It’s a question that we ask every prospect once we have explained how our lead generation works, every single one of them… because the reality is, lead generation isn’t for everyone and simply wouldn’t fit in with their business model or the way that they operate, In this post – I wanted to provide you with a few questions that you can ask yourself, before you embark on a lead generation campaign…
Is the way that I am currently prospecting and generating appointments working?
Lots of businesses do this in different ways. Smaller businesses tend to have their leadership teams prospecting on LinkedIn and a Business Development Manager following up an making initial calls – setting up meetings for the leadership team. This is a great way to start getting leads – but if you are doing this, how sustainable is it and are there areas of the business you should be working ON, as a business owner, rather than spending hours and hours a week prospecting on LinkedIn?
Larger business will have teams of experienced salespeople, prospecting on LinkedIn or flying in cold and hitting the phones, setting up appointments for themselves that they can try and turn into business – again, this can be successful, however – your best sales people are probably better, doing what they do best – selling and closing, attending the meetings and winning the business… so why should they spend 50% of their time setting up their own appointments? If they were to spend that time sat in front of prospects and closing – surely you would see a dramatic uplift in revenue?
So how are you generating appointments – could you as a Director of the business use time spent doing this more wisely to work ON the business? Or are your sales people not closing enough deals because they are spending too much time opening doors?
Do I have enough time to invest in getting this campaign up and running?
I’ll be honest – the most successful lead generation campaigns take a bit of time to get set up and running effectively – any lead generation business worth their salt will ensure you commit to an in – depth discussion to get things started and explain exactly what you do as a business, in your own words. They should also want to know the type of challenges you solve for you clients and most importantly – what does a qualified lead / appointment look like to you? They will send your scripts and marketing material for you to approve, prospect lists to approve and expect short 15/30-minute slots in your diary weekly / bi-weekly. The time invested at this early stage and commitment to these catch-up meetings will lead to the success of the campaign, in fact – you can’t afford not to invest the time.
Do I trust someone to use my LinkedIn, in my name and represent me in the best way?
To be honest – no. Clients rarely feel entirely comfortable handing over the reigns of their LinkedIn accounts to a 3rd party, why would you? It is your name, your business, your password that is on the line, not to mention your reputation. That’s why it is absolutely imperative that you take references on the lead generation business you think you are going to work with; you should also ensure that they sign an NDA – if this isn’t something they are willing to do – this is a massive red flag. Any lead generation business should have testimonials and processes in place to ensure that your LinkedIn is managed in the most professional way.
Can I cope with the uplift in appointments and business?
More appointments than you can attend and business coming out of your ears, ideal right? Sometimes it’s best to air on the side of caution – take a step back and think, could I attend an additional 5 appointments per month? Would the team be able to onboard and service an additional 10 clients over the next 3 months? If the answer to either of the above is no, we’d really advise you take a long hard think about whether here and now is the best time to embark on a lead generation campaign – providing you work closely with your lead generation business you should realistically achieve the above. Please, please plan ahead for this uplift in appointments and new clients, we’ve carried out some amazing campaigns – that have had to be suspended or completely cancelled due to overload on the client’s teams.
Can I afford this?
Your lead generation partner will have explained to you that any campaign takes a couple of months to build traction on, if you are incredibly lucky – you will sign up clients in month one and be in a positive ROI position quickly, but more often than not, this isn’t the case. Most of our clients won’t see a return on their investment until month 3 onwards – this is due to setting the campaign up, building a pipeline and of course – you attending appointments and closing deals. You should however, see a positive ROI from month 3 onwards, that grows and grows as the campaign progresses.
