What about prospect relationship management?

The quest for a Lead-O-Matic

Every sales organization’s dream is to have some sort of ‘marketing silver bullet.’ A secret gizmo or formula that costs little or nothing and effortlessly generates tons of qualified sales leads.

Imagine it: the brilliant marketing director, the company hero, walks up to her faithful Acme Lead-O-Matic 2100. She twists a small mechanical dial to set precisely the number of leads she’d like for the month. Then she turns a knob to set the lead quality. Finally, she flips a switch – the machine surges and rumbles. Then like magic the Lead-O-Matic starts spitting out qualified sales leads. The sales team lets out a roar as they snap up the leads and begin eagerly pounding the telephones.

A few weeks later, the month closes and sure enough, the brilliant marketing director has done it again. The sales quota was blown away without a single salesperson making a cold call. Despite the tough economy, company moral is soaring just like last month and every month before. And, once again, the CEO calls to personally congratulate the brilliant marketing director who responds ‘It’s not me sir, it’s my trusty Lead-O-Matic.’

Keep dreaming right? Well, for some, this dream is a reality. I can assure you, there are companies out there who have developed a near equivalent to the Lead-O-Matic. And, there are many more companies beginning to.

The real Lead-O-Matic isn’t a machine however; it’s a well-planned-and-executed prospect relationship management strategy. What’s prospect relationship management? Like customer relationship management (CRM), prospect relationship management is the process of developing and managing relationships. However, with prospect relationship management, the focus is on developing prospects who may not yet be customers.

Second to your existing customers, your pool of qualified prospects is your most likely source of new business. So, if you want the “Lead-O-Matic dream” to be a reality, begin by considering your prospect relationship management strategy. When you’re executing a strategy for building prospect relationships, you’ll be on your way to having your Lead-O-Matic.