Generating High-Probability Sales Leads

January 24, 2005

A steady stream of qualified sales leads is the lifeblood of nearly any sales and marketing operation. In that regard, I was fascinated to see Rich Tehrani's blog entry from January 22, Lead Generation Specialist. Rich is finding that many companies are creating a job called Lead Generation Specialist of Manager, recognizing the importance of this function.

I'm deeply interested in the process of generating and handling sales leads. TMC offers a program that delivers sales leads for companies in the communications technology markets that we serve. Also, some years ago, I started a Web-based service that generates leads for providers of email marketing services and opt-in lists.

Often I hear sales professsionals complain that the leads they receive (from whatever source) are unqualified -- they make the phone call and find that the prospect has no interest in the product. Naturally, this is discouraging, and salesforce training is full of the advice that to be a good salesperson you have to be able to handle rejection. Valid advice for most sales organizations.

A few years ago, I did run across an approach to sales that removes a lot of this pain from the process. It's called High Probability Selling -- a sales system that helps you avoid wasting time on poor prospects by targeting the people who want your product, need your product and have the money to pay for it now. This system was created by Jacques Werth and is well worth checking out.

I'm not a shill for Jacques -- I just think his approach to sales is the most effective I've found, and I've applied it successfully in my own sales efforts.

AB -- 1/24/05