Generating new sales leads is an essential part of a sales professional’s activities. Loss of customers is an inevitable part of the world of sales. This may be due to either the activities of competitors, changes in a company’s activity or even simple economics.

Of course, with loss of customers comes the inevitable loss of personal income. So while current customers are, of course, being well looked after finding new ones is an absolute must. This means that you have to look at your sales territory as a proverbial treasure map to discover the ‘hidden treasure’ of potential new customers.

The best ways to generate sales leads.

Is by using your time on your ‘territory’ or ‘sales patch’ to personally evaluate prospective new customers. As a former infantry officer in the British Army, we trained our NCO’s to literally live by this mantra ‘Time spent on reconnaissance is never wasted’. In sales of course this is called ‘Prospecting’.

While you can do this remotely, the best way is by HUMINT (human intelligence) by your simply looking around in person. This provides SO much more than looking up prospective customers on the internet, although that does have a place.

Cold calling done correctly.

When I was working in the wastewater management industry and calling into my customers who were Water Authorities, responsible for generating potable water and cleaning up domestic effluent I would look around for large industrial manufacturers who could also be generating waste liquids that were potential pollutants. Similarly, when I was working for NCR Systemedia and called on my customers, I would also call into larger offices nearby that invariably used large quantities of computer-generated stationary to establish their potential as future customers.

This ‘cold calling’ was not purely random as in part of my visiting my customers I would solicit information from the personnel as to where there were similar businesses in the area. I would look up potential customers in the local Chamber of Commerce where i could gain information such as a business’ size, profitability and how long they had been established. Importantly I would glean some contact information such as telephone numbers and names of the managerial staff.

However, the information I gained through such research needed to be qualified by speaking to people on site as in the dynamic world of business changes can happen very quickly.

Social Networking

LinkedIn can also provide valuable intel on potential clients and can indeed be a goldmine for lead generation. This may lead to your joining relevant groups and establishing the all-important personal relationships. Networking events, such as an industry conference or local meetups are gatherings that are ripe with opportunities to make meaningful connections,

Other social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) Instagram and Facebook offer endless possibilities for connecting with prospects and for figuring out who are the ‘decision makers’. Sharing useful information can create engagement which leads to credibility as it leads to trust in a relationship.

Is Cold Calling by email an Effective Way to Generate New Customer Leads?

My short answer is ‘NO!’… unless you have done your ‘research’ or ‘reconnaissance’ and send a very targeted message. But even then, it pales in comparison to the effectiveness of being present in person and have established a personal connection with your potential customer.

It is, of course, always good to have a professional website to which you can refer when meeting with your potential customer; in the same way you should always have literature to leave as a ‘reminder’ of your visit. But unsolicited email material is essentially ‘junk’ or ‘spam’ and usually serves more to irritate than inform.

Remember: Working smarter is better than just working harder

While working hard is of course meritorious, working smarter with the same effort is much to be preferred. The key phrase to recall in making this distinction is to ask: ‘how is this activity going to help me build a relationship with my customer?’ and to always have the view that you are there to help your customers to achieve their goals.

What information do you need to gather?

First every potential customer has to be ‘qualified’. This means that you must determine if the products and services you offer as a sales professional are the same ones which they would use. Not only that but also to the degree that would make them a good potential income stream for you. This qualifying process may be achieved by doing some background information from using internet sources or better still from the business directories held by the local Chamber of Commerce.

If they do match in that regard, then it is important to establish who is the Decision Maker (see part 6 in my previous posts), their full name, title and contact information. This then becomes part of the clear set of records you must retain and keep updated!

Finding out more about the potential customer may be established by a quick informal visit when, according to your schedule, you are in the area. If you ‘pop in’ to see a potential customer, using the approach that ‘you are just looking to see if you can help’ premise, you invariably are able to solicit the information you need.

Seeing the location of a customer’s place of work will also provide valuable insights that will help you gauge how much effort you want to put into them. If it’s in a run-down area compared with a more upscale location, that may encourage you to find out more.

Secretarial staff are extremely knowledgeable and usually very helpful and should always be treated with the utmost respect and courtesy. They may provide information concerning the best time for you to make an appointment to see the person who can authorize a purchase.

GOLDEN TIP: Always find out the ‘Number 2’ person in charge and treat them as if they are as important as ‘the boss’… as one day they could be!

In conclusion:

If you are the owner of a company, then certainly a website may attract leads, it is after all the ‘online store front’ for your business. Of course, all such leads will need to be ‘qualified’ in the same way leads from other sources are. But, in my view, the best way of generating new sales leads involves doing some personal ‘snooping around,’ or what may be known as ‘the ‘using shoe leather.’ Here’s a video clip that sums up prospecting that you may find useful: How To Master Sales Prospecting 🤑 (youtube.com)

Remember there’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach and what I have shared above is just a crash course in lead generation and more information can be derived (at relatively low costs) from such sources listed here: https://amzn.to/4awnMeJ

Happy hunting!

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