Would you like more leads pouring into your sales funnel right now? Do you find that lead generation often falls to the wayside when emergencies inevitably come up? Do you find the idea of prospecting overwhelming? If you said yes to any of these questions, then this chapter is going to change the way you look at lead generation efforts. And this chapter, I’m going to share with you three of the biggest lead generation mistakes that so many salespeople make. Check it out.
Mistake number one, relying on just one lead generation approach, one of my great sales mentors used to always tell me that you need to have multiple oars in the water at one time. And too often salespeople simply just don’t have enough oars in the water. And when that one source of leads dries up temporarily or permanently, it’s freak-out time, have at least three lead generation strategies going on at any one time. For example, this might mean that you are focused on making cold calls to very high-level prospects. You are asking for referrals and introductions from all of your existing clients and your existing network. And it might also include hosting semi-annual private events, where you invite all of your best customers and your best prospects to come and learn about some of the best industry takeaways. That would be three great lead generation strategies going on, ultimately leading to a huge prospecting funnel.
Mistake number two, focusing on lead generation haphazardly. Have you ever set big goals to increase prospecting, only to shelve it once you got busy with other things? Let’s face it, we’ve all been there. This is so common in sales, rather than making huge commitments to prospecting instead, commit to smaller, actionable chunks that you can actually follow through on even when you’re busy, even when you’re slammed with other things. This means having those actionable chunks that you can take every single day. Mistake number three, believing that lead generation and delivery are separate. So often salespeople see sales and delivery of a product or service as two completely separate jobs. They’re not. In fact, delivery is one of the best opportunities to build a stronger relationship with those existing clients. Use those moments spent working with clients to constantly look for other opportunities. You can also use those opportunities to ask for referrals and introductions from those clients during the course of your work. So that way, when you’re not even selling, you’re actually selling.