Starting up a business is easy, but growing it is anything but. And if we’re talking about difficult tasks, lead generation tops the list.Lead generation, as the name suggests, refers to the process of stimulating and capturing interest in a particular product or service, for the purpose of developing sales.So, here’s a list of 16 important lead generation questions to ask that anyone running a business thinks they have answered, but might not have. Answering them will go a long way in helping you boost your business development process.
1. Do you have an explainer video ready?
Research suggests that more than 80 percent of Internet users prefer watching videos about what they’re searching for, rather than reading content.Videos give buyers crisp and intuitive descriptions of products/services. An explainer video posted online gives users a better idea of what you're offering. And, people only prefer to invest into things that they’re able to grasp and understand better.Let’s take an example of Acquire.io. We have created an explainer video about what our product offers. The video showing potential customers how our features function. We aimed for the customer to understand what the product has to offer.
2. Is your CTA clearly visible?
In marketing, CTA refers to a “Call to Action” button or sign that helps the prospective customer reach out to the company or take a desired action. It can use texts such as: “Call us now”, “Find out more”, "Book a demo" and more.The visibility of every CTA is extremely important. If a visitor sees it clearly, and more often, there are higher chances that they would use it.But, do keep it in mind that using it almost ‘everywhere’ (after every few lines on your website), would really annoy the consumer, so aim for balance.
3. Have you decided your target market?
As obvious as this question might seem, there are still hundreds of business owners who tend to skip answering it. Consider the example of a fictional business owner who has just started working in the domain of graphics and design. The products and services provided by him include logo design, web design, and basic video making.Since the person isn’t sure about his target audience, he broadcasts his marketing strategy to cover almost every aspect that lies in and around the three aforementioned (and extremely wide) fields. Now, due to his lack of knowledge about his target market, he produces generic marketing, and thus can't offer a clear value proposition to his customers.
4. Does your sales team use live chat tools?
Selling products and services online has its pros and cons. But amongst its biggest disadvantages, lies the fact that personable interactions with customers are fewer and more difficult to achieve. Live chat is one of the ways to make up for this lack of easy communication over the web. So, do keep in mind to set up an online and live chat tool for your sales team. This allows your prospective consumers to ask any queries and have them answered in real time.
5. Do you have any lead generation process ready?
A wise man once said, “A dream without a strategy doesn’t go too far.” Take this as the golden rule of business. Draw out a lead generation plan, hire the right people to execute it, train them to manage their tasks, guide them with predefined and preplanned cases, and figure out the roles of every single person: from the team members who handles the initial communication with customers to the person who closes the deal.
6. Do you have a lead generation script ready?
A lead generation strategy involves drawing out a proper script – which may be in the form of flow-chart diagrams – to help out the team have a question or response ready for every comment they receive from prospective customers and visitors. This ensures consistency in every conversation that is carried out and encourages the team to explore the right topics when talking to customers.
7. Do you have ways to obtain more email addresses?
Lead generation is easier the bigger your audience is. For every 100 people who've reached out to, there’s a chance that only 10 might be interested in finding out more about your company. Thus, having a larger number of options to reach out to increases chances of converting those numbers (even though the correlation between traffic and conversions is most often not linear).So, ensure you have something to collect email addresses from your website. A pop up contact form, a downloadable asset, or other.
8. Are you creating diversified content to help your users?
In times where survival of the fittest is an idea less prevalent than the survival of the ‘updated’, it is of key importance for your customers to stay up to date with the industry. You can give them this opportunity by regularly updating your content with more insights and unique perspectives.
9. Do you have a de-cluttered landing page?
This is one of the most important lead generation questions you should ask. Often, I land on a page that's so cluttered and mismanaged that I'd rather skip the whole website altogether. Remember: simplicity is key.Every major product or services based company, including Apple, Google, or Microsoft, have the simplest of landing pages, with clear text, aligned product images, and mapped out product and services in an easy-to-read flow or timelines. Here is a perfect example of landing page:
10. Do you participate in a community like Quora?
The term “Corporate Humanization” may be something not everyone is directly familiar with, but the idea behind it is simple and very effective. If I wish to buy a product from a company, and be loyal to it, I’d want the company to be equally responsive to my needs wherever I am on the web.This is where social networking and websites such as online forums (mainly Quora, etc.) come into the picture – that's where you can engage people who know you and draw in people who don't without seeming like you want to sell.
11. Do you go to events and expos that can help you in generating leads?
A recent study showed that 85 percent jobs in the United States are now being filled through networking.In a world where so much importance is given to networking and face-to face interactions, it seems only natural that your leads will come through meeting people and socializing. Interacting with your target market gives you a direct advantage of knowing their reactions, their concerns, and their decisions.So, do attend events whenever you can, and have some business cards and company flyers at hand if possible.
12. Are you actively participating in social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ community?)
A person between the ages of 15 to 80 spends roughly about 3-4 hours on the internet and on their smartphones regularly. People from various parts of the world check their Facebook newsfeeds more often than they check their SMS messages.Using social media and networking websites to produce and broadcast quality content gives you a direct communication line with consumers. They get to witness the ideas produced by the company as they happen, and engage with them, without separately having to visit a website.
13. Do you have a sales funnel ready?
A roadmap drawn out for lead generation is important, but what’s even more important is the path that follows. Driving out a proper sales strategy, after the leads have been generated, and during the sales, deal-closing is a process to look out for.
14. Do you have marketing collateral ready?
Imagine a situation where you come to a conference or a meeting with a group of people that might really help you out with your business, or maybe the setting up of a stall in one of the conventions that you just planned to go to. One thing you're expected to have is collateral.Like we mentioned, business cards are useful, but they’re relatively old-school in comparison to better-looking brochures, pamphlets, and the like. Never underestimate the power of properly designed sheets of paper.
15. Does your website load fast?
Ever come across a web page that takes more than 5-10 seconds to load? There are chances of you either reloading it or moving to some other website instead. Slow-loading websites are certainly among the most annoying things people face on the Internet.Using the right website hosting services that give you enough space to keep your content intact, with the right development used (that don’t start messing with the speed, quality, and smoothness of your website) is fundamental. Never allow your website’s home page (at least the home page) to take more than 5 seconds to load. It really messes with the whole experience.
16. Have you tested your website?
An alpha test is usually referred to as a test that is carried out either by an in-house testing team or by the development team itself, to check if the website has any serious bugs. Beta testing, on the other hand, refers to inviting people who weren’t a part of the original development process to check the website on a number of parameters.Testing, an extremely important part of any software project, allows a business to check if their websites/applications have any issues or bugs. The teams receive detailed feedback that map out anything and everything that’s right or wrong about the website, so they can make sure visitors are adequately hooked and the sales team can approach them for lead generation.
Keep these lead generation questions top of mind
We’re pretty sure that these 16 quick questions will help you shape your strategies for leads generation and development. Never be afraid to ask the right questions.