Lead generation & list building

Ardavan Beigui

March 3, 2015

2 disclaimers

1. You all know your industries better than I

do. What matters is to try to take a

concept and adapt it to your specific

environment.

2. I haven’t found any magic trick in sales

yet.

3 refreshing sales thoughts

You don’t need to be spectacular. You need to be consistent day in, day out.

Great sales result from consistently delivering only « good » results.

Don’t be the salesman you hate to be called by. Surprise your prospect by being low-key in your approach.

1. Building a list starts with...

identifying the target:

Note: the ideal target depends a lot on where you’re at right now.

Basic question: « what’s the point of my product / service? »

Smarter question: « where are the low-hanging fruits / the easy sales that can serve as reference? »

In most cases, you want quick wins and you should be ready to negotiate a deal where you may decrease the price (= what you want now) for some more important long-term benefits (= what you want most).

... it then continues with...

actually building the company list:

I use Google to find proper lists and cross-

check them for higher reliability. Example: in

e-commerce, mixing Alexa, Fevad along

with ecommerce mag and Mediamétrie can

help list several hundreds of websites!

... & ends with

building the contact list:

use a premium Linked In account with advanced search features to search geographically, by industry and by job title to find the relevant contacts.

Note: Linked In will let you know the connections you have in common. Use them: names are magic.

2. The next step is qualification...

Qualifying = deciding whether each account is a good prospect for me or not.

Qualification must be systematic, duplicable and simple : determine your 3

qualifying questions. Example:

« does this e-commerce player sell diverse items catering to various tastes? »

« do they generate a significant portion of their traffic through their push-

marketing activities? »

« do they have a big enough list size? »

Bonus material: always verify solvency or some form of local presence

(website’s legal info, societe.com & co).

Bonus material 2: think reference / vertical / industry. It may mean organizing

the list by company type, company size, industry, or whatever else.

3. Then... Go ahead and contact them!

Principle 1: « Spaghetti is forbidden »

If you don’t know the compelling reason to

buy your product, no one does.

Principle 2: use introductions – all forms of

introductions – and use names.

3. Then... Go ahead and contact them!

Principle 3: « Pre-approach »

Example: e-commerce website and « watch

email address »

Bonus Material

Working hard is good. Working smart is better!

Ask for testimonials.

Ask for referrals & introductions (use the secret

tip!)

That’s all folks.