To succeed in business, you need a steady supply of qualified leads. 74% percent of companies say converting leads into customers is their top priority, and yet, it’s also one of the biggest challenges that brands face.
Customers don’t follow the traditional sales funnel anymore. With the growth of so many digital channels, brands have to adapt and find leads through multiple channels.
Doing so means landing qualified leads that can increase your bottom line. Research shows nurtured leads produce, on average, a 20% increase in sales.
To help brands find leads to nurture, here are six lead generation tools every business needs:
With OptinMonster you can create pop-ups that collect contact information from interested website visitors. It’s an easy tool to use and nets a lot of contacts.
You can decide when and where the pop-up occurs on your site. For example, you can have a box appear in the middle of the screen when a customer is about to exit the page. The motion of the cursor heading to the exit button serves as a trigger for the box to appear. The website fades into the background and the box appears in the middle of the screen asking for the visitor’s name and email.
You’ll likely want to use an email service provider like MailChimp to manage your email contacts. MailChimp has an integration with OptinMonster so any contacts you collect through pop-ups will flow right into your MailChimp account.
Social media profiles are like a digital Rolodex. They provide a wealth of information, but who has time to manually search and sift through profiles? With Discover.ly, the work is done for you.
If you’re a gmail user, you can see a snapshot of a contact’s profile when you’re using your gmail account. You can see their picture, email, job description, location, social channels – even the friends you have in common on various social platforms. You just need to install the Discover.ly Chrome extension and you’re ready to go.
Let’s say you want to email a new contact. You add their name to gmail and it will show you a mini profile window that’s full of great information you can use to study the new contact. Suddenly, a cold email turns into a personalized note that gets results.
Let’s say you’re searching LinkedIn for possible leads and you’ve come across some great potentials. Rather than scour profiles and websites for their contact information, use Lusha instead.
This tool searches the internet for you and delivers personal email addresses and phone numbers right to your screen. How does it work? Search LinkedIn for potential sources and if Lusha finds personal contact information that’s of value, a small icon will pop up on the side of your screen telling you there’s information ready for you. Just click the icon and get access to the contact information.
With access to this kind of personal data, leads are more likely to engage with you.
When a potential customers comes to your website, you can interact with them instantly with Intercom. This tool deploys a chat box on your website, which you can use to talk with customers as they browse your site.
If you’re away from your computer, you can set the bot to collect contact information. You can use the information to follow-up later.
The tool not only engages leads on your website in a timely fashion, but it can also route leads to sales staff and has metrics to see how effective the tools is.
LinkedIn offers a lead generation tool that has a Google-like search for leads that are relevant to your business. Using a feature called Lead Builder, you’ll enter the criteria you’re looking for like job titles or locations, and you’ll get a list of potential leads. You can save the search and reference it as needed.
You can integrate this tool with Salesforce too, so all of the data will flow into your CRM for easy access.
You can even search LinkedIn profiles by keyword to find not-so-obvious leads that might be interested in your product. Since you have access to their LinkedIn profile, you can leverage that information to create a personalized pitch.
Qualaroo is mostly known as a customer research tool, but it offers lead generation assistance too. If you’re looking for both leads and customer feedback, this is a great two-for-one tool.
Qualaroo deploys mini surveys on your website that help brands communicate with customers and gather feedback. As part of your surveys, you can inquire about scheduling a demo or calling a customer to discuss their current product needs.
The small survey pops up in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. You control the questions that are asked. The first question might ask why the visitor has come to the site. If they’re looking for a product solution, the next question asked could offer to a demo or your product. Design the mini surveys to direct leads to demos or scheduled calls.
Best practices for lead generation
As you work to generate leads, here are a few best practices to keep in mind:
Use accurate information
A lead is only useful if you have accurate contact information, which is why using a tool like Lusha, which provides up-to-date information, is imperative. The last thing you want is to find a qualified lead and then have the personalized email that you crafted bounce.
Do research beforehand
Before you create and send an email or make a cold call, take some time to research the lead. The more you know about the person or company that you’re trying to pitch, the more likely you are to get a sale. Some of the tools above can help you research contacts so you don’t have to spend hours working up a profile from scratch.
Focus on quality not quantity
A handful of leads that turn into loyal customers is worth more than a hundred leads that aren’t really interested in your business. Spend your time finding qualified leads, rather than just generating a long list of people who might like your product.
Use multiple tools
The best lead generation strategy doesn’t rely on a single tool or platform. Be prepared to use multiple tools that pull in data from a variety of platforms. Get familiar with different tools and then create a lead-finding workflow that will help you streamline the process.
Stick with it
Generating a list of prospects can be time consuming, and some days, not all that rewarding. Don’t give up. Keep using the tools you have to track down new leads. Remember, landing a new client or two can have a big impact.
Track your progress
To know how effective your lead generation strategy is, you have to track its success. Some of the tools listed above offer metrics, but others don’t. If you don’t have access to metrics, keep a running spreadsheet that lists the contacts you’ve reached out to, when you did it, and how it went.
Armed with best practices and six lead generation tools, you’re ready to find prospective customers that will fuel your business for years to come. Give several tools a try and see how they can help you identify new customers and turn them into repeat clients.
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