Too many businesses make the mistake of thinking a business year is a full twelve months. It isn’t. Late March and early April is more often than not a slow time of year for many organisations. People go on holiday, children are on school break, and the end-of-summer days often create an air of apathy around the office.
However, even if nothing much seems to be happening, the phone isn’t ringing and clients are away on vacation, there are still several important things that sales people can do to generate leads, and chase sales to meet targets – despite these slow times of the year.
Louise Robinson, MD of CG Consulting, says companies who want to succeed need to take the time and spend the energy making some extra effort ahead of these slow times, as it will help to build a solid foundation for new business once the holiday season kicks in. This is where getting a good lead generation partner on board comes in.
“A specialist lead generation partner can drum up the business a company needs when things slow down because they know the business backwards and forwards. Not only can they provide the manpower needed to contact potential leads – freeing your staff to focus on their existing pipeline – they enable a new pipeline through tailored databases,” she explains.
“They will also review and update all your leads and contacts to make sure you have only the latest and most up-to-date information. At the end of the day, it’s useless having a massive database of contacts if the most of them are out of date or not solid leads.”
Ultimately, qualifying leads is all about gathering the insights needed to make a good judgment call. “A good lead must be potentially interested in your product or service. If they’re not, the lead isn’t viable. Understanding who your lead is will give you the best idea on whether they are a good fit for your product, and how to close the deal,” Robinson says.
A lead generation expert will ensure you get only quality leads and individuals who have already expressed an interest in what you are offering. They will also help to identify any potential customer’s needs, and will keep you abreast of what your competition is up to, she adds.
She says most people don’t have the time to update their databases themselves. “A lead generation partner will do this for you, and will guarantee a solid pipeline that will translate into sales. This is their core business, so they know exactly what they are looking for. Your business can only benefit from their expertise. Their leads are often more reliable than those of internal teams who can have outdated information, and they can provide these leads at a lower cost. By bringing a specialist on board, businesses are guaranteed of a steady pipeline of leads, through the busy and the quiet times, ensuring that targets can still be met during the short months of the year.”
Remember, says Robinson, the challenging slow seasons are not really “slow” if you put your time to good use. “There are always steps to be taken to help pursue your sales goals, and getting a specialist on board is the first one. Treat the slow months as an opportunity to really work on the fundamentals of your lead pipeline, so even if the phones are quiet, there is a solid list of potential customers to contact. With Easter just around the corner, now is the time to start gearing up.”
Behind the scenes – CG Consulting has an innovative technology direct marketing team that specialises in growing clients’ revenue pipelines through strategically focused lead generation campaigns. The company’s core focus is profiling, gathering market intelligence and looking for opportunities in the market place. CG Consulting is a database specialist with expertise in all aspects of the industry, and specialises in appointment setting across Africa.
CG Consulting’s services are IT-focused, and include outbound telemarketing campaigns into the corporate market in South Africa and the entire African continent; outsourced B2B lead generation campaigns; telemarketing call downs (branding and awareness drives); qualified appointment setting campaigns with corporate clients within Southern Africa and the African continent including Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Angola and Egypt; database management and data mining; market research and profiling of corporate clients in South Africa and across Africa, as well as many others.
