How critical is persistence & follow up? Extremely!!

In the world of C-Level lead generation it takes patience and persistence to obtain those highly sought after, high revenue generating, leads.  Now, when I say persistence, I'm not talking about hounding an individual or company with no identified need until they want to get a restraining order against you for phone harassment.  What I'm talking about is "mutual persistence."  Here is what I mean.

Once you've had a conversation with an executive level individual of an organization and determined that there could be a fit for your services or solutions but not at this time, ask that person for permission to "be persistent."  Rather than disregard the reasons that the person has given for not wanting to move forward or meet at this time, I position myself in a way that is non-threatening and, often, gives me an opportunity to pursue them until I do get an appointment. 

First, it's important to acknowledge the reason(s) given for a delay whether it's due to budget constraints, lack of business, other projects that are more pressing etc. and say something like; "I understand that with the XYZ project taking place at this time it makes more sense for you to hold off at this time.  Based upon where you are with the project today and your projected end date, when would be the best time for me to follow up with you?"  This lets your prospect know that one, you're listening, two you respect their time and that they are not interested in moving forward now and three, you are interested in helping them when the time is right.  One of the most critical things to do at this point, besides taking detailed notes, is scheduling the follow up call.  Often, sales people who are just focused on this month's quota, will say that they're going to call back or follow up only for them to never be heard from again.  Big mistake.

When you do call the prospect back it will be a warm call and most often the person you spoke with will remember talking with you when you summarize, in a few sentences, that you spoke on this date about this issue but that it wasn't a good time and THEY recommended you follow up in X months.  Might they put you off again?  Sure, however if they truly are not interested it's more likely that they will tell you on the second call because they know that you will in fact call them a third time if they don't.  Follow up is also a great way to "weed out" those potential future opportunities that are not really opportunities at all.  It also helps your organizations name to become familiar to the client.

I uncovered a very large opportunity just this past week as a result of persistence.  In the spring, I'd spoken with one of the VPs who said they are interested in one of my client's solutions and was referred to the Director of IT.  Not who I usually pursue but I wasn't getting a response from any of the other executives and wanted to find an "in."  I left messages for the Director of IT, and other executives, every 2-3 weeks but never got a call back.  I went back to the VP and discovered that he was no longer with the organization and neither was the IT Director.  I immediately reached out to the COO, who "was impossible to get a hold of," and talked with his admin.  I explained that I knew their organization was interested in XYZ technology and that I'd been leaving messages for months but to no avail.  She asked me to summarize my conversation with the former VP, messages left and she'd see what she'd do about getting me a call back.

The very next day I received an email from the Chief Information Executive apologizing for my calls falling through the crack and asking for an appointment to discuss my client's capabilities and how they may be of assistance to the company as a whole, not just the one solution that had been mentioned.  The lead that I turned in is for a company that does millions of dollars in revenue and has over 2,500 employees.  Needless to say, my client was thrilled and they applauded my persistence and follow up.

Don't Waste Time Selling To the Wrong Buyer

If you've been in sales for any length of time I'm sure you've had the experience of obtaining an appointment with a prospect, gone through the discovery process, presented a proposal and then been put off or turned down by the prospect because they were the wrong buyer.  When embarking on lead generation it is critical to quickly identify who your Financial Buyer, Technical Buyer and User Buyer is so you don't find yourself spinning your wheels and wasting time.  Here I am going to dive into who each of these buyers are and how you can leverage conversations with them all.

The User Buyer is often times the person who is most willing to talk and share information about the business and areas that need improvements because they are most affected.  This is the person who will directly benefit from the implementation of your solution but they don't usually have decision making power.  The User Buyer can be a great place to obtain important information needed to uncover needs and pain points however your search should not stop here.

Technical Buyers are individuals who have a part in implementing new solutions but, again, don't have final say when it comes to approving the actual purchase.  It's beneficial to reach out to Technical Buyers to gain an understanding of the past, present and future projects that the company was, is or will be engaged in.  Knowing where the company has come from and where they are headed can aide you in determining how best to position your solution to the appropriate buyer.  By asking about future projects you can also uncover other potential areas of opportunity for your company to do business with the prospect.

While conversations with the User Buyer and Technical Buyer are great to have, you don't want to find yourself in a position where they are the individuals to whom you are actually selling.  Yes, get them on your side, create a desire for your solution with them, but don't focus all of your efforts on these individuals.

Ultimately, you need to determine who your Financial Buyer is.  This is the person who has a vested interested in the revenue of the company, is typically the CEO or CFO, and where the "buck stops."  While talking with the CEO or CFO of multi-million and billion dollar organizations can be intimidating for some, if you've done your homework, uncovered as much information as possible through the User Buyer and Technical Buyer, you should be able to hold an educated conversation with the Financial Buyer and, hopefully, set an on-site appointment to show them the benefits their organization will realize by working with your company.  Because the Financial Buyer makes the final determination as to whether or not your solution is of value to his/her organization, if you can sell them, your odds of turning the prospect into a new customer is greatly increased.

As a contracted "lead generation specialist" this is what I enjoy doing for my clients each and every day.

Thanks for reading and happy hunting!

You call that a lead?

Lead generation means different things to different people. As noted on Wikipedia, Lead Gen is defined as "a marketing term that refers to the creation or generation of prospective consumer interest or inquiry into a business' products or services." From this definition the word interest is the key to successfully being able to generate new revenue for your company. So what is interest and how much interest must there be for something to be qualified as an actual lead? Interest, as defined by WordNetWeb is "having or showing interest; especially curiosity or fascination or concern." And, how often have your sales representatives wasted precious selling time following up on a "lead" that wasn't really a lead at all because the "interest" was just in getting off the phone and saying whatever it took to do so?


I would like to purpose that to qualify interest, as defined above, as an actual lead worth paying for there must be enough interest for the prospective company to do one of three things.

First, a conversation with at least one of the buyers, User Buyer, Technical Buyer or Financial Buyer must take place AND they must have interest in having a conversation at a later date (12+ months) to discuss a future project where your services could be utilized. This I call a Future Lead and follow up accordingly.

Second, includes the criteria of the first with the exception of the time frame being less than 12 months and details of that project have at least been discussed in general. I call this a Momentum Lead.

Third, contains the same criteria as the Future and Momentum Leads but with a 6 month or less time frame for services being needed, a scheduled on-site appointment or conference call set and so much detailed information included that it actually looks like a first appointment has taken place. That is what I define as a true lead and how I do lead generation for my clients.

You may be wondering about the User Buyer, Technical Buyer and Financial Buyer mentioned earlier and I'll dive into those on my next Blog. Thanks for reading; now I'm off to hunt down some more leads!