• 600,000 companies started a business in 2011, 600,000 businesses failed in the same year.
• There’ve been 33% turnover in jobs and 40 million jobs listed.
• 6,000 people change jobs every hour
• 71% of business cards collected have one change or more within 12 months.

Wow as I look at these numbers, it makes me shiver. How in the world can you develop leads and keep your database clean in this type of environment. These stats lead to the conclusion that high quality leads are hugely preferable over a quantity based approach because of the turnover demonstrated. Then, increasingly importance knowing the difference between leads that just have demonstrated an interest vs. those that are ready to buy becomes monumentally important.

Xerox for example has shrunk their lead database from 100,000 records to lower than 40,000 records. Increasingly, we get calls for companies that want Mercury to telemarket verify their prospect database before we even think about pitching a product. With list compilers pushing prices of $100 per thousand records, a major focus has to be to market only to those highly qualified prospects. Additionally, with the average cost of a direct mail package running $1.25, you’d better be mailing to a person that exists, let alone being concerned about duplicate elimination.  The importance of database enhancement can’t be stressed enough in this example. In this day and age most wise marketers are just testing small quantities of prospects from their databases prior to executing any kind of Marcom effort. This way at least they know what their list obsolescence really is. Are you a wise marketer?

What Are These Stats Doing to Your Data? is a post from: Lead Generation Strategies: No Longer A One-Hit Wonder!

When you stand back and look at what really makes a consumer buy something it boils down to trust. Sure the features, the packaging, the warranty, the status symbol, the logo, the brand history and a whole host of other factors come into play when determining if a product will be accepted by the general public, but do they trust the product enough to solve their needs? Does your product or service convey enough trust to make the consumer take a chance and spend their budget with your internet marketing company? What about B2B Buyers? B2B Buyers are not simply risking their personal money but the company’s money, as well as their reputation in the corporation. Are you, the sales lead generation company, doing enough to establish trust with your prospects? In this article I will discuss some direct marketing strategies you can do to establish trust with your prospects.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is trust. You, as an internet marketing company, have to establish a reputation as a trustworthy and creditable organization. The best way to go about doing this is to build rapport with your prospects through ongoing direct marketing such as email or direct mail communications. Nobody likes to be bombarded with spam so give your prospects something. Through direct marketing you can give them something that will pique their interest such as an article you would like to share, a podcast, a webinar invite or helpful tips that make their job easier. The longer you are in communication with your prospects, the shorter the time it will take your prospects to learn to trust you.

When it comes to establishing trust it is nice to have proof of your creditability from an unbiased 3rd party organization. We recommend joining various respected sales lead generation or direct marketing trade associations or groups. One of the best things any company can do is join the Better Business Bureau. Once you have joined these organizations feel free to use their logos on your website and on any direct marketing communications you use on a regular basis. Another good idea is to freely share testimonials of other clients as well as client case examples. Attach some actual numbers as proof to show your prospects exactly how much your internet marketing company increased revenue or cut costs. Prospects will immediately feel more at ease with you as an internet marketing company, knowing others have been down the same path where they are about to go.

Another sales lead generation strategy you can use to immediately establish trust with your prospects is to create a guarantee program. If you are able, offer a no questions asked guarantee vs. a guarantee that has stipulations or hidden clauses. The more open you are with your guarantee the better. The guarantee, especially important in sales lead generation, acts like a safety net against B2B buyer’s remorse. The guarantee will help put the prospect as ease and they will be more willing to buy from your company now instead of doing more research or going with a competitor.

One of the biggest mistakes we as sales lead generation professionals see every day with clients is that their content is focused on them instead of the prospect. When a prospect reaches out to you, the internet marketing company, they are looking to fulfill a certain need they have. It is your job as a direct marketing organization to uncover that need and solve their specific problem. If you spend your time bragging about how long you have been in business for or that you offer quality products and service you will be pretty much wasting the prospects time. B2B Buyers have heard it all before. They are looking for tangible solutions to their unique problems from a fair and decent internet marketing company at an honest price. Spend the majority of your efforts focused on their needs not yours.

Lastly, learn to be patient. The majority of B2B Buyers are not ready to buy today. It takes diligence and commitment to win the hearts and minds of B2B Buyers. If you can stick it out for the long haul and really work on establishing relationships with your prospects; eventually those prospects will turn into life long clients.

Good Selling,

Paul J. Plvan
Mercury Leads, Inc.

Simple Direct Marketing Strategies to Establish Trust with Your Prospects is a post from: Lead Generation Strategies: No Longer A One-Hit Wonder!