So you have closed another quarter in sales and are getting ready for the next. But here comes the dilemma: your pipeline is starting to look dry. You need to fill it up fast!
Your team should have lead generation strategies in place. But for those moments when there are not enough leads to keep the pipeline healthy and thriving (which we hope are rare!), you must act fast to find new prospects. How? Follow these strategies.
9 Strategies to Quickly Fill Up Your Pipeline
If you haven’t been religiously doing your following up, then start with this. In fact, it may be all you need to do to fill up your pipeline. Remember that 80% of sales require 5 follow-up calls after the meeting. (And yet 44% of sales reps give up after 1 follow-up.)
So follow up big time. In fact, focus on following up for a whole week.
2. Get referrals
Now is a good time to tap into your existing customer base and professional and personal networks. You will have to work double time to reach out to them and ask for referrals. It’s not embarrassing to do this; in fact, your clients may even be expecting it. Studies show that 91% of customers say they’d give referrals, but only 11% of salespeople ask for referrals. And salespeople who actively seek out and exploit referrals earn 4 to 5 times more than those who don’t.
There are proven strategies to get more referrals, but before you ask, make sure of one thing: that the client you will be asking referrals from is a happy, very satisfied one.
You can also get new leads from your personal network. This is surprisingly often overlooked; most sales reps focus on their professional network. Your personal friends and even your family have their own professional networks that you can tap into.
3. Build more lead magnets
Content is such a powerful marketing tool these days, and if you haven’t yet, you should start generating more valuable content. And once you have these great articles and posts, you can compile them and turn them into lead magnets.
Lead magnets are content your web visitors can avail of for free in exchange for their information and contact details. They’re effective: 80% of business leaders and decision makers choose to get company information through a series of articles instead of an advertisement. That’s because people don’t want to be sold to. They would much prefer to be informed. So a series of blog posts on sales acceleration, for example, can be turned into an e-book or white paper that prospects can download from your site. You get their contact information in exchange and add them to your leads list. Promote these lead magnets on social media to get more traction.
4. Create strong calls to action
Every day, you are creating content for your prospects: an email, a blog post, an instant message, a social media post, and more. Why not include strong calls to action (CTA) in each one? For example: you can end an email with a CTA to click on a link to get a free e-book download. Or you can write a highly informative blog post and create a CTA that offers free consultation. Any CTA that compels a prospect to take action toward further engagement with your brand is a good way of generating more quality leads.
5. Get out there
Today’s sales environment has brought about inside sales, and a lot of sales reps are comfortable doing sales in their office cubicles. But there is merit in going out and actually mingling with prospective clients. Face-to-face interactions, in-person conversations, and intimate dialogues offer a lot of promise.
Attend networking events, conferences, and trade shows. Exchange information with the people you meet and add to your network. Meet with clients and up your chances of getting referrals. You’re not only generating more leads, you’re also helping build your brand presence and establish better rapport with customers.
6. Start an email campaign
Email marketing is almost 40 times better at acquiring new customers than social media marketing. You can build a simple email campaign that aims to build up your product and highlight the value you provide. You can even start a campaign with a limited-time offer—and create urgency for your product.
7. Become more active on social media
Email marketing may be more effective than social media marketing, but social media can’t be ignored. You should up your social selling game if you’re trying to find new leads fast. Reach out to more people on social media. Offer your expertise in discussions on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn (or even sites like Quora) and give sound advice that helps build you and your brand up.
Improve on your social media posts too and make sure that you are highlighting your brand value and reaching out to the relevant audience. Let this serve as motivation: 78% of salespeople using social media outsell their peers.
8. Promote your social proof
Social proof serves to validate and endorse the quality of a product or service, and it can help accelerate sales. Social proof can be reviews, testimonials, and case studies. If you have been generating tons of positive reviews from existing customers, why not capitalize on these and promote them? They’re on your website, yes, but why not email your prospects and share these reviews with them? You can also promote these great testimonials on social media. You can likewise use third-party review platforms or websites to share the encouraging statements from customers.
9. Dig up old leads
Now is also a good time to revisit old, dead leads. They may not have been ready to make a purchase before, but they could be now. You just never know until you try to re-engage leads that have gone cold.
Photos from Unsplash and Pexels. Main image by Austin Distel
