How to Generate Leads through Inbound Calls

Many companies have effectively found how to generate leads through inbound calls using some simple best practices.  Rather than chasing cold prospects, drawing customers to your website and offering useful info or a service they desire makes things a lot easier for the sales team.  Generating a lead from an inbound call is a gift, and there are certain ways in which you can make sure that take full advantage. If you have not considered a plan to maximize your inbound call leads using phone sales tips, then now is the time to rethink your approach. This article will go through different ways in which you can dynamically transform your inbound calls into high converting leads.

Using Inbound Calls to Generate Leads that Convert

One of the most common mistakes is not taking the necessary notes during the call. Far too often, a sales rep will talk about a fantastic conversation with someone from an inbound call, put the phone down, get distracted, and then realize they either forgot the important details of the call, or forgot they don’t even have a way to contact the person again. Always have your CRM  or inside sales software up and running and ready to enter notes for an inbound call.  If you’re old school, a pad of notepaper can still do the trick as well, but if you aren’t transferring it into your CRM later, you won’t be able to keep organized like you should.  Highly successful sales people stay organized and bring up details about a previous conversation to make a better connection later.

Depending on your industry, you should have a presentation or informational email that is ready to be sent immediately to prospective customers that have contacted you.  Consider sending all the pertinent information that you would want a potential customer to gain about your product or service – company information, ethos, business history and strategy, pricing. This is also a good excuse to ask an inbound prospect for their email.  Most of the time if you offer to send them more info on what they’re looking for, they’ll be happy to give you their email address.  Now you have a true lead you can put them on a drip marketing campaign or follow up later.

Make sure you qualify the prospect on the phone.  You don’t want to waste their time, and you surely don’t want to waste yours either.  A good sales rep will be able to determine the caller’s needs, if they are a good fit for your product or services, or if they have the necessary budget.  Be prepared to pass them on to someone else or even refer them to another company if you are not a good match for them.  In addition to saving time, you’ll generate good will by creating an atmosphere of being as helpful as possible and help your company’s reputation.

Don’t be nervous about being upfront about the next steps. This is where you can create and build expectations to help the prospect understand what is needed. Do they need a free trial?  Do they need a live demo?  Are they ready to subscribe or purchase?  Do you need to set a follow up phone call after preparing a quote?  These are things you should know ahead of time and be able to communicate quickly and easily.

Always ensure that when the conversation is coming to a close with a qualified prospect, you have a plan for future correspondence and it’s been communicated clearly. That will open the door for a deeper business relationship in the future.

In conclusion, all businesses and sales reps must know how to generate leads from inbound calls.  Inbound calls are extremely valuable and close at a rate much higher than outbound leads or even website visitors – which is why you should grab them with both hands when you get them!