The Initial Step of Sales Lead Generation

Lead Generation is essentially a process of marketing appointments to present products. A lead is simply the name and address of someone who is prepared to listen to a presentation. A qualified lead also has the means to pay for the product, but a prospect is someone who also has a need for the product. the simplest way to generate leads is to ask buyers directly if they would like an appointment to hear the Presentations.

At one time, appointment making was carried out by cold calling the doorstep. Salespeople would arrive unannounced at the prospect's home or place of business, and try to make an appointment.

Hiring salespeople is a time consuming and costly exercise, so it's important to get it right and keep it right. Unfortunately, not all salespeople are equal and managing poor performers is a common (and stressful) problem for many businesses, no matter what their size.

There are many reasons why sales people stop selling and why some just don't work out and it's usually not the ones that they are telling you. Personally, I think the main reason salespeople fail to perform are due to lack of direction and little to no accountability. Salespeople, no matter how professional or how experienced need direction and need and expect accountability.

Salespeople can be your best asset or your worst asset depending on how you manage them. If you have a salesperson that is not performing, here are some reasons that might shed some light on the situation:

Salespeople need direction and they need to know exactly what is expected of them. Unfortunately, many Owners and Managers fail to communicate expectations clearly to their salespeople. When that happens, it's common for salespeople to think they're doing fine, whilst the Manager/Owner sees them as underperforming and starts to get very frustrated. Communicate expectations (also known as KPI's, key performance indicators) in writing from day one. Setting KPI's on sales activities, customer meetings & networking events in addition to sales revenue, will ensure that sales remain consistent month to month.