Outsourcing Your Lead Generation – How To Get This Done Right

Sales can be a tough nut to crack. If you’re not constantly generating new leads, your sales pipeline will quickly run dry. This is where outsourcing your lead generation can be a tremendous help.

When done right, outsourcing your lead generation can help you get more sales with less effort. But how do you make sure you’re doing it right?

Here are a few tips:

The first step is to define who your ideal customer is. This will help you find the right leads and target them with the right messages.

This is not optional. Too often, businesses will try to simply say that everyone needs their products. No one is selling something everyone needs or wants.

Defining your ideal customer will take time, research, and a lot of questions to people to see how they respond to your product or service.

Start by thinking of why you created this product or service in the first place. If it was for you, are your ideal customers substantially like you? Do you do it in response to something you saw online? Was it because you noticed that something was missing from the market?

Without this customer avatar (learn to create a customer avatar from Constant Contact), you’re not going to be able to focus your efforts enough to truly be successful. 

There are a lot of outsourcing companies out there. Make sure you do your research and find a reputable one that fits your needs.

Things to look for in an outsourcing partner:

• The ability to speak your language fluently. Communication is key.
• A sufficient staff to meet your needs.
• A willingness to meet on a regular basis to discuss questions, and for you to help guide them.
• A project manager (PM) that will lead your project. You don’t need 27 people all heading in different directions. A PM can help your team stay focused.
• They need to supply you with a clear plan to meet your goals.

Be clear about what you want to achieve with your outsourcing. Set realistic goals and expectations so you can measure your results.

While the partner can help you meet your goals, it’s up to you to figure out what those goals are.

Write out your goals and timelines. Leave nothing to chance. Include specific dates, time for review meetings, and more. Everything needs to be delineated and put on a calendar that everyone signs off on.

Learn more about goals and KPIs from our blog, Defining Goals And KPIs For Lead Generation.

Don’t completely hand over the reins to your outsourcing partner. Stay involved in the process and provide feedback along the way.

If possible, speak with them every morning to review the previous day’s efforts and successes. This will allow you to know what’s going on and to keep the team on track at all times.

Outsourcing is a great way to scale your business. If you’re not prepared for this, it can quickly become overwhelming. Make sure you have systems and processes in place so you can handle an increase in sales.

It’s imperative that your partner has the ability to scale with you. If your business grows exponentially, which you hope it will, you’ll need your partner to deliver even more leads. That’s something worth asking even before you hire anyone.

Include your follow-up efforts in your assessments. Your partner needs to know not only that their leads picked up the phone, but that you were able to close the deals.

A complete report that follows the entire lifetime of every lead will allow you to see what’s really working and what’s not.

A CRM (customer relationship management software) is imperative to the ease of communication of your leads. Your partner will enter those leads into the CRM. The system will track all contacts and follow the lifecycle of every lead.

The right CRM will also allow you to see how the lead was won, who made the initial contact, what the lead said, and how you should follow through with this lead.

Plan your update meetings with your partners as soon as you sign the contract. This might be weekly, monthly, or even quarterly.

These meetings are important for making sure that everyone is on the same page and that your efforts are all going in the right direction.

If your partner is not delivering on the level needed, give them enough time and enough warning to make it happen. Then, if it doesn’t happen, cut ties.

Too often, we hang on to contractors who aren’t the right fit. This is not only expensive, but it allows your competitors to get out ahead of you. Don’t be rash, but make sure you know exactly what you’re doing and what your threshold is.

Following these tips will help you outsource your lead generation successfully. When done right, it can be a great way to grow your sales and take your business to the next level.