Lead Generation is very important to the growth of a business.  Depending on the type of product and/or services offered the process could vary, but fundamentally they are the same.  The days of simply running ads and selling with little to no effort of providing excellent customer service have passed for companies that want to be sustainable in the future.  There are to having an effective lead generation process.  

Below are five steps of the lead generation process.

• Market Research
• Prospecting
• Acquisition
• Lead Nurturing
• Sales Reports And Analytics

Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets or customers.  In order to focus on the right prospects you have to find out what they ‘look’ like, and what they want or need.

Prospecting is one of the early steps in the sales process, which consists of identifying potential customers, aka prospects. The goal of prospecting is to develop a database of likely customers and then systematically communicate with them in the hopes of converting them from potential customer to current customers.  Once the research has been done to find out who you’re looking for prospecting is finding out where the buyers you are looking for are ‘located.’ It also about finding out the most effective way to reach them to achieve the desired results.

Customer acquisition also includes the process of converting existing prospects into new customers.  Once you know the who, what, where, and how then you take action to complete the sale. Ask for the sale.

Lead nurturing is the process of developing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel, and through every step of the buyer’s journey. It focuses marketing and communication efforts on listening to the needs of prospects, and providing the information and answers they need.  After the sale is complete the work is not done. It’s important to continue to take care of your buyers by providing excellent customer service and leaving the door open to get more sales in the future.

Sales Reports And Analytics. … By breaking down every aspect of the sales process through reporting and analytics companies have the power to highlight the areas of their business requiring most attention, and the input to drive sales in a more productive, and organised manner.  This helps you to see what level of results you’re achieving. You can clearly see numbers that will indicate which areas are doing well, and which areas may need help if any do and take action to correct or enhance your processes.

In summary, having a lead generation process in place is important because it will help you get more sales, organize your efforts, target your approach, save time trying to figure out what to do next, help determine whether or not you are achieving the goals you have set forth, create an opportunity for repeatable success, and just make things easier by providing more consistency to your processes.