Lead Generation 101 – Maximize your Leads

June 18th, 2014 by

I call this Lead Generation 101 – Maximize your leads. I participated in a Webinar last week, sponsored by Water Technology Magazine. The title was “Perfecting the In-Home Sale”.

My part of the program was about best practices in lead generation. In other words, how to actually get that all-important in-home appointment in order to close the sale.

To prepare for this program, I spoke with many dealers in the water & home improvement industries. I found out that regardless of the industry, if 2 dealerships got the same exact leads, the more experienced offices set more appointments and closed more sales than the smaller, less experienced offices.

What many Dealerships simply do not understand is that their first responsibility is selling the prospect on the value of the in-home appointment. It’s the job of the professional who visits that home to close the sale.

Here are some Lead Generation Tips to help you maximize your leads:

Use an Appointment Setter

Dealerships who let their salespeople set their own appointments set fewer appointments.

Make sure a live person answers your phone

No prospect leaves messages hoping to get a call back. They just go on to call your competition.

Find the Right Prospects

In the Water Quality Industry, consider New Homeowners and Families with Children as top priorities.

Use a Script for both in-bound calls and out-bound lead generation

I can’t tell you how many times well-meaning staff spend time 20 minutes on the phone with an in-bound call prospect. They answer every question.  But – they never remember to take down their contact information in the first 20 seconds of the call.

Train your Appointment Setter for success.

Test & tweak your outbound script for Appointment Setting and make sure you have additional scripting that handles objections.

Perfecting the in-home sale takes practice and commitment.

It’s no fun the spend money generating leads – if you don’t maximize every one of your leads!