When you think of unicorns, I am sure the first thing that comes to mind is a mythical and colorful horse with a single horn. Although there are no living, breathing unicorns that I have ever seen, I know unicorns are REAL!
Real unicorns in business refer to an elite privately funded startup that has crossed the $1 billion valuation mark, usually in the technology field.
When you think of business leads, I am sure the first thing that comes to mind is a real-life person who needs and wants to buy what you are selling. Although there are living, breathing people who buy what you sell, I am proposing to you that most business leads are NOT REAL!
Real unicorns have a lot of money to spend, but that does not make them a business lead. Just because they search for what your business sells does not necessarily make them a business lead. You may even be six degrees from Kevin BACON from them, but that still does not make them a business lead.
Now, I am not saying that there is no such thing as a sales lead, but what is often packed up and being sold to you is not infused with real-life interpersonal relationships that can lead to sales. It's often just a glorified spreadsheet infused with Unicorn Farts and Pixie Dust.
Let me explain.
What's a Business Sales Lead? (REALLY)
A business sales lead is a person or organization that potentially needs what you sell (products, services, or a mix of both). You can define leads as cold, warm, and hot.
- Cold (no interest shown yet)
- Warm (some interest indicated)
- Hot (purchase intent and budget confirmed)
Cold leads are often obtained from purchased programs or services. For example, you can use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to identify the right person, at the right size company, in the right location, who could potentially buy from you, but they have no clue who you are or what you sell. That is what is commonly known as a cold call.
Cold calls often have the same effectiveness as advertising. They often have a 1-2% effectiveness in turning cold leads to warm or hot prospects.
Advertising can create traffic to your web page, social platform, or other measurable when done well. Those hits only turn into warm or hot leads when you can get them to share their contact information so you can reach out again to them. It's like a Pixie Dust sprinkled on the internet, creating awareness that your business is there and can be of some help if needed.
It's challenging to convert a cold lead into a warm or hot one. The main thing that makes a warm and hot lead so valuable is that there is often some interpersonal communication. That can and will help turn cold leads into warm and warm leads into hot, or at least keep them warm until they are ready.
Even a referral is just a lead until you have a conversation. The referrer may perceive that a person or an organization is in the market for what you sell, but that does not mean they are ready to whip out a purchase order or credit card on the initial call.
I understand that business needs leads to create new sales, but I propose that you have options other than buying names or researching people who are cold leads that require your sales team to spend hours and thousands of dollars trying to qualify and pursue them as prospects.
Try Throwing Your Pixie Dust
Pixie Dust is a magical element from Peter Pan that allows the characters to defy gravity and soar through the air. Although Pixie Dust is not real and cannot make people defy gravity and fly, you can use a little knowledge and relationship dusting to help people rise up to become better customers and quality referrers.
You already have customers, and your salespeople communicate with them regularly. Remember, it takes effort to constantly reach out and email or call to check in and remind customers that you are still there and proactively trying to help.
A more straightforward way is to connect your salespeople with your clients on LinkedIn, the dominant business-to-business networking platform.
Encouraging customers to connect and follow your business page is not enough. It is so much more effective if your salesperson has a direct connection.
Remember that your salespeople can protect the connection by turning off “Connection Visibility” in your LinkedIn settings, hiding who they are connected with from anyone else on the platform.
Throw more Pixie Dust on the customer relationship by posting your blog posts, webinars, and videos to your salesperson's profile. This increases the chances that your current clients will be more attuned to your business's latest offerings and thought leadership.
Finally, have your salespeople monitor the relationships. Wish the customer a happy birthday or congratulations on a job change. Keep an eye out for direct messages from clients and prospects and make sure they are answered the same day if possible.
All of that Pixie Dust is never wasted when your customers keep your salespeople and your business at the top of their minds. Even if they are not ready to interact, you keep them aware that your business is there and leading with innovation and empathy. If and when they are ready to explore new purchases, you have a leg up on any competitive advertisers who are trying hard to pry customers away from your business.
Back to Reality
I can tell you from experience that salespeople are reluctant to throw Pixie Dust. Many don't see the value of LinkedIn connections and the time it takes to maintain them. They log in too infrequently and often don't have the time to actively add new connections or monitor people's birthdays and job changes.
Getting them to post new content is also a task that gets pushed to the to-do list and falls through the cracks. They would probably feel more comfortable making cold calls than all of that relationshipping!
That is why we have implemented a system and hired the right people to do that for us. By us, I mean my company, our customers, and their sales teams.
The hard part is convincing the salespeople to let you control their LinkedIn profiles. If doing that helps them sell more (potentially leading to higher commissions and bonuses), it gets easier. It gets even easier when you tell them that they only need to respond to direct messages (which LinkedIn emails them). All they have to do is converse and close business when possible.
Creative thought leadership content is developed and shared with their profiles (amplifying the number of people who actually see it). Connection requests are made from a spreadsheet that associates the customer and the salesperson. Birthdays are acknowledged, and job changes are recorded and reported in case they need to make a new connection at that company to keep the business with your company.
In addition, the content and relationship are reinforced with weekly emails with the same content posted to LinkedIn that leads clients and prospects back to your website.
All of that Pixie Dust can be thrown for your business, often at significant savings over purchased leads, Sales Navigator, and hiring staff to do all of the above. All of these continue to enhance the business relationships you have worked hard to start and maintain.
Closing Thought
Chances are, you are not selling to unicorns. Believe it or not, you can buy Pixie Dust on Amazon. Either way, the road to our business-to-business realities always begin and end with people. Happy customers and great relationships lead to referrals, which are often sprinkled with the Pixie Dust of trust!
Although you can't outsource relationships, you can always get some help maintaining them. Keeping relationships with customers is way less work than starting new ones.
The real magic comes from the sprinkling of time, relevance, empathy, on the people your business helps. Help other people succeed, and they will help you create your own success story.
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Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about business-to-business sales and marketing today! Do you have a sales or marketing communications strategy that works for you? What tips or techniques can you share that work for you and your business?
To learn more about this and other topics on B2b Sales & Marketing, visit our podcast website at The Bacon Podcast.
