How to Give Your Sales Team Better Leads

"These are the new leads. You don't get them. Leads are for closers."

In the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, the leads are gold. They are qualified leads. The job of the sales team is to close the leads.

“Leads are for closers.”

Businesses track success and growth on sales numbers. But today, sales teams have a smaller close ratio because the leads just aren't ready to buy.

The way leads are closed has changed.

Sales-Focused vs. Customer-Focused Approaches

The way leads are closed has changed because the way customers make purchasing decisions has changed.

Sales and marketing teams need to be aligned to support the customer in their purchasing decision through every step.

The Sales-Focused Approach:

The sales-focused approach involved dialing for dollars. The salesperson was solely responsible for closing a lead.

When a lead comes in, it's was the salesperson's job to work to qualify and nurture each one.

You know the process…

1. Get lead
2. Call lead
3. Give canned presentation
4. Hope for the best
5. Repeat

The salesperson calls each contact to see if they want to buy. They give a canned presentation to a listener who may or may not be interested. They try to persuade them into purchasing a product they may not want or need. They spend hours and hours a day giving a tired pitch to low-value prospects, losing momentum and productivity with each call.

More Calls ≠ More Sales.

This tired, repetitive sales process is no longer effective. More calls do not equal more sales.

Buyers don't want your sales pitch; they want information.

70% of companies saying closing more deals is their top sales priority. Closing deals begins with giving the buyer the information they want.

The Customer-Focused Approach:

62% of buyers research products and services online before they engage
with a salesperson.

Buyer's don't need to hear a canned sales pitch. They already found that information online.

Customers want to talk to sales when they are ready to see your value.

This increases the role of marketing in the sales journey. It becomes marketing's responsibility to generate and nurture leads before they are handed over to sales.

When customer-focused approach involves both sales and marketing:

1. Marketing creates content that prospects will find useful
2. Leads convert on offers marketing creates
3. Marketing nurtures leads through marketing emails, whitepapers, blog posts, and other information to move them through the buyer's journey
4. Sales receives lead when they are closer to making a decision
5. Sales prepares sales presentation personalized to the customer's situation
6. Sales calls lead
7. Sales acts as a trusted advisor and builds relationship
8. Sales closes lead
9. Marketing continues to nurture new customer, making them an advocate of your business

As you can see, the process got a bit longer. But it also becomes more targeted.

Instead of sales calls that reach dead ends, sales calls go deeper and more conversations end in closed deals.

Aligning Sales & Marketing Increases Lead Quality

Sales Closes the Deal, but Marketing Captures the Lead and Nurtures It

An effective sales process for today's buyer involves both sales and marketing,

Marketing attracts, qualifies, and nurtures a lead to build trust.

When the salesperson receives the lead, the prospect is fully qualified, motivated to open up to the salesperson.

Sales can then focus on growing the relationship, reinforcing the trust, and closing the lead.

Marketing Alignment Shortens the Sales Cycle

Marketing targets more qualified, interested customers, and nurtures them along the way with information tailored to meet their specific needs at their key points in the buyer's journey. By the time the prospect is ready to talk to sales, they are ready for a deeper discussion about what you can offer.

More in-depth discussions enable the sales team to build a stronger relationship, close deals faster and turn leads into repeat customers.

Not only will your Average Order Value (AOV) increase, but so will your Lifetime Value (LTV) of the customer, without the pitch or shill.

Marketing Generate Leads That Pick up the Phone

Caller ID changed sales. We don't like picking up the phone when we don't know the number.

40% of salespeople said just getting a response from prospects is getting harder.

But marketing can change that.

By nurturing leads with blog posts, offers, and other content, marketing helps build brand recognition. Prospects start to see you as a source of valuable information.

So when your sales team calls and your business shows up on Caller ID, your name will have a positive association.

Emails for a meeting request have a better response rate. Phone calls are answered. And when the sales rep says ‘I am from XYC’ the prospects says ‘Oh yes. I read all your stuff’ ‘Sure, I can talk for a few minutes.’

Aligning Sales and Marketing will Increase Your Revenue

When sales and marketing work together, you will see your pipeline become fuller. You will see more calls to prospects get answered. You will see more deals close.

The best way to increase revenue is by recognizing the needs of the buyer. And today, the buyer needs attention from both marketing and sales.