The Benefits of Lead Generation

by Ananya Nair Accounting and Legal Services

There is much about the terminology "lead generation" that puzzles non-marketers. But you can understand lead generation in simple terms, perhaps by trying to imagine this scenario: you are sitting at a trade show booth for long hours, hoping that target clients or consumers will fill out the form that you have prepared. But boy, fewer than you would like actually complete the form. You can obtain good leads less strenuously and using only the technology of the World Wide Web, and this is how.

Lead generation is not a difficult concept to grasp. Certain agencies specialize in offering verified leads to business establishments. The agency develops a website - perhaps a partnership with a number of other sites - to promote or advertise your product or service. A prospective customer finds these informational sites or directories, and they complete an online quote request form. The agency gets hold of these forms. The customer information is verified (there are qualities of a good lead we will discuss later) and matched to the right providers. These matched, verified leads are then transferred via email to the providers with full contact information and purchasing requirements.

Just about any business will benefit from lead generation, but the ones that will benefit the most are insurance or professional agencies, product suppliers, organizations or educational institutions, and more. Research shows that good leads will be even more bankable in the future, specifically for service-oriented enterprises.

Both buyers and sellers benefit from lead generation. On the buying front, you will be able to request the information you need from businesses about their certain products or services. On the selling front, on the other hand, businesses will be given the chance to pitch their product offerings or services with permissions. Conversion rates on good leads usually have a higher conversion success rate than so-called cold contacts, too. This is because these are pre-qualified prospects even before you get the lead.

Other benefits of lead generations include determining pricing on a per lead basis, and choosing the product or service you wish to offer to prospective customers. You will also be able to select the geographical area that you are interested in as well. Finally, you can control the number of good leads that you wish to receive on a monthly basis and pay only for the leads you receive - this will help you in the budgeting area.

But how much will lead generation cost you? Price usually depends on the measure of difficulty in obtaining good leads. Of course, the easier it is to get the lead, the lower the price appears to be. Beware, though, that agencies offering lead generation will probably charge a setup or maintenance fee on an annual basis.

Good, verified leads are a way for you to help grow your business quickly. There are lead validation applications which you can use, after obtaining your leads, that will standardize, enhance and even apply a "score" showing correctness of the received lead data. This will increase the probability of potential sales using these leads. Use of this way of obtaining leads and validating them can potentially increase your return on investment (ROI), and you can treat it as another advertising venture that you can allot a reasonable budget for. Lead generation requires sound sales and marketing skills to help your leads convert to sales at an acceptable rate. Remember, of course, to establish a process for good follow-through to be able to close the sale!