For a business to be successful, it needs to start growing. And to do so, you need to start generating leads. More about what leads are will be explored further in this article, but as of now, it is sufficient to say leads are potential new customers, whose details are not in your company’s database yet.
If you don’t work to get new leads, then you will only have a limited customer database to market and sell your products to. This means your business will eventually exhaust its customer database, and you will have limited growth opportunities.
This helps us understand that leads are imperative for the well-being of any business that looks to grow and expand. After all, your goal is to sell your products and grow your revenue, and that can’t be possible without a pool of customers to market those products to.
To help you get a better understanding of what lead generation is, below is a comprehensive beginner’s guide filled with all the necessary information.
So, what exactly are leads?
Before we dive into the process of generating leads, we must first get a clear idea of what leads actually are. To put it simply, a lead is a customer that shows interest in a company’s services or products. The way they share interest can differ, so a brand needs to pay close attention and seize those moments.
In general, leads are the ones opening communication, usually by submitting their personal information in exchange for an offer or subscription, and the business contacts them afterwards. Because the potential customer is the one indicating interest in your products, the connection feels much more personal than it would if they got a random cold call from a business that acquired their contact information.
Imagine this: you are interested in finding out how to take better care of your car, so you take an online survey on an auto company’s website. They ask for your contact information in exchange for the survey results, and a few days later you receive a call from them. Because you willingly provided them with your contact information, this process seems much less intrusive than if the same brand would have purchased your info from a third-party and called you out of the blue.
If we analyze this example from a business perspective as well, the information this auto company gathers about the customer through that survey helps them understand the major pain points of this potential lead. This way, they can customize their approach based on the information they find and not waste time in contacting someone who may never be interested in their products.
Based on what a brand does to qualify those leads, they fall into different categories:
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MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) – contacts who have engaged with your marketing channels, but are not ready to receive a sales call yet
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SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) – contacts who have indicated they are interested in becoming a paying customer before testing your product
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PQL (Product Qualified Lead) – contacts who have tested your product or services and expressed interest in becoming a paying customer.
Why do businesses need lead generation?
Just like with other situations in life, when things happen naturally, in an organic way, they have a much better chance of developing into something fruitful. When a complete stranger initiates a relationship with your brand and shows interest in your products without being forced to do so, it makes transforming them into customers much easier.
An understanding over the lead’s journey from stranger to consumer will help you get a better idea on how to tackle every step and nurture the relationship you form with every person that comes in contact with your business.
At first, every potential visitor to your website is considered a stranger – someone who has no other connection with your brand. Through keywords, blogposts and social publishing, you can get those people to know about your brand and become visitors. Visitors are then converted into leads through calls-to-actin, landing pages and forms. To turn them from leads into customers, businesses use tools such as CRM software and emails. The most difficult step is transforming consumers into promoters – people that believe in your brand and pass on the word. If you manage to do this, then you have all the means to become a successful brand.
Lead generation – the process
Now that you understand what leads are and how high-end lead generation can help your business, it’s time to learn about the process of generating leads. Below are all the steps you need to follow:
1. The visitor discovers your website through one of your marketing channels. Based on who your target customers are, you need to develop a strategy that attracts them and makes them want to go on your website.
2. Once on your website, the visitor will reach your call-to-action (CTA) and interact with it. Be it a button or a message, a call-to-action needs to be compelling and placed in the right spot, so that visitors feel it is the natural step to take in your relationship.
3. The CTA will take the visitor to a landing page, which is designed to capture information about the lead. To be able to collect this information, you will need to give something in return. An offer, an e-book, a discount – anything that will make the visitor understand their efforts will be rewarded.
4. The last step is the visitor filling out a form and providing you with the necessary information. Once you collect this info, you can safely say you added another lead to your list. It is now time to contact them and turn them into customers.
Qualifying a lead – information collection
When you collect information about a lead, it is very difficult to determine how much details you actually need to see if the lead is truly interested in your product. Here is an example of what a lead generation form should include:
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Full name
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Email
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Company name
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Role in the company
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Country/ City
