If you’re gathering sales leads, making phone calls and building relationships, work will follow. Or at least that’s the theory — but what if you’re a small company, and you’re having doubts about whether or not those sales leads providers are really value for money? Let’s look at how to squeeze a bit more out of sales leads.
- Use your market intelligence to find good future clients, not just jobs. A client may not have the right project for you just yet, but you can still use the lead as an introduction to get in touch and put yourself on their radar. When a job comes up that’s up your street, you’ll be in the running from the start.
- Market intelligence providers usually deliver far more leads than you’ll ever be able to act on, so focus on the best of them. Make an A* list to follow up in person, but don’t neglect the B list. If you’re pressed for time, get someone else to make those calls, or send those secondary leads an email or mailshot.
- Be generous with your leads. As you build up detailed knowledge of your area and the current and upcoming contracts, you’ll find you may be able to pass on ‘hot tips’ to some of your contacts. This creates goodwill, which in turn raises your company up their list of go-to contacts.
- Always look out for new players in the market — new firms, or companies expanding into your region. These are valuable leads, because they won’t have many contacts in the area yet. Get in early, while there’s a good chance of standing out, and you may win yourself a long term business partner.
- Look out for architects from out of your area, but with a project near you. They are unlikely to know many of your competitors (if any!) and they can be particularly productive contacts
