Irrelevant Leads vs. Lead Capture: Make or Break or Blame?

And so it begins… you pick up that phone, dial a number and YES, you get an answer… on the other end of the line, an angry individual, tired from a difficult morning at work, who signed up on your website because You saw a promotional banner that you don’t remember, you don’t know what you do, and you have no interest in spending any European, American, or Japanese currency on your offer.

On the other hand, online and offline campaigns, a massive pool of media buying options, countless possibilities for lead generation… With online marketing becoming explosive and the cost of acquiring a lead hovering above of its rise or fall, I ask: is it still an option for prospects?”

The general trend is that you still have the option to search for prospects. But then the dreaded report just shows that a massive percentage of your leads are actually irrelevant. I called these clues irrelevant, since the term is synonymous with neither here nor there, non-material, and unrelated. Since they have no idea what they have done, why they approached you, they don’t know who you are, what you do or what you offer, the term seemed appropriate to them.

While some people would argue that time well spent is time that makes money, mirroring time spent where interested prospects rule, I would tend to disagree. With those irrelevant leads, sales reps stand apart from the swarm.

Between these irrelevant leads and the goal of turning them into a paying customer, there’s a much finer line than most sales reps think. This line includes:

– Making you relevant to them before they become relevant to you.
– Spend the same amount of energy you would spend on a prospect.
– Ask questions and understand the environment, work, interests of the leader to find a connection.
– Inform and educate.
– Send material, links, videos, reading material to gain interest for future follow-ups.

so, what do you know…? That report isn’t so feared anymore, is it?

We are living in the era of blaming each other and just like in all civilized achievement, we need to find someone to blame right? So, if we’ve come to an agreement that prospecting is bad, who’s to blame for “it” happening? Definitely not the irrelevant leads who found a way to sneak into your report and certainly not the sales rep who hasn’t been educated on what sales is NOT.

Sales is not just about knowledge and skills. Over time they evolved into a new monster called Attitude. So ask yourself and determine if your attitude is overthinking and probing instead of closing one more sale.

To conclude, if you are a Director who was promoted to a Sales Manager just to fill a position, or a Sales Manager who accepted this position without knowing how to carry out the task, or a Sales Representative who despite mentioned above, still looking to do got dirty…

Can you say “guilty as charged” now?