I think it’s all about qualified leads. What do you think?
So I’ve tried most forms of sales and marketing techniques now. (I’m getting old/older!) But whichever way I slice it, it all comes back to the revenue bottleneck being qualified leads.
Notice I said “qualified leads” not “leads”. “Leads” are not that useful.
The word “lead” is pretty useful in business now anyway. It means too many things. Thousands of companies sell you “leads” but they are really just contact information, a fancy phone book in other words.
Then there’s the whole what does “lead” mean to sales vs. marketing departments. There are now dozens of chapters in some very good sales and marketing books about defining “leads”. It’s all about marketing figuring out how to pass “leads” to sales without everyone melting down.
But what really moves the needle wherever I’ve worked/consulted etc. is “qualified leads”. You know people that actually want to buy something. People that will actually meet with you (even if just on Join.Me).
Most business owners and sales people are pretty OK at closing some of those leads. Most businesses with plenty of those kind of leads are going to do really well.
So I’m going to focus my efforts, learning and writing on getting more “qualified leads”. What about you?