead generation activities. So these are specifically the ways that I have seen my businesses, my customers, and also how I have gone about lead generation myself over the last 20 or so years. These, by all means, are not the only ways that we’re going to be able to see people generate leads, but they are, on average, the 15 most successful that I have seen businesses typically employ over the last 20 years or so. But before we do that, I think what’s really important is to make sure that we have our team set up to be able to generate leads effectively before we actually go out and chase them. And what I’d encourage you to do is if you haven’t listened to episode 70, which was a few months ago, now, again, episode 70, then I’d suggest you go back to it, because in this episode, we actually talk in detail about how you can have your teams structured and ready to approach the lead generation game. So go back and have a listen to that first before this one. If you’ve already listened to that, as I know many people listen to each episode that comes out every week, then let’s continue forward.
As we do so, I think it’s really important to also remember that lead generation isn’t a part of our roles as salespeople, that we can click our fingers and be magically exceptional at. Lead generation, just like sales, takes a lot of grit and determination and perseverance, in many cases punctuated by periods of really strong lead flow, or gold seams, as you might call it, that happen for businesses from time to time. And something I like to remind myself of when I’m out generating leads is that they don’t always come first go. There’s an old quote, 84% of sales are made after the fifth attempt that I actually translate very loosely across to lead generation. Also because I do believe that it’s very much a persistence game, as I mentioned before. So we need to make sure that we’re prepared for that and we’re prepared to dig in and go really turn up consistently when it comes to generating leads.
So the other episode I would encourage you to listen to before we jump into those top 15 is episode 29, which was around secrets to impactful networking with Justine Beauregard. Now, you don’t need to listen to that before this one, but certainly I’d add it to your list of episodes to flow back to and perhaps revisit if you’ve already heard it, or add to your list to listen to shortly once you’ve gone through today.
Okay, so today we are all about lead generation and the top 15 or so techniques that I see really successful people in the B2B in particular market use for generating leads. So I’m going to go through these one by one. I will acknowledge that some are going to apply more specifically to larger businesses, some are going to apply to smaller businesses, and there’ll be a mix in between. We’re also going to talk a little bit about what they are, but not in great detail about how to implement them. For those, I’d suggest you probably get in touch with me if there’s something you’d like to know really specifically. So without further ado, let’s get into it. My top 15 most successful ways that I’ve seen businesses generating leads over the last 15 years.
Okay, so we’re not in any order here, but number one for me is going back to the well, and that is past customers. Getting return business is one of the most successful ways that I’ve seen businesses generate leads. So obviously, if you’re an established business or a business that has some history in your market, or perhaps a business that has some history with prior similar businesses in your market, then you have a well of customers that you can go back to. Yes, this is going to be determined by how effectively kept up to date your CRM system was. But going back to past customers checking in with how their product or their service is going, checking in if they’re coming towards a use by date for that product, checking in if they just need any support or really above everything else, asking them good questions is going to deliver business in the most simple form that I’ve seen across the journeys. And whilst I’m not ranking these, this is certainly one of the top few. And that is past customers who are coming back to our business again.
So that’s number one. Number two, look in a similar way. It’s past customers, but it’s past customers giving us referrals. So going back to those past customers sitting down and not simply sending them an email that says, hey, you know anyone that would benefit from our products, or we’re a family run business, or we’re working really hard to satisfy our customers. Is there someone else that you think could benefit from our services? This is specifically going back to your past customers, sitting down with them and asking them if they’d be prepared to introduce you to someone in their network. Now, this requires a little bit of confidence to be able to sit in front of your customers and talk through what a good referral likes. And yes, it won’t work with every customer, but I’ve seen it used time and time again where really effective salespeople will sit with their customers, ask them for a referral, and be really surprised by what they receive in return. A second note on this is that it also does require some persistence, and sometimes it will need multiple follow ups. You need to check in with your customer that they’re okay with you asking. Some will be, some won’t be. But on the whole, if you can find a way to be talking to your customers regularly about anyone else that could use your services without impacting your relationship, then that’s a really effective lead generation strategy.
Alright, that’s number two. Number three, referral partners. These are people generating leads out there for you. Most people listening will have heard about these before, but if you haven’t, referral partners work really well because they will use their network to generate your leads. Not dissimilar to asking for referrals for past customers. However, in many instances, referral partners are actually rewarded for the sales that they make. So there might be a commission on sale or a flat fee or so forth. Very, very successful. In fact, those first three that we’ve gone through are some of the really powerful ways to generate leads.
Alright, moving along. Number four is all about networking. Networking particularly in a B2B space or a mass B2C space. So that’s a space where you’re going out to larger groups of the direct to consumer market networking. Super, super effective. Not only does it allow you to get out to people in a really nice, short and compact forum, but networking allows you to build on your network over time so that you can have not just prospects for now, but also prospects for down the track. For me, networking is still my number one way of generating leads for the majority of businesses that I’m involved with. However, not for everyone.
Alright, number five is actually a second part to networking, and that’s all about leveraging your own personal network. Too many salespeople I have seen along the journey don’t effectively leverage their network and this doesn’t necessarily mean hitting up everyone you know to try and use your product, but it’s about having a consistent way of operating, where you will talk about what you do, where you’ll show an interest in what others do and hope that that’s reciprocated. Where you are having open conversations about how your friends or family or even colleagues can make business better on both sides and seeing what comes out of those conversations. Personal networks, when built effectively, super, super powerful. And I have networks built from when I was a teenager that I continue to do business with now. So that’s 25 years ago that these networks were built. And some of them in recent instances have been the first time that I’ve been doing business with or doing business with their network. Super, super powerful. Listen to episode 62 around building brands with Kady O Connell if you’d like to know a little bit more about that. Okay, so we’re a third of the way through. That is the first five done.
Past customers return business past customers referrals referral partners. Three really powerful ways. Networking through events and groups, and networking through your personal network.
Last one around networking is leveraging the networks of your executive or senior leadership teams. Again, one that I don’t see used most effectively enough. However, the majority of our management teams across particularly more mature businesses have extended networks at a senior level. These are networks that we want to tap into, and there’s a number of ways we can do it without getting in the way of our execs time, if you like. However, I’ve also seen some really effective executives really welcome this along the journey, and some who I didn’t think would quite lean into having their network explored for business purposes, really, really enjoy it. So that’s the sixth one there. Networking around your leadership networks.
Alright, moving into number seven. Community groups, sporting groups, school groups. Super, super effective, particularly when they are in the mode of raising funds. And this is where a great example I have is a friend of mine who was working with mortgage brokers, where this mortgage broker actually went to a school group, they were funding for a particular piece of equipment in the school. This mortgage broker actually offered to pay the school fees for any home loan assessments or health checks that the school group provided him. And in return, the school is actually able to fund the majority of this piece of equipment through that one activity with a mortgage broker. Now, these will work differently depending on whether you’re a smaller, single operator business, you have a field team, or you’re a corporate. But certainly at all three levels, there are ways of networking and impacting lead generation by having alliances with community groups, sporting groups, school groups and very similar types of organisations.
Moving into number eight, which is quite closely tied into the community and sporting and school groups is around sponsorships. Sponsorships are terrific for a number of reasons. One, they get your brand seen. Now that doesn’t always generate leads for your business. But more importantly, they often open up a network. The businesses I worked with or have owned, we spent plenty of time sponsoring, in particular AFL clubs. We sponsored some in the A-League and in the NRL along the journey. And we found that what these groups did was they opened up not just the networks within the club. So these are supporters of the club or people in the business network, but also the networks of the executives within the club. And I’ve had a number of occasions when significant projects, multi-million dollar projects, have been secured by using the help of networks through sponsorship groups. All very much an ethical approach. However, what they provided is an opportunity for social proof to be really strong and recommendations of businesses I’ve been in to also be really openly given once these sponsorships have had an amount of experience with our business. So sponsorships can work really, really well. Word of caution here is that when you do sign up to a sponsorship, please don’t expect that the leads just magically flow. You need to work that avenue of lead generation like you would anything else from your prospecting activities. In fact, sometimes I’d argue you actually work twice as hard. I’m a huge proponent of in any sales pitch when you’re down to the last two going twice as hard. And I’m certainly the same when it comes to lead generation. When you have strong relationships, drive those really, really hard because they’re the ones that are going to give you the most benefit. And they certainly make up for the types of prospecting and lead generation activities that maybe won’t give you everything that you need in the timeframes that you put to them.
Alright, so that’s the first eight done. We had two around past customers, return business and referrals. The third was around referral partners. We’ve had three around networking, events or group networking, your own personal network and your executive team network. We’ve also had community groups, sporting groups or school groups. And then number eight was around sponsorships. Eight down, seven to go.
Okay, so another really powerful way of prospecting that I’ve seen worked really successfully over the last 20 years is aged prospects. I am consistently amazed at the size of the inertia pool, and when I mean inertia pool, they are deals that haven’t proceeded that sit within sales teams pipelines. They are often bigger than the active pipeline. And I’m not talking about lost deals here. I’m talking about deals that never went anywhere, prospects that were engaged with, that were quoted, but just couldn’t get a decision made at that time still sitting there and ready to be communicated with again. Now there’s a clear way to approach this and I’d absolutely recommend quite a trail of regimentation or a real clear structure around how we go about regularly touching base with our inertia clients. But for me it’s one of the first areas I go to when leads start to dry up. Within teams is to say hey, let’s go and look at our age pipeline that hasn’t proceeded forward.
Next one is also around aged opportunities. But these are customers who said no, and they might have said no to go with a competitor, or they might have said no for budgetary reasons or a whole lot of other really important factors that led to them not being able to proceed. Again, whilst similar to inertia deals in that they haven’t proceeded, I often see sales teams once a deal is lost, not going back to that customer. And what we forget is that sometimes an agreement with a competitor isn’t forever. Sometimes needs grow, sometimes needs move into different areas. But very, very often customers are prepared to hear from alternate suppliers around what they could do to improve their business. So I really encourage teams to go and look at leads that were lost.
Now we’re ten lead generation activities in and ten of the best that I see being used by teams. And what you’ll see is I haven’t mentioned cold calling or social media once. The reason I do this is that there are so many ways, and the reason I think that’s impactful is to highlight that there are so many more ways than simply picking up a phone and making a cold call or outbound social media to generate leads. In fact, of the last five, I think there’s one there that comes in around social media. So 14 out of 15 are actually completely separate to social media and cold calling. And I’d like teams to remember that there is a lot more to prospecting and lead generation than just what is, I think, commonly promoted, particularly at an influencer level, being cold calling and social selling.
So let’s move on to number eleven. Number eleven for me is trade shows. Now, this is not the typical way you’d expect me to comment around trade shows. I’m not a huge fan of exhibiting at trade shows unless your ideal customers are there in significant numbers. I am a big proponent, though, of going to trade shows where they are, and either attending as a delegate or trying to book meetings with your prospects while at that conference or trade show, if you like. For me, conferences and trade shows are often where, where customers go, and they are more open to networking. And for me, that means they’re more open to hearing about what you have to say. So guerrilla trade show activities, as I like to call it, really, really popular, and for me right now, actually is my number one way of meeting with my customers. All right, eleven down.
Number twelve is all about interdepartmental cross selling. This one probably bigger for larger sized businesses or those that have multiple divisions, but that’s working together across the business to open up opportunities across more than just your own internal division. You might have a residential team and a commercial team. You might have a small scale team and a large scale team. You might have a national team and state based teams. Right? There’s lots of different ways, different type of product teams, but sharing your databases and working out how you can introduce each other to those databases. Super, super powerful.
Three to go. Training events and programs. So this isn’t an internal training piece, but this is where you put on industry training events and programs. Doesn’t work for every industry, but where it works really well is industries that have a high level of public interest at the moment. For example, battery storage. Whether you be a commercial or a residential premise, battery storage has quite a significant amount of interest and can often get people to attend expos or training. Same goes with electric vehicles. Absolutely talk of the town. When it comes to running a cleaner home footprint, these types of events, you tend to get people more willing to come to. The other time, when I think training and event programs run really well, is when you have a market that’s quite new or needs some decoding. And in those instances, quite often we’ll see people willing to attend training events, whether they be virtual or face to face.
Okay, 13 down. Number 14. This is a social media one. It’s that strategic outreach piece. For me, this is where social media can be quite powerful. You can use a tool such as LinkedIn Nav, LinkedIn Navigator to actually mine the customers you’re looking to target and then get really specific around how you get in touch. What I will say here is that this is the time when I think also leveraging internal networks. That is, who knows that person is powerful. I would always recommend that over a cold outreach message, because for me, that’s when we tend to get results, when we can have a referred introduction from someone that that contact may trust. This would be a one, again, to get back to episode 70 on, just to make sure you’re really targeting your ideal customer prospect.
Alright, number 15, last but not least, tender relationships. Now this please, again, don’t take this as just standard tenders. This is building relationships with bodies that put tenders out. So they may be state government, they may be procurement Australia or the procurement body of wherever you live. They may be larger organisations that regularly put out tenders, investing in these relationships so that when the tenders come out is critical to getting you down to the last two or three participants of that tender. Episode 52 with David Chevalier all about landing dream customers. Have a listen to that one if you’d like to know a little bit more about how you’re building long term relationships. But I’d really encourage you not just to sign up to tender databases, but to actively build relationships with companies or organisations that are really actively involved in tenders.
There you go, 15 really strong lead generation activities. If you haven’t written something down today, I’m going to go through those 15 again and you can find them in our show notes. But those 15 are now. In short, we’ve got past customers return business and we’ve got past customers referrals. We’ve got referral partners who generate leads into the business for you. And then we have three types of networking. They are events and groups. They are your own personal network. And last but not least, they are your executive or leadership team within your business. We then move on to community groups, sporting groups, other types of organisations, schools, for example, where you can form a relationship with, particularly when they’re looking to fundraise. And that also flows quite loosely into sponsorships where we can formally support an organisation to get access to their network. Next two are around aged leads. So we’ve got aged opportunities that haven’t gone anywhere that we can go and revisit. And we’ve got aged opportunities that went somewhere else that perhaps are ready to talk to us now. We then move into trade shows. And remember, I spoke about that guerrilla marketing style for the trade show. So we’re actually approaching trade shows where our ideal customers hang out rather than exhibiting at these trade shows. At number twelve, we’ve got interdepartmental cross selling. So using divisions across your business to help each other grow. We’ve got industry training or event programs as number 13. And then the last two, social media. This is really strategic outreach and trying to find referred introductions to your ideal customers via social media. And last but not least is relationships with organisations that put lots of tenders out. These really can pay off in the long term. So that’s 15 lead generation activities for you to go and have a think about. Please download the transcript if you’re not sure, but also fly back to episode 2. It seems like such a long time ago now, almost two years ago, where we had episode two talking about the formal ways of approaching lead generation. I really want to make sure I’m giving you lots of things to think about for lead generation because it’s not necessarily an easy-to-accomplish task.
Okay, so next week we’re going to move into how we nurture prospects. So once we’ve generated the leads, my top 15 ways to then nurture those leads, to get them to a quote, I think that’s equally as important and when the real work begins. So stay tuned for what’s coming out next week.
But seeing as I’m back on my own, a personal health and fitness insight is something I’d like to make sure I continually share. And I actually mentioned about six months ago that we’d ordered some DNA age testing. It’s from a brand called myDNAge, just to see where our biological ages would come back at. And I’ve got the results and I would have to say a significant shock for me. So I’m coming up to 42 very soon. My biological age came back at 44. Now this is a man who exercises daily. I’m still very physically active. I don’t smoke. I don’t have any caffeine. I’m a moderate alcohol drinker. I don’t take drugs. I eat pretty clean, like a bit of sugar, but I’m pretty clean when it comes to eating. I don’t live in a big city anymore. I sleep my 8 hours a night and I have, I would say, moderate stress levels. So I’ve got a lot of the markers right when it comes to lifestyle. And in fact, a lot of the recommendations this biological testing had for me I’m already doing and can’t do a lot better on. I think there might have been one around eating a bit more organic, which is a little bit difficult at times. So what’s come out of that is some markers that I’m not aware of and I’m going to go and look into these, so please stay tuned. I’m going to share these as I go. If you’re interested and want to know more beforehand, please get in touch with me. However clearly, the biological age testing market is heating up and there’s lots and lots happening. So I’m going to go on a little bit of a mission here to find out what else I could be doing to improve my prospects for longevity.
Stay tuned. More to come.
But until then, please keep living in a world of possibility and you’ll be amazed by what you can achieve.
E86 My Top 15 Lead Generation Activities Every Sales Person Needs to Know
