SOLUTION 22
BUYING SALES LEADS
In addition to using prequalified advertising and Internet enquiries, contact lists can be bought or prequalifiers can be hired.
To use purchased sales leads effectively it must be determined which are investments and which are simply expenses. This requires trial and error, testing sales lead sources and comparing the outcome (sales) with the costs.
In most sales organizations, managers will purchase and test sales leads, although salespeople can help in ensuring that the results are accurately tracked.
CONTACT LISTS
Contact lists are the simplest and least expensive of purchased sales leads. In most cases, the more paid for the list, the greater the prequalifying level. They typically include information such as: name, title, company, address, type of business (SIC code), annual turnover, and other data.
Many contact lists are built from existing – and not always up-to-date – databases. People change jobs or responsibilities and lists that are more than six months old can already be out of date in some industries. When purchasing contact lists, it is important to ask how recently the data has been verified and updated.
The united kingdom Standard industrial classification of economic activities (Sic) is used to classify businesses by the type of economic activity in which they are engaged. This information can be used to produce more accurately targeted lists of relevant companies. For more see www.statistics.gov.uk
SALES LEAD SERVICES
Sales lead services contact the suspect and ask qualifying questions (either generic or industry specific) to determine who is in the market to buy what you have to sell in the short-term future. The prequalifying may be done by direct mail, telephone, or the Internet. Qualifying questions seek to answer:
• What is their area of purchasing responsibility?
• What are their current and future purchasing needs?
• How and why do they buy?
Accurate answers to these questions can help salespeople more efficiently identify prospects within a pool of suspects. The cost of this value-added service is higher than that of contact lists. It can, of course, be undertaken in-house, and it often makes sense to do so where products and services are focused on a niche market. The advantage of in-house prequalification is that the qualifying questions can be tailored to the exact needs of the sales staff.
the aim is to identify prospects within a pool of suspects
Direct marketing is a business function that can help salespeople qualify sales leads. Contact list names are mailed product information and asked to indicate their needs and their authority in purchasing. Those who respond are, to some extent, prequalified and can be passed on to a salesperson for further contact and qualifying.