Both sales and marketing are working to generate sales leads. Regardless of territory size, we’re all looking to find the right combination of industry, company size, contact and– of course– need. Once this can be clearly defined, then crafting the message is easy… or let’s just say ‘easier’. Generating the right leads in this way requires focus in sales, rather than broad generalizations or “buckshot”-style, “spray and pray” messaging.
Define the Industry.
It’s not a big deal to define your industry…right? In a broad sense, yes. But if you are asked to name the subsets within your industry, that can be a bit trickier. For instance, let’s say you supply a product and/or service to manufacturing companies in Illinois. There are 16,154 manufacturers in that single state alone! Now you need to ask yourself, does your company fit best with all 16k manufacturers? Probably not. Your ideal audience may actually be a far smaller, more specialized pool– and that’s okay.
Go Down to the Next Level.
In taking a further look at what manufacturing industries represent Illinois, the State’s industrial outputs include machinery, food processing, electrical equipment, chemical products, fabricated metal, and transportation equipment. Additional research will show more subsets. For instance, in food processing there are food categories such as snacks, beverages, frozen foods, and many more.
When progressing through the layers of industry, it becomes clear that combining targeted companies with a specific message can yield greater results.
What’s Your Customer Base?
To get an understanding of the success your company has experienced in the targeted industry or industries, look at the current customer base. Hopefully your database, CRM or spreadsheet has it categorized so it’s easier and faster to identify:
- Customer name
- What they purchased
- How long they have been customers
- Titles of those involved
- Even length of sale (if notes are included)
You can take it to the next level by calling a few customers. This will help you to better understand their initial business problem, how your company’s product or service solved the issue and the money and time saved.
Gather Your Targeted List.
Purchasing a list is a very common way of getting what you need. However, the problem this tactic presents is that it’s extremely difficult to acquire a valid, comprehensive list that has been verified. On average, getting a list from a list source such as InfoUSA still yields 25% bad names, meaning the email addresses or contact name no longer exist.
SalesLeads Inc. creates custom lead generation lists that are specific to your target. As you’ve done the task of identifying the specific industry you want to call, market, and create sales with, we develop the list based on the profile of who you want or customers your company has been successful selling. This can be further refined by state, region or across the country.
Form a Combination Plan.
While you begin to focus in sales and target and market to the custom lead generation list that can fill your funnel now and over time, you can get busy working in the sales funnel with Project Reports. Project Reports are identified projects for companies that are planning construction, expansion, or relocation projects.
In order for you to be successful and maximize your investment, the process begins by identifying the area(s) you work in. This can be by state, region or more. Further refine your sales leads by identifying what type of Project Reports you want to receive. This can be food processing, office furniture, networking, or material handling to name a few.
Focus in Sales Is Essential.
When sales and marketing go through the task of understanding what targets will be the most effective way to generate new sales, you want to be sure to work with a company that can match the requirements. It’s essential to your growth and business especially when time is of the essence. SalesLeads provides the custom lists and Project Reports you need to keep the sales funnel filled from top to bottom.
Author: Evan Lamolinara
Since 1959, SalesLeads, based out of Jacksonville, FL has been providing Industrial Project Reports on companies that are planning significant capital investments in their industrial facilities throughout North America. Our professional research team identifies new construction, expansion, relocation, major renovation, equipment upgrades, and plant closing project opportunities so that our clients can focus sales and marketing resources on the target accounts that have an impending need for their products, services, and indirect materials.
