MoneyWatch

How To Get Great Sales Leads

By Geoffrey James

Updated on: April 13, 2011 / 4:37 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

The foundation of any B2B selling effort is sales leads, the raw material from which you make prospects and customers.

In order to find great sales leads, you need to start with your sales message, because it forms the core of your elevator pitch, your cold calling script, your voice mails, and your sales presentations. Here are three post to help you with that all-important task:

By the way, I'm always willing to help people work on their sales messages, so if you've got one you'd like me to critique (and if you're lucky rewrite), send it to me in an email!

Once you're happy with your sales message, there are FOUR ways to get great leads. Here they are, in order of how you should pursue them:

METHOD #1: Referrals. This consists of getting your friends, colleagues, existing customers and business contacts to refer their peers to you. To learn more: How to Earn Customer Referrals
METHOD #2: Networking. This consists of meeting people at industry events (and other occasions) who might be potential customers. To learn the key skill: Craft a Killer Elevator Pitch
METHOD #3: Sales Partnerships. This consists of working with other sales professionals in other companies that sell complementary products. To learn more: How to Build Sales Partnerships
METHOD #4: Lead Lists. This consists of creating a prioritizing lists of potential customers generated from online information and visitors to your corporate website. To learn more: How to Find Sales Leads

NOTE: You may not need to use ALL these methods in order to get plenty of sales leads. In fact, you may be able to build your entire career just on referrals. However, I recommend that become familiar with all four methods, so you'll ALWAYS have great sales leads and (consequently) plenty of customers.