What does it mean? Sales leads are users who visited the website, visited the company's page on the social network and left contacts for communication. These are not buyers yet, but they are already ready to purchase or order something.

How to attract? There are different channels for attracting leads. Some of the most effective are SMM, targeted and contextual advertising. You will also need tools for working with leads: lead magnets, chatbots.

What are sales leads in simple words
The main goal of any business is to attract customers and work with them so that they eventually perform the target action - register on the site, make a deal, make a purchase. Thus, the potential customer becomes real and brings profit to the company.

There is a difference in the effectiveness of online and offline customer acquisition. There are many more tools for working with the target audience online, which means that it is easier to push those interested to cooperate.

Customers who are ready to perform a target action are called leads in sales. Everyone who is related to business comes across this term. A lead is someone who is interested in specific services or products, which means that they are ready to perform a specific action in the near future (click on a button, make a purchase).

Sales leads:

The client went to the site, left a request in a special window.
I placed an order, confirmed it.
Became interested in a service and then called to inquire about a specific service or ask about a product.
I filled out a questionnaire, indicating my contact details in a special form.
Sales leads are based on the performance of some action on the part of a potential buyer that meets certain parameters.

A lead is a set of data about a user who has shown interest in a product or service and can become a customer. It is important to collect information about potential customers. Based on this data, you can form a unique selling proposition.

It would be correct to consider not all site visitors as leads, but those who have specified information about themselves: email, phone number, link to a social media account. The main thing is the contact details by which you can contact the person. Moving to lead status does not guarantee a purchase. However, the more leads, the higher the likelihood that one of the users will eventually buy a product or service.

Four reasons to work with sales leads
Communication with leads is based on systematically bringing them to close contact with the company. It is necessary to turn a potential client into a real one, or even better - into a regular one. This is possible only with a well-structured marketing communication and adequate customer service.

It is necessary to warm up the audience, forming certain needs that are covered by cooperation with the company.

Warming up consists of a number of tasks.

Closing objections
It happens that the lead leaves a request, but further interaction is impossible due to doubts. He may change his mind because of the cost, dissuasion from competitors, because of information received from the outside, etc. You need to work with these objections, clarifying problems and closing them at the initial stage of communication.

Practicing objections is a sequence of stimulating actions. It is built on the basis of existing doubts, and they can be diverse. The following are the most common examples of doubts people have when choosing a CRM system.

To work out objections, the marketer needs to form a chain of interactions, and then build it into the sales funnel. So, a fragment of the chain can look like a flowchart.

In a situation where the lead has not yet finally decided whether he plans to make a deal with the company, you can launch a chain of letters to work out objections. When the receiver is active and responds to one of them, the warm-up chain is paused.

Keeping the lead at a "low start"
The situation when the lead is just looking at a product or service also needs to be kept under control. It is quite possible that he compares models, studies prices, and compares different representatives. The higher the cost of products, the longer the path to making a final decision takes. The chances increase significantly if you build support for a potential client throughout this cycle.

Leads can be retained by sending them the right and important content. This immediately increases the status of the organization's expertise in his eyes. Usually, people receive such mailings on social networks or by e-mail. Communication via SMS or call may seem too intrusive to a person, which will instantly push him away from cooperation with the company.

Acquaintance with the available range of goods or services
A lead can always change their mind and make a purchase from another company. It is important that his contact remains, which means that you need to continue to work on retention. It is enough to put it in the mailing list for updates in the assortment. Sometimes you can send discounts or the most profitable offers, because there is always a chance that he will not find everything he needs from competitors. This is how, step by step, the conversion from a lead to a sale occurs.

Getting feedback
Many companies are faced with a situation where there are a lot of leads, but conversions to sales are still not too large. When we talk about conversion, we are talking about leads who have already moved to the next stage of the sales funnel. For example, you have not just stopped at the submitted application, but have already signed a service contract or purchased a product. If the conversion did not happen, then the manager needs to call a potential client and find out the reason.

The sales manager must understand for sure what exactly scared off the client. This can be a high cost (you found a smaller one), the lack of important functionality, the loss of the need for the product.

Any doubts should be worked out according to verified schemes for conducting a dialogue with customers (according to scripts). It often happens that a detailed and understandable explanation, as well as a complementary discount, remove all doubts about cooperation.

If the problem cannot be solved by such methods, it is necessary to record a serious reason that prevented the sale (frequent breakdown of the product, lack of a full set of functionality, unprofitability, etc.). Other employees of the company will have to work with this information.

Of course, some people are simply unwilling to cooperate for personal reasons. This should not cause negative emotions if it happens rarely. Other problems should be eliminated as soon as possible, this is the only way to increase the percentage of converting leads into sales.

Types of Sales Leads
There are three types of leads: targeted, non-targeted, and empty.

Target employees are those who really show a high interest in the product or service, which means that they are able to bring money to the company.

Non-target – those who responded to the offer by accident or made a mistake, so at the moment they are not ready to go to the next stage of the sales funnel.

Reasons for the appearance of non-targeted leads:

Contact details were entered by mistake, or people left them, but do not remember or do not want to admit it.
A person mistakenly or intentionally left work contacts, so when trying to contact, the manager gets to completely different people.
The data was entered with errors, so letters or calls are received by someone else.
When there was an attempt to find out about the availability of products, but there was a misunderstanding, since the company does not work with this product.
Empty — those who send an application with empty columns or non-working contact details.

You can understand whether a potential client is interested in further cooperation or not in a dialogue with him.

To build the right marketing strategy, it is reasonable to connect leads based on how ready they are for active interaction with the company. For example, by dividing them into groups: cold, warm, and hot leads.

Cold
We contacted the company once, just leaving data. They do not have complete information about the company, they were not interested in important details for further cooperation. Most often, they do not even know what needs the product covers. This is what the manager should let them into.

The best way to demonstrate the best aspects of a product or service is through various training texts, webinars, and courses. Useful links can be sent by email or in messengers.

Warm
Had contact with the organization several times. For example, you have downloaded a free introductory course or subscribed to a newsletter. They show interest, but are still not completely sure whether cooperation is reasonable in the future.

To warm up to the deal, you need to feed the loyalty of these leads. You can clearly demonstrate successful cases or offer a favorable discount.

Hot
Ready for the deal. They constantly read the informative letters sent to them, left a request and contact details, are active on social networks on this topic, etc. It is very important not to miss a hot lead.

In order to finally deal with the deal, you can send such a lead an individual offer for cooperation with a nice bonus. It is clear that a person has a need, so it is necessary to solve his problem as soon as possible.

How to Manage Sales Leads
The cycle of working with leads is called lead management. It consists of several stages.

Stage 1. Lead generation

At this stage, people are attracted who could become potential customers in the future. To start the process, you should record information about:

A specific product or service that leads will be interested in.
the target audience of the product or service, how to meet the needs of people with maximum benefit for the company;
USP relating to a product or service;
a platform where potential buyers will be attracted (website, landing page, social network);
the source of leads and the possibilities of attracting them (thematic groups, TV ads, leaflets, etc.);
the target action that the client must take to get the status of a lead (subscription, filling out a form on the website, calling the company, etc.);
the method of collecting information about potential buyers (CRM systems, google sheets, corporate mail);
hiring sales managers who will deal with leads;
hiring managers who are responsible for each stage of the funnel.

Stage 2. Lead Qualification

Lead qualification in sales involves working with potential customers. Managers study those who are interested in the company's offer. It is necessary to find out their needs, financial capabilities, and study the pains to work out objections.

Stage 3. Lead scoring

At this stage, the profitability of cooperation with certain leads is studied. The work is similar to what is done in the previous stage, but with a greater bias towards finance.

Stage 4. Lead nurturing

The work of managers during this period focuses on turning a cold lead into a warm one. To do this, all the data about him is collected, a suitable script for the dialogue is selected and a personal offer is formed.

Stage 5. Transfer for sale

The final stage of the sales funnel, when the lead is finally led to the purchase. Most often, the success of the work depends on the professionalism of the manager and on how convenient the process of paying for products or services is.

Channels for finding and attracting leads in sales
Lead generation is most often understood as working with clients in those channels where you can calculate a specific amount of investment and calculate the return on business.

There are six main lead generation channels.

SMM
Social networks are useful because they help to promote the company, increase loyalty to it. Leads from them will come only if posts are posted that call for specific actions, as well as links to products or services.

Targeted advertising
Targeted advertising always responds to a request from the user. Managers should clearly divide potential customers into groups according to their interests, likes, reaction to advertising integrations, etc.

Contextual advertising
This type of advertising is based on keywords that social media users type in a search engine. It is by them that people learn about the interests, needs, desires of people.

Distribution
This is a great opportunity to maintain constant contact with leads who are already interested in cooperation. If a person subscribes to the newsletter, then, for example, it will be easier for him to agree to the further purchase of a subscription.

Stands at exhibitions
Attending specialized conferences is very useful for business development in sales. Almost always there are special stands where event participants leave their contacts. They are potential leads who can be promising.

Lead exchanges or CPA networks
Leads are purchased on these marketplaces. This is done with the direct participation of partner sites that collect leads on various offers, and then sell them to relevant businesses.

Sales Lead Generation Tools
Sometimes lead generation tools and channels share common points of intersection. The same e-mail newsletter is considered both a channel and an effective lead generation tool. There are only five "clean" instruments.

Lead Forms
Incoming sales leads often come through filling out a special form on the website. If the target action is to get a call, then using a lead form, it is reasonable to collect data from those who have requested feedback from the company.

Chatbots
Algorithms that contact possible customers. They are implemented through social networks or company websites. Of course, the client will not be able to conduct detailed dialogues with them, but it is quite possible to briefly notify about something important with their help.

Lead magnets
A lead magnet in sales is content that is provided to a person for free. The condition is the contact details received from the potential client. With the help of competent specialists, sales funnels reached their logical conclusion with the help of lead magnets.

Collection of applications, lead ads
A very simple and effective tool. Collection of applications in a special form on the website from those who really liked the organization's offer of cooperation.

Chats on the site
Most often, they are connected to a request system, or CRM. They help in finding useful information on the site or, if desired, place an order for a product or service. As soon as a person writes to the chat, the data about him immediately goes to the marketer's database.

Let's imagine that leads are being collected from contextual advertising. The request sounded like this: "Fashion designer." Targeted traffic includes those who want to change their style and are looking for an assistant.

The query "Fashion designers" is more interested in the company where employees are recruited or where they are looking for partners.

The difference of one letter is much more serious than it may seem at first glance. The goal has changed, which means that the audience is no longer the target audience.

Those who do not respond to calls and letters. They may have given the wrong number or email address by mistake or intentionally.

Sales Lead Optimization Techniques
By tracking the cost of leads, you can analyze the quality of the company's work and the effectiveness of the channels through which traffic is attracted. It is worth selecting only those who work.

Campaign analysis
When the topic of the project is extensive, it will be reasonable to create a separate campaign for each of them so as not to breed competition where it is superfluous. This will also allow you to estimate the cost of a lead as accurately as possible on average for each of the topics.
How to increase the efficiency of lead generation in sales?
This can be done if you devote enough time to the following factors:
Adaptation of the site for various gadgets. Some sites are simply impossible to view from a smartphone, and this is the device that a person has in his hands all day long. If you don't adjust the interface for phones, you can lose all leads.
Website loading speed. When a page loads very slowly, there is a big risk that a person simply will not wait for the end of the process and will close the site.
User-friendliness. The process of leaving a ticket should be easy so that every user can cope with it. There is no need to add an abundance of lines, no one wants to fill in information about themselves for 5 minutes. It is important that the form for entering data is on the main page. It is enough to ask for the following information: name, phone number, address.
Audience relevance. The degree of correspondence between the offer and the request must be complete, otherwise lead generation will not happen or it will be meaningless.