Generating leads is a lengthy process involving a certain amount of strategy, a sprinkling of automation and a large dose of time. Even after going through the motions you still may find yourself with potential clients that are on the lower end of your ideological scale.
Don’t get me wrong, all leads are important and should be nurtured through the sales funnel to become a client. But wouldn’t it be ideal if the leads we generated were of an ideal quality from the beginning?
Having high quality leads are important. This is because the more they fit into the framework of your target consumer, the more likely they are to become a client. So, what hacks can we use to generate higher quality leads from your outset? Read on to find out…
In his book ‘Irresistible Persuasion’, Geoff Birch talks about qualifying leads before wasting your time. You don't want to talk to someone who isn’t qualified to make a decision about what you are trying to sell them. The same theory applies when generating leads. If you are targeting a paid ad at the tech man rather than the HR Manager when trying to generate leads for recruitment, you’re going about it the wrong way.
A simple way to differentiate between qualified and non-qualified leads is asking qualifying questions. The data the potential lead on the other side of the screen inputs will determine whether they fit the parameters you have set for your target consumer. This generates a higher quality lead.
One thing to remember when planning your campaign to generate leads in the first place is to get the right balance of quality and quantity. Casting a wide net to get anyone and everyone to sign up is a sure way of spending unnecessary time and money on people who are unlikely to buy. It is important to focus on quality rather than quantity to avoid high volumes of low quality leads.
One tactic for achieving a balanced quantity of high quality leads is attaching rules to your email form field during your Inbound Marketing Campaign. Detecting mismatching or irrelevant information, especially email addresses, is a good way to clear out low quality leads as well as avoiding spam.
Lead Scoring is the final string to your bow when it comes to obtaining quality leads. This technique measures the quality of a lead based on the parameters you set out that detail your ideal lead. Use a simple one to ten scale - the higher the number, the better quality the lead! The way to figure out which lead scores higher is through those qualifying questions used when qualifying the leads at the beginning. Those who fit your parameters need to be placed higher up the scale than those who don’t. Alternatively use an Inbound Marketing platform, such as Hubspot, which does this for you.
Remember that having bad or low quality leads can be costly. Nurturing someone who will never become a customer is a waste of resources. Securing high quality leads from the outset not only avoids this problem, but helps you stay in line with sales targets.
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