If you’re like most salespeople, your target audience is where your next lead will be found. You may have researched who you should be targeting, but it usually comes back to following up the next lead, regardless of whether it’s a good fit for your organization. It’s still a lead and leads aren’t easy to come by. Is it possible to direct your lead generation towards prospects that best fit your company’s offerings?
Lead generation takes many forms, like the internet (website leads, social media, PPC, and email marketing), or traditional advertising (PR, print media, collateral materials, direct sales, cold calling, etc). How can lead generation be focused with so many divergent efforts?
Who Should You Target?
That should be easy, right? You know who your best customers are—you just need more like them. I once helped a company beat their yearly gross volume record. We studied the demographics of current and previous customers, their buying habits, and tendencies. We hit our goal, set the record… and lost money for the year. There were obviously multiple factors, but we targeted the wrong customer. Are you targeting your best audience?
• What type of customer is best for your bottom line?• What projects maintain the best margins?• What work keeps all your people productive?• What prospects may become long term multi-product customers?
• What type of industry, project, or connection gets you and your team excited?
How Do You Reach This Audience?
I recently facilitated a brain storming session with key members of our sales and marketing team. After asking the questions above, we determined two key audiences and concentrated on activities to reach the targets. By reviewing our activities and sharing what did and didn’t work, we recognized several avenues available to us. I began the conversation by asking the following:
• What activities have successfully reached this audience?
• What do we need to stop doing?
• What activities need improved?
At the end of the session, we had five action plans, each headed up by a team member with everyone involved. The plans involved targeting our audience through internet, direct sales, and traditional marketing. We’re not going to turn down any qualified lead, but we are targeting OUR best fit.
Social MediaTarget Audience 0 comment 0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
