Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Lead Generation Lessons From Santa's Little Helper


lead generation, business to business leads, sales lead generation
It looks like Christmas came early this year as I looked under my desk to find one of Santa's little helpers feasting on my stash of chocolate chip cookies. Seeing as this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to talk to an elf, I decided to lock the doors and just chat with the little guy while he devoured my oh so delicious cookies. We talked about how life was at the North Pole and I found out that what he told me can be equated to lead generation during the holidays.

I sat the little guy up on my desk and we started to talk about things.


Question 1: Are you all busy up at the North Pole now that Christmas is coming?

Answer 1: Actually, no. We work all year round to make sure that we meet production. We have quotas to meet, after all. We don't settle for just that though. We always try to raise our production rates even higher.

A lead generation campaign should not slow down. Those handling it should always try to keep the campaign going all year round and meet production rates, if not aim even higher than what is required. The holidays are already upon us and business seems like it's going to slow down. However, that doesn't mean you should let up on your lead generation efforts.

Question 2: How do you handle getting all those presents to the little kids?

Answer 2: We have a big list. It's not like how you people think it is – just a giant list of names. No, we actually practice segregating the kids who are receiving what kind of present. We also organize according to area. Basically, we have a lot of ways to make dealing with our list of names as efficient as possible.

When you have plenty of business to business leads, just placing them into a list isn't enough and not efficient. When you do lead generation, you should practice proper list and lead segmentation to ease the process and make business flow more smoothly.

Question 3: What if something goes wrong? How do you handle the situation?

Answer 3: Usually nothing goes wrong. But in the event that it does, we locate the problem. We then try to figure out what's causing it, isolate it and then come up with a solution. We have to be quick about it because if a problem did occur and we left it alone it would completely affect production. And we all hate it when we can't get every little kid his or her present just because of our negligence.

In performing sales lead generation, problems may arise. Some of these problems may be hard to detect at first but if left alone could cause problems in how you acquire new sales leads. When a problem arises, it is best to act quick and locate it. According to our little friend, they look for the problem, figure out what's causing it and then isolate it. Once that's been done, they start coming up with solutions on how to fix it.

You should never let a problem affect production rates, especially when it comes to lead generation. Even if it is the holiday season, you should not let your efforts die down because there is still plenty of chances to generate sales leads. Lastly, if your having trouble with handing your leads, learn to segment your lists so that it's easier for your sales team to pursue qualified prospects.

These are the lessons I learned after I spoke to the little guy from the North Pole. Although his answers were not exactly related to business, I found meaning in what he told me and likened it to performing and handling lead generation.

What lessons do you have to share about lead generation?

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