Sales leads are not typically covered in sales training books or courses as thoroughly as other parts of the sales process such as closing the sale.  Every sales process begins with generating leads, so the more you know about sales leads, the more profitable your small business can be. 

Are you able to name the number of leads you got over the last month? Most people can answer that question with a handful of leads that have high potential or resulted in a sale, but a large number of potential leads fall out of the process, sacrificing possible sales. 

What’s the big deal?  A huge amount of a company’s resources (both time and money) are spent generating leads that will hopefully result in sales, and the better you understand where and how you get those leads, the better off your business will be.  And, wouldn’t it be worth it to use some of the things you learn about your leads to cut marketing costs or the time you spend getting leads? 

Your first action plan is to create a way to track key information about the ways that you generate your leads.  Below are some questions to ask to get started: 

1. What is the main venue through which you get your leads? Before a lead becomes a lead, they are only prospects – someone who visits your website or that you meet at a networking group.  Your job is to identify those venues you use to collect your prospects, such as trade shows, meet-up groups, advertising, or your website.

2. Then, answer the question, what specific sources do you get your actual leads from? For example, specific sources could be a particular trade show, an online blog a direct advertising campaign, an existing client referral or a pay per click advertising campaign.

3. How would you rank the quality value of each of those leads from your source and specific source?  An effective way to come up with this is to assign a percent value to every lead a source provides.  So, if a lead actually results in a sale, it receives a higher percentage value than one that expressed interest but didn’t get past the proposal stage.

You will be able to spend your marketing budget and your time much more efficiently once you understand where you leads come from and the quality of those leads. 

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