Members | Support This Site | Logout

Home   Newsletter   Tutorials   Columns   Articles

Why Quality Leads First

July's lessons taught you how to improve your lead generation measures by addressing certain issues of CRM user acceptance.

Without a solid lead tracking system and users who understand it, you'll lose critical information about leads generated. Write if you need advice about this.

Let's move forward in this lesson with reasons why quality leads influence your customer relationship quality.

Lead quality boils down to the old saying, "Garbage In, Garbage Out"

Low quality leads take longer to turn into customers, and even then, they create customers that just aren't worth having.

Why experience this turmoil when with the right focus, you can attract leads who are more likely to become profitable customers with high relationship value.

One reason this newsletter focuses on the concerns of executive level decisions makers first, is that without their full agreement any change initiative is bound to fail. This educationally based lead generation tool focuses on individuals proven to benefit most from a relationship with the Center for Strategic Relations.

Some loyal executive readers have gone one further by inviting their vice presidents of sales, marketing, or service departments to receive this publication. In designing this newsletter, its content supports the executives' success by providing materials valuable to this second group too.

Who benefits most from what you offer and needs to be involved to make a decision to move forward with your solution? Your lead generation tools must attract both decision maker and influencers to insure the likelihood of a positive customer relationship.

Now while this newsletter focuses on specific individuals, it also attracts those outside this core group. For example, a large number of forward thinking human resources professionals see the value of these strategies to attract and create strong employee relationships.

Don't worry if you aren't being described as an "ideal customer," what I've also found is that anyone attracted to this publication tends to help the Center connect with buyers. What value do you create for those interested in what you offer?

Your lead generation efforts will teach you about others who will benefit from a relationship with your organization -- these lessons help you adjust your strategy for the greatest impact by customer segment. You'll learn more about lead generation by customer segment in the next lesson.

The reason why this lead generation tool seeks decision makers at the top levels of sales, marketing, and service is that they are required to implement the relationship building solutions offered. Who is it that must be involved with your offer for the highest level of customer success?

In the next lesson, you'll learn what customer relationship management (CRM) must do to track lead conversion. It will include some relationship metrics you won't want to miss.

Meanwhile, what does this lesson mean to you? While you read the reasons why quality leads make quality customer relationships -- think about specific prospects you seek to attract and how that influences the customers you gain.

Respectfully yours,

Justin Hitt
Consultant, Author & Speaker
https://iunctura.com/

Reasons Why Quality Leads Influence Your Customer Relationship Quality

By Justin Hitt, Strategic Relations Consultant, https://iunctura.com/

Unfocused lead generation is perhaps the biggest reason you attract unprofitable customers that keep your business from achieving what it deserves. Without a quality lead, your customer relationship quality suffers before it even gets a chance. Here are several reasons why lead quality influences customer relationship quality, and some ideas for improving this area of your business.

1. Better-qualified leads are more willing to become customers. A highly qualified lead wants to buy what you offer before you even approach them. They want to be the customer of a company that provides them certain solutions, some of which you offer.
2. Higher quality leads tend to be more like satisfied customers. Attracting leads most likely to be happy satisfied customers sets your business up for success. Look for leads in places with decision makers just like the ones you already interact.
3. Relationship building starts at the first contact. From the very first time, a lead sees your marketing materials or hears of your solution, you are establishing a foundation for future relationships. Use this time to call the attention of leads that look like those customers to which you already have strong ties.
4. The attitude of potential relationships is set in your marketing. Attract potential relationships with focused marketing efforts that identify those individuals who will most likely benefit from the solution you offer. These materials help buyers make the decision right for their business and better decisions means more satisfied buyers.
5. Marketing should capture the attention of most desirable leads. Seek to attract leads who want to make an immediate decision to become your customer for specific reasons that describe your future value to them. You can capture the rights leads attention by speaking of the results your best customers achieve.
6. Leads must potentially benefit from a relationship with your organization. So attracting those most likely to benefit logically creates customers who are most likely see value in what you offer. Value perception is one of the strongest measures of business relationships, use customer testimonials to prove you are the right choice.
7. A lead is just a prospective customer who wants to learn more.Leads indicate their interest in achieving something; they should be identifying their desire for a solution you offer or a problem they are experiencing. Attract the right leads by performing lead generation around customer segments rather than product segments.
8. You measure the return on investment of a single lead over the lifetime of a relationship. Recover the cost of a lead over the lifetime of those who become customers. If you're investing in very high quality customers, then you can afford to pay a little more for your leads.
9. You attract that which you seek. By focusing your efforts on attracting desirable customers who will value a strong relationship with your business, you'll attract what them. You'll still service the other types of customers who come across your business; however, with focus you'll get a higher percentage of strong customer relationships.

Hope you understand the importance of lead quality as it influences long-term customer relationships. With this in mind, start with a clear picture of your customer then orient marketing materials to attract only those who look like them. Put systems in place to qualify leads before they first contact you (or every become leads with your organization.)

In addition, seek to attract leads that have a high probability of producing strong customer relationships. Demand that sales, marketing, and service departments bring together everything they know about profitable customers to produce the best picture of an ideal lead as possible.

Today, take a look at your own lead generation methods, what are you doing to attract quality customer relationships. Improve the focus of lead generation and you can significantly improve the quality of your customer relationships.

© 2004 JWH Consolidated LLC dba Center for Strategic Relations, All rights reserved.
/ lead-generation | customer-relations /

Could you pick your very best customers out in a crowd? That's exactly what you must do to be successful with lead generation. Learn now to identify your most profitable customers so that you can attract more like them

Justin Hitt, consultant and author of "Cultivating Your Best Customers, Part I of II: How to Get more Profits by Cultivating Your Best Customers" available online at https://iunctura.com/re/cultivate-topten