Top Lead and Sales Sources for Small Business First Quarter 2013.

We track where sales come from for various small businesses, and I think we have enough data to say what we see is fairly representative of many small businesses.

We also provide a service we call the “Sales Crystal Ball” that shows where a company’s new customers are, and why they will buy. To accomplish that one of the things we have to look at is where their new sales have come from (for their best customers) and the sales tree from that customer.

 For the first three months of 2013-  and now updated through JUne 2014

• Number one source : Referrals and Relationships  61%. Relationships can include referrals from other businesses, or non customers.

• Internet leads from their site. Not Social Media or PPC stuff. So a business who has high rankings and have employed a good SEO service do see new sales from the Internet.

• Pay per Click advertising.  In some cases this is number one.  In some cases this is not on the list at all. Depends on your industry and service.

• Print advertising:  Can be effective if placed correctly. Check current references for any Print advertiser.

So what’s interesting in this, as there is no surprise in the list, is…  what many of us do,  and this costs us in the sales area, is forgetting that the sales that were referred to you, have a history, and it’s important to understand where the first sale in that chain came from. Because the reality is, if it hadn’t happened, you would not have received the referral.

Do a sales tree to see what activity was really responsible for a referral, and then add that to your list of lead generation tactics.

Here’s a quick example:Referral sale came from > Another referral  ( very common) That sale came from a telemarketing appointment.

So, without the original sale, you never would have the most recent customer.  Do this for all your good customers, and you may see why your sales are flat.  We stop doing the “seed” activity, or fail to replace it. Relying primarily on referrals is a recipe for flat and inconsistent sales.

There isn’t any reason to go back to a lead generation source that overall was poor quality. So, if in the above example, telemarketing didn’t produce well, then you may need to replace it with a lead source that does.

Have at least 3 non referral based lead generation programs working at all times.  The Internet is a natural place for this.  SEO, Pay per click, and online advertising can generally keep new leads coming in.  You need to plant those seeds to continue to grow your referrals and relationships.

One of my personal examples is in the early days we did cold calls via the phone to very targeted prospects.  Worked fine, I really should do it again, except, I hate cold calling and telemarketing. So, to replace that lead flow we have built in a targeted networking program.  I am not talking about BNI or those type lead groups.  We are involved in pretty expensive private business networks that , when we are active, is great new lead sources. More about those later.

By Mike Bayes

Call me at 303-5003053 ext 1 with questions.

If you want to jump start your sales, look at our sales coaching or crstal ball programs! www.salesjumpstart.net