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Case Studies: Lead Generation
Automated Sales Solutions
Anyone who's seen 'Glengarry Glen Ross' knows a mountain of leads is pretty much useless if the leads aren't qualified. However, qualifying leads - that is, singling out your best, hottest prospects - takes some nerve. Because it means actively suppressing response rates.
Client
One of my clients, a value added reseller (VAR) of automated sales solutions, was renting a booth at a customer relationship management (CRM) trade show. The VAR wanted to use the show for lead generation purposes: namely, to gather names of qualified leads for the VAR's sales force.
Challenge
The VAR's resources were very limited - its sales force consisted of only four people - so it was very important that the leads generated from the trade show be as qualified as possible. Encouraging trade show attendees to throw their business cards into a fish bowl wasn't going to cut it.
Solution
Raffles are a time-tested lead generation strategy. The trick is to use the raffle as an incentive for your target audience while discouraging less qualified folks from entering; it goes without saying that this must be accomplished in a way that is fair and above reproach.
In this case, we offered as the raffle prize one of the automated sales solutions the VAR was selling. Obviously, this prize would only appeal to business people who have a need for such a product.
To qualify the leads even more, instead of asking trade show attendees to enter the raffle by simply dropping their business cards into a bowl, we asked attendees to fill out a simple entry form.
Result
Having to complete entry forms required the attendees to work harder if they wanted to enter the raffle. Consequently, fewer entered and my client received fewer leads. But what leads they were! This lead generation strategy resulted in a short list of the very hottest, most promising prospective new customers. After all, who else would be interested enough to take the time to fill out an entry form. The VAR's sales force was able to convert enough leads into prospects to more than cover the costs associated with the trade show promotion and exceed the VAR's projected sales figures.