B2B Lead Generation Principles Used Successfully in Cross-Selling
Posted by JasonB on August 28, 2009
Good B2B lead generation relies on a dedicated resource to contact, qualify and verify key decision makers. During prospecting, this dedicated resource focuses on unknown targets (cold leads) in the hopes of uncovering new opportunities for the sales department. The sales department in turn can focus their time/effort on qualified leads and closing business. This division of duties (sales & prospecting) makes each more efficient and effective at what they do. What about using this same principle for cross-selling to existing clients?
The process used to generate new leads can be applied to selling current customers new goods and services. Any sale begins with a customer’s awareness of your product or service. But don’t assume that your current customers are aware of the breadth of products or services that your company has to offer. It may not be that your sales resources are dropping the ball, but they might not be aware of the diversity of needs each customer has.
A structured series of communications (just like when contacting new prospects, but now designed to keep current customers aware of everything your company has to offer) ensures that your entire portfolio of products or services is top of mind with your customer base. Remember, just as you never know where new prospects look for information, you don’t know where your current clients look for information for their day-to-day needs. Consequently, you must communicate in a variety of methods such as email, direct mail, blogs, video and even phone calls.
Social media is used in B2B lead generation to attract prospects that are looking for useful, peer-to-peer information that they can use daily. Prospects that are not currently in a buying cycle frequent social websites to receive industry information and peer input, thus the reason for your company to have a presence on websites like YouTube and Facebook. Similarly, your client may not be in the buying cycle for your other services. However, by providing your client with a steady stream of useful information (example: blog posts), they become more receptive to your messages. Once receptive, it’s only a matter of time before they (1) enter a buying cycle and (2) gain exposure to your additional offerings.
The result – your customers can self select the products or services they need to meet a specific need when they need it.
Again, I’m not implying your sales force is not capable of cross-selling. But by nature, the sales department is geared toward finding and closing new business. They simply don’t have visibility into every functional area or department within a customer’s organization to determine where each opportunity lies. A well mapped out communications plan using a dedicated resource to cross-sell existing clients can help broaden the coverage of your existing sales resources and provide a higher rate of return on your investment in them.
I hope this post sheds some light on useful methods to cross-sell. As usual, if you need any help, we’ll be standing by. Please subscribe to our blog for future posts on generating new business for your business.
