The Author Barbara K. Mednick Barbara K. Mednick is a Twin Cities marketing communications consultant and freelance writer. Her work frequently appears in the StarTribune WORKING section. www.startribune.com/working

Generating sales leads and managing prospects has always been a necessary evil for most salespeople. The economic downturn, however, is causing sales and marketing professionals to focus on more effective lead generation. They also must focus on sales prospecting strategies that have a greater impact on sales revenue.

Sales Leads Wasted

"Eighty percent of marketing efforts to generate leads are wasted and ignored by sales. This combination is costly and derails efforts on both sides," according to Aberdeen Group Senior Analyst Harry Watkins, who was quoted in an April 14, 2003, article in btobonline.com.

Brian Carroll, founding partner of InTouch, Inc., of Vadnais Heights, concurs. "A majority of sales leads are wasted every day, and 69 percent of sales leads receive no follow-up at all. One of the biggest single mistakes you can make is to spend a lot of time, energy and money on marketing programs that generate leads and then waste them," said Carroll, whose company focuses on lead generation for complex sales.

The article points out that a shift toward improving lead management was underscored by a summer 2002 survey, Marketing Under Siege, sponsored by BtoB, the CMO Council, GlobalFluency and Aberdeen Group. The study concluded that "generating leads and closing sales have eclipsed branding/market awareness as the most important way marketing organizations can now measure their performance."

Said Carroll, "Many companies receive highly qualified leads and all they do is follow up with a brochure and a letter; at best they call back several weeks later. When the sale isn't immediate, they don't call back or send another letter. Then, they say their campaign failed or that it was a bad lead. A single letter and brochure is not a campaign - it must be a sustained effort over time for at least a business quarter."

Quality Supersedes Quantity

When it comes to prospecting for sales, quality supersedes quantity. "Sales prospecting done right can have a huge impact on your sales revenue," according to Darrell Zahorsky, president of Insightica Research and a columnist for About.com. "The old school of prospecting for business relies on contacting large numbers of cold contacts. Don't waste time on people unmotivated or unable to buy. Remember to focus on the 'gold.'"

Sales Lead Success Checklist

Nearly one in four inquiries results in a sale within six months, and most inquirers don't buy right away, according to M.H. "Mac" McIntosh, president, Mac McIntosh, Inc., a North Kingstown, RI-based sales and marketing consulting firm that specializes in helping companies get more high-quality sales leads.

So how do you handle sales leads once you get them? Following is a checklist of questions from McIntosh.

Is there a program in place to:

1. Send requested information immediately?
2. Capture all inquiries in a database for ongoing nurturing and qualification?
3. Qualify sales leads before sending them to your salespeople, reps, dealers or distributors?
4. Distribute qualified leads to sales contacts as they are identified?
5. Nurture or cultivate not-yet-qualified leads?
6. Measure and track the results of sales lead generation, cultivation and sales follow-up programs?

Republished with permission from Star Tribune Sales and Marketing. This article was originally published on Sunday, September 29, 2003 in the Star Tribune WORKING section, www.startribune.com/working