While there are many different sales strategies, they all run on leads. With leads coming in from marketing and independent sales activities, they must efficiently be recorded and contacted. While marketing efforts will have created a positive brand image, it is up to sales to nurture the relationship until the lead is ready to convert.
Lead Generation Strategy: Diversification is critical, and this is as true of sales leads as it is a stock portfolio. Relying solely on marketing leads for business will leave a sales pipeline vulnerable to even the slightest of shifts.
The sales team can produce independent leads through traditional techniques such as cold calling, attending trade shows, and networking. BIG, by taking an integrated view of the business as a process, will assist in filling your sales pipeline with high quality leads.
Database Management: Businesses run the spectrum, from having no formal CRM database at all to elaborate systems that just aren’t working for one reason or another. Different sales techniques call for different database formats, but without the right tools your sales team is already behind before they even pick up the phone or shake hands. The CRM database must mesh with the sales and marketing strategies of the organization to provide the smoothest facilitation of the sales process.
Prospecting Opportunities: Nobody would be panning for gold if the market did not want more gold. In the same sense, businesses should begin their prospecting efforts by identifying the needs of the market they hope to serve. In order to be in a position to capitalize on these opportunities, your business must have the bandwidth in terms of talent and time to match the corresponding demand.
The intersection of market demand and your company's capacity is where opportunities exist and where prospecting should be focused. By aligning all this with your marketing growth strategy, leads can be converted to customers and sent down the funnel to sustain operations.
