Sales Lead Management Today

What Great Lead Management and Great PR Have in Common by Christel K. Hall, APR CBC

It might seem odd to compare something as nuts-and-bolts and finite as lead management with something as seemingly intangible as public relations.  After all, lead management is all about tracking and proving return on investment.  And the running argument for years in regards to PR, often in spite of sound advice from PR measurement professionals like Katie Paine and PRIME Research’s Mark Weiner, centers on “how impossible it is to track and show PR results.  PR is, after all, not completely in our control.”

Hogwash.  What has attracted me to understanding and supporting these two disciplines since the 1980’s is that, when performed well, both focus on the long-term process of building sound business relationships. 

If you’re a great lead manager, you know that an inquiry can be turned into a qualified lead, and a qualified lead into a sale, for you or your competitor.  In the process of nurturing that qualified lead, you get to know your prospect and his or her specific needs.  The same is true in PR.  You must get to know not only your target audiences, but the influencers and conduits (editors, reporters, bloggers) who reach out to those audiences. 

Even as social media channels bring us directly in touch with our ‘publics,’ we need to keep their timely product, service, and privacy needs in mind.  Building sound, long-term relationships means we must not be caught “NAPping.”

NAPping is an acronym I’ve created to help remind me what NOT to do with prospects, customers and business-friendly partners:
• N – Neglect
• A – Abuse
• P  - Procrastinate

Whether you’re handling inquiries from the latest trade show or responding to an editor query, time and respect are of the essence.  Don’t let your marketing and sales staff members do the inquiry ‘dance of avoidance.’  Be sure you have a mandatory streamlined process in place to manage those inquiries and turn them into qualified, hot leads right away… as if they had a reporter with a deadline waiting!

# # #
Since 1990, Christel Hall has been helping business-to-business marketers with product and service writing and publicity as owner/operator of PRowrite Public Relations.  She is also the public relations advisor on the board of the Sales Lead Management Association.- by Christel K. Hall, APR CBC
           

PRACTICE! The second fundamental success factor is Practice, Practice, Practice.

Editors Note:  This is the second installment of Patrick McClure's Two Fundamentals of Success!  While Patrick addresses himself to salespeople, what can marketing take away from this?
  
I was at a seminar this week and Michael Phelps, the world-class Olympic swimmer who has won more medals (14) than anyone else in the world, was being interviewed.  He was asked why he was so successful, so dominant in his sport.  His answer was startling:  he worked out and swam (4-5 hours a day) for EVERY SINGLE DAY of the year (all 365) for 4 years in a row.  That's 1,460 days of working out without a break.  He told the audience that if you take a day off, it takes two days to get back to where you were before.  If you take a week off, it takes two weeks to recover.  So he never took time off!
 
One of my friends is a professional golfer.  One day, while admiring his swing, I stated that I wished I could have his swing.  He replied, "That's easy.  Just hit 1,000 golf balls a day for the next year and you'll get there." 
 
What a concept!  I can't imagine working out every day for 4 years, or attempting to hit 1,000 golf balls a day.  But that's what it took for these peak-performing athletes to reach their goals!
 
What's this have to do sales?  Everything!  To achieve peak performance as a sales superstar, you need to practice.  You need to read books and listen to CD's of all of the top sales trainers and authors.

You should spend at least an hour a day working on your skills.  You should practice and refine your sales pitch again and again until it's second nature. 

You should find a partner and practice handling common objections over and over again until you are NEVER thrown off track in a sales call. 

You should pick up the phone and make 1,000 calls in a month, and every time getting better and better.  Every single step in your sales process can be practiced, refined, drilled, and practiced again until you have it down with perfection. 
 
To become a sales superstar, you need to practice just like an Olympic athlete.
 
Here's to your Success!

Patrick McClure
Connexia Group
[email protected]
www.connexiagroup.com

COACHING: The First Fundamenal of Success: Get a Coach!

Editors Note:  This is the first installment of Patrick McClure's Two Fundamentals of Success.

The first fundamental success factor is coaching.  Every single Olympic athlete I watched this week had a coach, and some had several coaches.  Lindsay Vonn, the women's Olympic downhill gold medalist has a coach.  Shaun White, men's half-pipe gold medalist, has a coach. Evan Lysacek, men's Figure Skating Gold Medalist, has a coach. The Russians, the Germans, the Norwegians, the Swedes, the Canadians ALL have coaches.  And they'll all tell you that they couldn't have done it without their coach.
 
So that's your first secret to Peak Performance --- get a coach!  A good coach guides and supports, manages the training schedule, keeps distractions away, and supervises the training and workouts.  But most importantly, a good coach holds the athlete ACCOUNTABLE.   A good coach will drive you to ever-increasing levels of performance.  A good coach will push you to achieve feats that you didn't think possible.  A good coach believes you are capable of far more than you're achieving, and they are committed to helping you over-achieve. 
 
Salespeople, Business Executives, Managers all need coaches.  Someone else needs to be there for you, to hold you accountable, to insist on excellence, to keep you "on track."  If it works for Olympic athletes, it will work for you.  
 
Most CEO's have a coach, or they belong to CEO-only organizations such as Vistage or Renaissance Executive forums.  Top-level operational and sales executives often belong to "mastermind" groups or industry associations, but you will find that the peak performers also have a Coach that they rely on for advice, support, and sometimes a well-deserved kick in the rear. 
 
If you don't already have one, get a Coach!

Patrick McClure
Connexia Group[email protected]
www.connexiagroup.com