Tracking and Improving Lead Generation Results

Do you know where your best leads originate? How much money do you make from each lead you process? There are five key components to determining your most effective lead generation funnels and improving the amount of money you can expect from your proposals.

1. Design and Track Your Lead Funnels

Effective lead generation doesn’t happen by chance. There are specific methods and marketing collateral that generate responses from your targeted buyers, and you can improve your lead generation results through effective design and measurement. The first and most critical component is determining where to reach your buyers and designing your collateral (webinars, case studies, portfolio, etc.) to reach this targeted group effectively. Effectively designed and promoted, a presentation can literally generate hundreds of responses from your ideal prospects.

2. Create Pull Mechanisms

Mechanisms that pull in targeted prospects are much more effective for business development than simply broadcasting “we are the best”. In fact, most people are turned off by shameless self promotion and messages they consider to be spam. When you are able to demonstrate your expertise and have people refer customers to you, the time it takes for each dollar of revenue generated greatly diminishes. However, the key is compiling your collateral in such a way that it proves results without trumpeting on and on about the company. You also need to provide mechanisms (sign-up forms, free evaluations, etc.) for a new prospect to utilize to reach out and ask for your advice.  This first step is obviously critical in creating business partners because without meetings there are no proposals - and without proposals - well you get the point. 

3. Generate Repeat Business

Is there any better lead than from a satisfied customer who wants more of what you have to offer? I don’t think so. It has been said that is 3 times as easy to generate repeat business as it is to create a new account and I believe this holds true. However, to generate this repeat business, you need to be in front of your clients with valuable information that will help them to solve problems. At the end of the day, you can either be a one-time-buy company that always scrapes for new customers or a company that generates recurring income from existing accounts. The latter is a much easier way to generate income.

4. Promote Referrals

Next to getting repeat business from existing accounts, referred customers are about as good as it gets for business development. Do you promote and reward referrals in your line of work? If not, start now. When I say “reward”, some people automatically jump to some sort of payment or discount program. But, this is not the case. A simple thank you letter with a useful office item enclosed can go much further and also eliminate any awkward discussions regarding payments. The truth is that satisfied customers are glad to help spread the word and it is up to us to give them the means to do so. An effective referral program provides simple tools someone can use on your behalf and a plan for how to help your customers get these in front of your prospects.

5. Measure and Improve

You would be amazed how many companies have no real grasp on the origin for most proposals and their close rate on those leads. It is crucial to ask the right questions and track the right data to uncover your best business-generation funnels and improve on results. There is an old adage that says “you can’t manage what you can’t measure”, and this definitely holds true for lead generation. From the questions you ask during an initial phone interview to the data you hold and query from your contact management system, the method you use for measurement and improvement of lead generation are crucial. Designed properly, the information you utilize from your contact management system or a simple spreadsheet can help you uncover trends and generate more revenue per hour spent on business development.

About the Author

Andy Hedrick is the manager of the “Targeted Marketing Best Practices” group on LinkedIn and a 16-year veteran of the B2B sales and marketing field. He specializes in helping companies promote solutions, events, and accomplishments and has been published numerous times. Andy holds a bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and has served as a Director of Business Development and Sales Manager with successful software and consulting firms. His LinkedIn guide – “How To Create a Quality Network and Generate Leads Using LinkedIn®” provides a step-by-step guide for generating leads using this powerful business network.