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How does a business grow? By increasing products? By having a big team? By being present on all platforms? Or through leads and sales?

The answer is obviously the latter one. Whether you have a startup or a well-established business, you are looking for growth.

What if we tell you there is one sure shot way to hit the bull’s eye?

If you think that just getting traffic to the site will do justice and bring results, you are mistaken. You need to generate leads that convert into paying customers.

You can do all of this if you have a mind-blowing sales funnel! But, how do you do that?

Before knowing the ways, let us guide you through what leads are? How to generate leads? How to convert them into potential customers?

What Is a Lead?

Consider an instance. A person is scrolling through social media and they land on your business profile. They are interested in your products and signup on the site. This person is a lead.

Any individual who shows interest in the business’s products and services is called a lead. As a business or organization, you must connect with the leads once they sign up, instead of opting for cold calling or emails.

How to Successfully Generate Leads?

Even before conversions comes lead generation. This is a crucial part of every business. Lead generation involves attracting individuals to the business. This is done through emails, social media, blogs, webinars and other methods.

This process involves delivering value to prospects. And further, warming up potential leads to potential customers.

Phases of Lead Generation and Sales Funnel

The sales funnel involves a streamlined process, right from lead generation to conversion. The various phases involved in this are as mentioned:

1. Awareness: This is the first step towards bringing leads on board. It involves being present across different platforms. The more active you are and show up, the higher people acknowledge your brand’s presence. It often happens that you see a brand while scrolling through social media. You have a look at it, but don’t pay much attention. However, you are still aware that the brand exists.
2. Interest: This happens when an individual clicks on the CTA (call-to-action) present on your site. During this phase, the person shows interest in your products and services. This is the time to turn turntables in your favour. Most often, if a person is interested, they tend to sign up for a newsletter or other offerings.
3. Decision: This is a crucial phase in the sales funnel. The customer either stays or leaves. You need to entice them to purchase your products. You can do this by offering a solution to their problems. If they are engaged with your products and services, they are most likely to purchase them.
4. Action: It is when the leads convert to customers and take action. They purchase the products and are in touch with the brand. It is the fruit of all the efforts that you put in throughout the journey.

But, once you are aware of these steps, the question is how to generate leads? Let us help us understand that.

How to Generate Leads That Convert into Potential Customers?

Source: PeppyBiz

If you want to generate leads that actively respond and interact with your business, you need to take control. Here’s how:

1. Do Not Keep Your Leads Waiting

There is something called warm leads. Take action on them instantly. The more you delay in reaching out to the prospects, the higher are the chances that leads will lose their interest. To keep a track of customer and lead activity, also consider deploying CRM software. This allows you to know which leads have signed up and interacted with your brand. You can even opt for a simple email system that allows you to manage the new emails through the site. Another option is by building a priority inbox and messaging system. Through this, you can deal with leads quickly.

2. Focus on Lead Qualification

Source: PeppyBiz

On the basis of lead activity, you can segregate your leads. Lead qualification is mostly done in the format of marketing qualified leads (MQL) and sales qualified leads (SQL).

The group of leads are at different stages and hence, require different strategies to be converted.

For instance, if someone has downloaded a free guide from your site, they are a part of the marketing qualified leads. They tend to respond to the information that you offer.

On the other hand, an individual who is already in touch with the sales representatives and wants to explore more product options is a sales qualified lead.

3.  Structure the Sales Team

There are two major roles that the sales team plays. These are:

• Relationship management with customers
• Conversion of new contacts that come onboard

To manage both roles well, it is essential to structure the sales team which directly increases the response time of the brand.

The other way to go about this is by dividing the team on the basis of specific industries. This makes process monitoring easier and feasible.

4.  Take Regular Follow-Ups

Conversion of leads is an ongoing process. You need to show up regularly. Do not give up if the leads do not respond in the first instance. Send more emails, or maybe try calling them some other time. The more you show up and let leads know that you are present, they are likely to come up to you when they need the products.

Do not overdo it. However, ensure that they prioritize you over your competitors.

5.  Shift Your Focus:

Align your focus with customer goals. Do not directly go about selling them your products. Instead, be in their shoes. Know what they are looking for. What are their pain points? How can you resolve it? What benefit does your brand provide to them? Once you do that, the response will surely change.

After all, it is all about perspective. Instead of focusing on your goals, know what the customer wants to achieve.

6. Leverage Data and Analytics to the Fullest

Source: PeppyBiz

Data holds immense power. It can help you gain insights into the process to convert online leads. You can even opt for analytics software that will guide you throughout the journey of the sales funnel. You can even build a dashboard for regular process assessment.

7. Offer Relevant Content

Do not overlook this. It is important to provide content that delivers value to the leads. This not just creates the brand reputation but also makes the leads engaged with the brand. They await what the brand has in store for them.

Once you are well aware of how to generate leads, you can get started with it easily.

You can even use relevant lead generation tools which guide you through the lead generation process. One of them is PeppyBiz. Right from lead generation to sales conversion, we are there with you at every step. Some of the lead generation features that we offer are:

• Lead form creation
• Lead form personalization
• Providing insights
• GDPR Compliant lead generation
• Integration of automation tools

These are just a few of the features. You can leverage our services to expand lead generation to the fullest.

Conclusion

To summarize, if you have been putting in efforts and still aren’t getting results, you know what to do. Go ahead and implement these methods to generate optimum results.

About the Author

Sara is a content writer at PeppyBiz, a platform that provides lead generation software through which companies can stimulate and capture customer’s interest in their product or service.

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