Do you prefer fast food when you want an impressive meal? Is that what comes to your mind when you want a perfect filet mignon? No. Fast food is great when you have a quick lunch break and need to buy a lot of burgers for your office staff.
You can drive up to the speaker at the fast-food joint and tell them you want six cheeseburger meals. In no time flat, you pull up to the window, pay, and are on your way with a bag of food for very little money.
But think about when you want to feel special, or when your loved one does. Say it’s your birthday and you want to feel like someone cares about you having a wonderful celebration. You go to your favorite bistro for a three-course meal.
What do you think your leads want? Do they want to feel like they are just another number with no personalized approach from your team? Of course not. They want to feel like you value them. In turn, you want high-quality leads that will turn into loyal customers.
Enter: Your lead generation specialist.
What is a Lead Generation Specialist?
What is a Lead Generation Specialist?If you don’t give your customers or potential customers a “fine dining” experience of sorts, they will not want to be your customers. Likewise, if you are not generating enough leads, to begin with then you do not have enough to determine your leads’ quality, to begin with.
Your lead generation specialist can solve both these problems and more.
So what exactly are they?
A lead generation specialist is someone who generates and nurtures your business leads. They are popular with B2B companies. Your lead specialist will come in (often from an outsourced agency) and get right to work. They generate more leads, but more than that, they manage them so they feel like they are getting that top-tier experience with your brand.
Throughout the entire sales cycle, your prospects, leads, and current customers need someone to nurture them. But you do not always have an in-house lead gen expert. In fact, it’s rare if you do. Take the stress away from onboarding an internal employee to fill those shoes.
Skills of a Lead Generation Specialist
If you are in the market for a lead generation expert, there are some things you want to look for. The crème de la crème of lead gen specialists should have a particular skill set.
Here are a handful of the many lead generation skills to prioritize when you hire one:
- Excellent communication skills – Like active listening, confidence, and responsiveness.
- Good writing skills – This draws on communication skills, as a lot of communication will be of the written variety. Good writing skills show professionalism and dedication to the craft.
- Analytical skills – Data analysis contributes to generating and managing high-quality leads. Lead generation is not a guessing game, and analytical skills make the process more measurable and meaningful.
- Exceptional sales or marketing skills – Your lead generation specialist will be customer-facing a lot of the time. Every once in a while, you find a great specialist without professional experience in the field. But they have to have at least some level of sales and marketing skills to work for your business.
- Knowledge with CRM softwares – Customer relationship management (CRM) software allows specialists to manage customer interactions. It also helps them to analyze relevant client data and general information.
- Knowledge in sales funnel and sales processes – Your business’s sales processes are different from the other guy’s. A lead generation specialist should be familiar with other sales funnels so they can adapt to yours quickly and efficiently.
- Advanced knowledge of data-driven processes – Not only should they be able to analyze data on a broader level. But they also have to know how to adjust to your team’s data-driven processes.
Important Benefits of Hiring a Lead Generation Specialist
But why should you look for a lead generation specialist for your company? Would it make that much of a difference? What about the cost of taking one on?
Let’s address all those questions and concerns right now. Here are the top seven reasons why lead gen experts are worth the hype– and why you would benefit from one in your business.
They Know Lead Generation from A to Z
Your marketing department may have some standard savvy as far as to lead generation. Your sales team might be decent in dealing with a lead after marketing hands them off. But when you have an illness and need medicine, you cannot ask your best friend or grandmother for a prescription. You head to a medical professional.
Similarly, you need a professional with a specialized skill set to level up your lead generation efforts. That is what your lead generation specialist is for.
First, they take over your lead gen campaign. But they take it a step further. They bring their professional background into your organization to grow your business, long-term.
Their experience with growing other businesses like yours means they have creative solutions, too. They are comfortable with change. Instead of shying from it, they accept it head-on. Then, they develop unique strategies to deal with any of your past struggles with effective lead generation.
Will Save You a Ton of Time
Your sales team does not have much time as it is. They have jam-packed schedules. This makes it hard for them to maintain a healthy work-life balance. A lead generation specialist comes in and gets high-quality leads at the start of the sales process.
This leads to faster work from your sales team in closing a sale. They will have higher productivity levels and feel like their work is more meaningful. That means you have a well-rested team with a work-life balance. Then, when your sales reps clock in every day, they are ready to give their all.
Increase Lead Volume Way Faster
So your lead generation specialist will hand off a lead to your sales team that is far more likely to become a customer. But they also will increase the number of leads in way less time than your team would without them there to help.
There will be no more need to stay up at night worrying about missed opportunities. Find the right lead gen specialist. You will extend your brand reach. You will capitalize on all the opportunities available to you.
Save Your Budget for Lead-Generating Tools
Were you worrying about a cash flow interruption if you hire a lead generation specialist? Don’t. Your ROI will increase once you have more and more leads converting to customers.
Plus, your specialist will know how to allocate your budget and resources on the right tools. If specialists come from lead generation companies, they already have the tools when they come. In other words, you don’t have to waste company budget on pricey tools on your own.
Relieve You From Unnecessary Training
A lot of business owners spend company time and unnecessary money on training their team members. They think that if they try out new training courses, they can teach their sales and marketing departments how to generate leads like a pro.
Don’t be like them.
Realize that a lot of these training sessions are not going to work. At least, not half as well as a specialist who already has the experience and knowledge under their belt. Sales training is necessary. But that is not the same as the applicable experience your specialist will bring to the table as soon as you take them on.
Provide You With Comprehensible Data
Part of a specialist’s daily responsibilities includes data analysis. They spend a portion of their time every day going over website analytics and qualifying your leads accordingly.
This is data that they will be able to share with you. They can put it in terms that you and your whole team will understand and benefit from. And what better way to understand the inner workings of your business than with data you can measure and turn into action items?
They Have a Vast Network of Leads
If your lead generation expert has the experience, they also have an entire network of professional resources to back that experience up.
They can share that network with you so you can expand your business. They have the contacts you need for almost any other professional solution. That includes designers and specialists in code or writing that you may need down the line.
Things to Consider When Hiring Lead Generation Specialists
You know what skills to look for when hiring a specialist. You also know why you would benefit from one.
But here are five other important things to consider when you are searching for your lead generation specialist.
Their Portfolio
What is their experience? Who have they worked with successfully before? Do those previous connections have the same goals as you do? Did they achieve them with the help of this specialist?
Figure out the quality of their work and how sustainable it is for your particular business needs.
The Options Available
Do not choose the first specialist available. Make a list of the options available and do your research to figure out which one is the best fit for your brand.
Do you need occasional or part-time help? Do you have an explicit timeframe that you need their help for, or do you need their help for one project? Someone who can make themselves available on short notice?
Align who you choose with how well they can meet your needs.
Contractual Agreements
You need a contract. You want to lay out the responsibilities and requirements on both ends. What do you expect of them? What do they expect from you?
Also, be sure to include pay in the contract. You do not want to end up in an uncomfortable situation where somebody missed a payment or charge.
The Feedback and Reviews
The Feedback and ReviewsYou are hiring someone for the benefit of your organization. You are looking for long-term growth.
A quality lead generation specialist will check in with you from time to time anyway. But if you have specific questions about their progress, ask them. Get feedback from them on where you are succeeding and where you can improve.
Apply that feedback. Also, be candid in your feedback with them and tell them if you do not like the way they are doing something.
Your Budget
This one is important. What can you afford as far as to lead generation services? Where is there wiggle room in your budget?
And most importantly, how much ROI do you want to see? You want the real pros, the leading experts in lead generation. You get what you pay for. But you also want to make sure you see a positive ROI after a set time to make sure you are really getting what you paid for.
Conclusion
Where do you start? How do you find the right specialist in lead generation?
Right here. You start with Wizard of Sales.
Our leading experts will help you increase your leads. We will also boost your sales training and top talent recruitment efforts. That way, you have a smooth transition when you hand your leads off to your sales department to close.
We pride ourselves on giving our all for unique businesses like yours.
Do you want to feel that pride in your own business? Do you want to give your all to your customers and leads?