Make the Right Calls

October 2006

multipage

4. Lead qualification. This involves contacting customers you want to know more about. Look to internal customer lists that either show great promise by their order activity, or internal customer lists where overlay data suggests there is more business opportunities to be had. You also can use acquired lists of high potential customers or lists from new markets where there may be a need for your products/services. The key to lead qualification outbound calls is to create value with a quick benefit statement. Once initial rapport and value is created, you need to have a prioritized list of “data gather points” for your sales reps to get information. In lead generation, you are not looking for a sale, as a rule, says Sexton. Rather, as soon as prospects begin to ask questions, in essence, they begin to qualify themselves. The key benefit of this type of outbound contact is learning about new markets and lists while capturing key buyers early in the process.

How do you identify which of the above opportunities is most appropriate for your business? “It almost always starts with looking at data, slicing and dicing your customer base, while looking at your new customer velocity and your lapsed customer profiles,” says Sexton. Examine each of the customer categories most important to your business in descending dollar value and lifetime value to help identify where outbound efforts would be most beneficial to your bottom line.

—Irene Cherkassky

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