“How did you hear about us?” It is one of those questions that is commonly asked of a prospect that walks through the door. A prospect is not a sale, but a potential sale. How did they hear about us? Or… did we hear of them first?
If the sale is the lifeblood of the business, then the lead is the lifeline.
A lead–also called a sales lead–is a potential customer who is interested in what your business has to offer. Marketers and salespeople strive to convert people who are interested in their products and services from prospects into customers.
But how do we gauge whether or not a customer is interested? If you think that your gift of gab alone can convince people, I’d say, think again. We have all met very rude and blasé salespeople and we still decided to purchase from them. In fact, we became quite adamant and indignant when they didn’t want to serve us or give us what we wanted.
Leads are what keep your company profitable. When your sales team has leads they can reach out to, this keeps your sales funnel moving. On the other hand, if your sales team has no leads to work with, they have to reach out to consumers who aren’t actively interested in your company. That’s what conventional wisdom dictates. But I think differently.
Is there a wish list that you have? I’m sure that we all have one. There’s someone out there who has what we want. Sometimes, to get it; we will have to part with our money in the process. Or we can always barter. It’s far less common these days, but we still do it.
It comes down to what two people (or entities) find interesting about each other. If I am of interest to you–and if you are of interest to me–we can create a transaction.
If a potential customer has shown interest in your business, that does not mean they are willing to buy or to convert. They may just be on the lookout for something. The next step is to help the consumer make a definitive decision regarding a product or service.
We’ve all been in stores where we’ve gazed at products and thought, “I can’t tell the difference…” We might, at that point, look around for someone to help us. When we’re at that stage, we already want to buy. We’re just looking for that person who will sell it to us.
So whether you’re a customer or business–I say, what are you waiting for; it’s time to get out there and create some leads!
The Mercantile 