For Lead Generation - Sales Needs More Than Outbound Prospecting

Sales and lead generation have seen fascinating changes over the last 2 years. 2009 was the year for inbound marketing. Focused outreach, outbound prospecting, or cold-calling was actually declared dead by some. You may have wanted to connect with prospects with an outbound marketing effort. But any such effort was looked down upon as disruptive, unwanted, or unwarranted by so many. In 2010, as reality set in, the pendulum seems to have swung back to a more realistic approach. Focused outreach, outbound prospecting and cold calling are recognized as viable tools for building a sales pipeline.

Outbound Prospecting Vs Inbound Marketing? Go for Balance

Why is inbound marketing so popular? Why reach out if your B2B buyers are already coming to you? Some problems with an inbound-only approach are:

• people coming to you may not be your real targets
• those people who DO appear to be highly qualified potential buyers may need active outreach from you

There's no need to choose between inbound marketing and outbound prospecting. The reality is both should exist in a balanced, more optimal approach to filling your sales pipeline.

Use More Than One Way to Produce Quality Sales Leads

Outreach plays a role in producing high quality leads because it opens opportunities that inbound efforts alone do not. Focused outreach:

• Allows you to meet your prospects' expectations that you will reach out
• Enables you to connect with potential buyers who have not had the opportunity to reach you
• Satisfies those prospects who are looking for a human connection
• Raises the effectiveness of your inbound efforts, if those alone are not reaching your goals

With so much attention on these two sales lead generation methods, are we forgetting the other lead generation methods? Methods that are part of the mix to produce results for sales?

Yes I think we are. Here are 2 more.

2 More Methods for a Well-Balanced Lead Generation Program.

Networking - Develop relationships with people you can help and can help you. Networking can happen in a variety of venues: face to face, events, online- but the basic premise remains the same: to make quality connections with like minded people that can develop into relationships, two way referrals and sales. With so much media attention on social networking these days it's important to remember that social networking is another channel or avenue for age old networking.

Partnerships - Many companies develop relationships or partner with other companies offering complimentary products or services as a form of sales lead generation. These relationships or partnerships if nurtured with care can help both companies offer their prospects and clients, products and services they may not be able to supply from a trusted and reliable source.

The debate may continue about the pros and cons of an inbound and outbound approach to sales lead generation. Meanwhile, options like networking and partnerships should not be overlooked. All of these as sales lead generation options can help you build a strong sales pipeline.

At Exceed Sales, we are passionate about lead generation as an art and science. We help you achieve results beyond your expectations with our lead generation services. CEO Elisa Ciarametaro is author of the Exceed Sales blog, and the free Focused Outreach Lead Generation E-Book. Both are available at ExceedSales.com.