The CRAP Report

This is a good question, and you know why?  Because sometimes you’re not.  Sometimes, you think you’re ready to outsource your sales opportunity development and you’re just really not.  You know, its like thinking you have true love and then you catch the early flight home from San Diego and a couple of nude people jump out of your bathroom blindfolded like a goddamn magic show…well, that’s another story.  But seriously, here are three ways to know you’re ready for lead gen.  Pick up your pens boys and girls, schools about to start:

1.  You’re message is clear.

Okay, that may seem foolish, but let me tell you about a client I worked with:  I once worked with a client whose company name sounded very technical and IT-friendly, but their target audience was sales and marketing.  Do you know how hard that makes cold calling?  Have you ever tried selling to that audience with a product that sounds as if it has NOTHING to do with them?  That’s like trying to sell life-insurance to the newly entombed at your local cemetery.  If you’re going to outsource your lead gen efforts, you’ve got to have messaging that resonates with your target audience.

2.  You know your product’s value prop.

Again, one that you may initially laugh at, but I’m telling you folks, some people just don’t get this.  My buddy just finished talking with a client who’s response to the question, “So what’s your elevator pitch?  How do you best describe what you do?” was, “I don’t know really.  What would you say?”  Huh!?  C’mon man!  You’re expecting me to find you leads and this is the best I get?  I’ll bet you this, too – most people don’t know their value prop anyways, and I’d wager that if I asked “x” number of people at any given company, I’d get “x” number of different responses.  If you’re going to outsource your pipeline development, you’ve got to know your value prop.

 3.  You know who you sell to and you’ve got the list to prove it.

Pretty simple folks.  You know who you sell to and you’ve got the list to prove it.  It does you no good to spend money on lead gen if you don’t have this one down.  Maybe you don’t have the list as fleshed out as you like, but at least you’ve got an ideal customer profile, names of companies, target segments, etc. that you want to sell to.  This one’s important because if you don’t have it down, you’re going to pay extra for me to get this for you.  Now, I don’t mind that, but it’s going to take time to get the list ready, and even though I know you want to start now, I can’t do it until I get that list.  Thinking about outsourcing your sales qualification process?  Make sure you know who you sell to and you’ve got the list to prove it.

Well there you have it.  You get those three down, please call me, otherwise, keep working on it!  If you need help getting these three down, I know someone who can help!