Every company needs to build a pipeline of potential customers to grow their business. In the old days prospecting leads meant your sales team pounding the phone, calling down lists of suspects in the hope of finding someone with a need that the company could help solve.
Cold calling has always been tough. With the shift to digital and changes to how buyers research, cold calling has become a very inefficient method for prospecting leads.
If you want to stay in business you can’t wait for your prospect to call you.
3 Creative Ways to Prospecting Leads Online
1. Help them find you
Google has become the new Yellow Pages. According to a study conducted by the research firm SRI, 46% of all daily web searches are for information about a product or service. Companies that make it easy for prospects to find them online through search will be a step ahead of the competition. This comes down to search engine optimization and the creation of valuable content for both the buyers to read, and the search engines to index.
2. Give value, get value
Buyers are spending as much as 70% of their buying cycle researching online before they consider contacting your company’s sales team. They’re looking deeply through your website and what you have in the way of available information.
They’re looking for information to help them answer:
- What is it?
- How do I do it?
- Why you?
- Why now?
Great! You are an expert in your field. Sharing this knowledge will help in prospecting leads by demonstrating how you are best positioned to help them solve their challenge. The only thing, if you’re going to give value, it’s only right to ask for value in return. The currency in trade here is information. You’re sharing expertise, in return you should ask for basic contact information. This can be used to follow up later.
3. Develop and test landing pages
Engaging your prospects and encouraging them to download your premium content is the role of a Landing Page. A good landing page will target a particular audience and promote specific needs and benefits that your content will provide.
Remember, a Landing Page is not a contact us form. It must be much more specific on what the prospect will receive for completing the form. They will only convert if there is a clear value that they can see they will receive in return.
Now, put down that list of cold call numbers and start prospecting leads in the digital age. If you are able to effective build attention, show value, and develop optimized landing pages, your prospecting will be much easier.
