What is lead generation and how does it work?
Lead generation means: Bringing in potential new customers. For example through your online channels.
If you have contact with a person or a company that is interested in your service, that is a lead. For example, you will receive visitors to your website, your exhibition stand is visited by people and companies, you will receive e-mails from suppliers, customers and partners, and interested parties. For example, you have followers in your social media channels.
Is a lead a customer?
No, a lead is not yet a customer. First, it is good to see if the lead is actually your ideal customer. Read the article on how to create a persona for your ideal customer. You look at the criteria of the lead, for example age, income class, location, company size, position, background, and thus estimate the appropriateness. This is called lead qualification. In other words, assessing a lead whether it fits your desired target group. This is a necessary step to get more results from your sales efforts.
By the way, you can keep interested parties outside your customer group involved in your company by asking them to subscribe to the newsletter. This way they occasionally stay involved with your company, but you do not make any direct sales efforts.
Qualify leads
Qualifying leads properly saves a lot of work later for the sales staff. Namely, it is better selling to a suitable and potential customer. Try to estimate as many explanatory factors as possible for your ideal customer group. Perhaps that is the use of a certain software package, or a number of demographic variables (for example, age or location), or income class, or company size. It depends entirely on your industry. Job profile often works well in the corporate market.
How can I get more out of my visitors to my business website?
There are a number of programs on the market that allow you to see which companies are visiting your website. For example LeadFeeder or Online Success. You must adhere to the privacy rules for your area. with which you can see which companies come to your website. (based on IP number), with this you can see which companies visit your website. Then you can get started to approach the company yourself.
Good luck!