UNDERSTANDING LEAD GENERATION STAGES
When it comes to lead generation, having a clear understanding of terms like opportunities, leads, prospects, and clients is essential. Consistency in language is key, especially when working with a team.
It ensures everyone is on the same page and can effectively move prospects through the sales funnel.
Lead generation includes a series of stages that potential customers go through before ultimately becoming clients.
These stages include opportunities, leads, prospects, and clients:
Opportunities: Opportunities are our ideal clients who we would like to work with. They typically lack specific information or acknowledgment of a problem that our product or service can solve.
Leads: Opportunities transition into leads once their problem has been identified. Leads show a higher level of interest and engagement.
Prospects: Prospects are individuals in the lead funnel who actively engage in communication. They show a genuine intent to purchase and match the criteria outlined in our ideal customer profile.
Clients: Clients are those who have successfully completed the sales process, converted, and become paying customers.
To effectively qualify leads and move them through the stages, it's important to have a process in place.
This includes developing clear criteria and processes to determine when a lead progresses from an opportunity to a lead, and from a lead to a prospect (and beyond).
Pipeline management; tracking and qualifying leads at each stage is essential for success and adhering to best practices for pipeline management maximises efficiency and improves conversion rates.
If prospects fail to respond to your outreach efforts it’s important to have strategies in place to re-engage them. This may include personalised follow-up emails, phone calls, targeted content, LinkedIn communication or offering additional value to reignite their interest.
Click HERE to join Harriet in the latest episode of Sell Like You as she does a deep dive into the opportunity stages.