When I reflect on my time in college, I think about all of the important things I learned: the 4 “P’s” of marketing, how to balance credits and debits, and even the do’s and don’ts of hiring staff. While all of these lessons have proven to be fundamental to running a business, there’s one thing that was noticeably absent from the lesson plan: sales.
In an August 2014 Huffington Post blog, Sajeel Qureshi laments the lack of focus on inbound marketing initiatives like lead generation and sales acceleration by business educators, and I can’t help but agree. If I were in the front of the class, I would absolutely stress that marketing in the year 2014 is about way more than just placing ads and relying on 4 letter “P’s”.
The Huffington Post acknowledges that inbound marketing (or inside sales) has become one of the best marketing strategies currently available to businesses, yet these techniques and practices continue to be missing from lectures and textbooks – leaving it up to entrepreneurs like us to figure it out for ourselves.
Now, if I were to teach an “Intro to Lead Generation” class, one of the first things I would want my students to learn about is what I consider the “Fifth P” – phone verified leads. That’s why today I am reviewing the things you need to know when it comes to generating phone verified leads for your business.
WHAT ARE THEY?
When people hear the term “Phone Verified Leads”, their first assumption is always “Telemarketing”. As my colleague Ken Krogue discusses in Forbes, inbound marketing is nottelemarketing. Krogue writes, “Telemarketing is that annoying call at dinner time that makes you say ‘no!’ before hanging up… Inside sales is professional sales done remotely.”
While this only scratches the surface of what makes phone verified leads unique, it’s important not to be scared away by society’s disdain for “telemarketing”. There is enormous potential for your business to grow by embracing phone verified lead generation and running an effective and efficient campaign.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The process of generating phone verified leads is actually quite simple, but it mustbe done properly to ensure compliance with all regulatory and legislative bodies. Here’s a brief rundown on what the process typically looks like:
- Consumers “opt-in” to learn more about the client’s business/product/service via an online landing page or other source and request to be called.
- The lead gen company follows up to verify genuine interest in the product/service being offered.
- Only qualified, interested consumers are delivered to the client for them to initiate their sales cycle.
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES?
Besides being an enormous time and effort saver for your client’s business, the most significant advantage of using phone verified leads is that they are consumer initiated. In other words, every consumer that is contacted has first expressed an explicit interest in hearing more about your client’s products and services.
This means that a call will not be regarded as unwanted or annoying, but rather as a welcome source of information about a product or service that can help improve the quality of life of the customer. In short, when prospects want to talk, they become much more likely to convert into customers for your business
WHAT IS REQUIRED?
The most important thing to ensure before beginning a phone-verified lead campaign is that your client has the infrastructure in place to handle daily calls and capitalize on delivered leads while they are still hot. This means working with your client to develop the right lead to agent ratio and ensure that every lead is converted in a timely manner.
In addition to having the proper manpower to manage an influx of leads effectively, you absolutely need to have the right tech as well. In his article, Krogue says, “Inside sales prodigies have become much like Iron Man,” with super human speed, endurance, and the most advanced tech. It’s easy to see how they can easily “do 8 hours of work in 2 hours.”
From lead management systems, to CRMs, to dialers that help reduce hold times, these technologies all work to speed up the sales cycle. In lead generation, every second you take to call back a prospect lowers the chance of their potential conversion. In fact, our top clients boast a lead contact time of 12 seconds.
There is no doubt that inbound marketing techniques like lead generation are changing the way businesses are accelerating their sales cycles and boosting their capacity for growth. This is just one “lesson” of many that would benefit business students about how to enter a sales environment that is increasingly tech-focused.
Today’s homework for healthcare companies is to learn more about lead generation, understand the opportunities that are available, and make sure you are making the most educated decisions about how to best market your business.
Stay tuned to LeadsCon.com, as future Prizm Media articles will be bringing you the next crucial steps towards increasing growth by optimizing your businesses marketing efforts.
Zeeshan Hayat is the CEO and Co-founder of Prizm Media Inc., a Vancouver-based lead generation firm that has generated over 13 Million leads for the US and Canadian health and wellness market. Zeeshan is listed as one of Vancouver’s Top “Forty Under 40” by BIV, with the company ranking #52 in Canada’s Fastest Growing PROFIT500 list.