A high amount of software leads is good for any company whether you are a vendor for SCM or HR processes. However, sometimes you keep generating them so much, you get dangerously closer to generalizing. They are starting to look all the same. The back of your mind keeps whispering that treating your software leads individually will only prolong your lead generation process, making it arduous. How do you respond?

Personalizing Software Leads Requires Only Simple Responses

Well first off, the back of your mind is correct to a certain point. You cannot really have the time to really know everything from just your software leads. You have other business to concern yourself with. Still, it stops being right when it comes to the simple things that just make these software leads a little more unique and one good example are a set of responses they give you.

• Age of the business – Just like people, businesses have their own birthdays. Just because such information does not seem informative enough for B2B leads does not mean it will not add some value to your own response to them. Think of your qualified sales leads in the same way social media thinks of its users. Are not users reminded of significant dates like anniversaries?

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• Industry of the business – While more general than business age, responding based on industry still makes it easier for you to organize your software leads. For example, marketing HR software to people in the construction business could imply something that is a little more in tune with the culture of their work place.

• Name of the decision maker – If you are selling HR software, then you would likely be targeting people who find your products most relevant. Do not be so formal that you are afraid to mention them by name. If your HR software leads should not be generalized then you should distinguish yourself by letting each prospect know that you are addressing them individually (even in just a small way).

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You know you could even make the more unique simply by putting up all the above information together. As implied before, these might not be big indicators compared to information on explicit needs, budget, and available time. Yet they can complement the value of those indicators (and the value of your software leads as a whole) by personalizing your response to them in your software lead generation strategy.

Your software leads are generated based on a desire to upgrade, to improve. Prospects would not be so interested in acquiring something like, say, new accounting technology if they did not see it as a bit more superior to what they currently have (at least in some respects). Upgrades however still come in a variety so your prospects should also inform you on which upgrade they want to make use of first.

Software Leads Indicate Need For More Conveniences

Technology is supposed to bring convenience. So when you generate qualified leads, you know that you are getting them from people who want something a little more convenient. Hence, they betray a need for an upgrade. The only question remaining is: which one? There are just as many different software leads as there are different upgrades you can provide.

• Step 1: Know what bugs their business has the most at the moment – Long term benefits are good but as software leads can have a pretty short life time themselves, it is also good to first consider short-term conveniences. What can your software leads contain that will inform you of what bothers your prospects most?

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• Step 2: Predict how fast they can improve with it – In superhero movies, ever noticed that whenever a hero gets a new power or toy, it most often takes time for them to figure it out? But once they do, it starts to fit like a glove and they begin using it as if they have been using it for a long time. How can your accounting software leads or payroll software leads tell you if your prospect can have the same result with your technology?

• Step 3: Keep adjustment from becoming an obstacle – As hinted above, it still takes customers time to adjust to faster and more accurate accounting tools. It is like the powerful inertia after trying out a faster engine in your race car. Your software leads should not just predict how fast they can adapt but how you can help them too!

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When your business software leads indicate a need, sometimes you feel tempted to see your prospect as a bit weak. But even so, do not underestimate them when it comes to getting a hold of your upgrade. Inform yourself with your software lead generation process to help them adapt quickly and start with the ones they really need most.

Some of the common fears about outsourcing software lead generation include exploiting bad labor practices or people who really are not trained well enough to do the job for you. What these worries do not tell you is that expert lead generation companies have no trouble treating its recruits well but at the same time putting them to work in roles that already make real contribution to their process.

How Lead Generation Companies Trains Recruits As They Work

Think of a lead generation company like a sort of barracks or a sort of training camp. Every day, it receives recruits from all over and they come for many reasons: to earn a living, to learn new skills, maybe even because their friends are there. Yet no matter what their reasons, both the learning and working has already begun. How?

• Everyone starts small – Unless these recruits have exceptionally experienced already (likely from previous jobs), everyone has to start from the beginning. Coincidentally, the same goes for generating software leads. The lead generation process starts with a lot of small tasks like checking and managing data for example.

• Like squires to knights – Just as squires of the medieval ages supported knights, recruits support the activities of their seniors. Lead generation companies depend on things like cleaned up data so that their marketers will have fewer concerns than the most difficult and this goes even more so for the salespeople that they support.

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• Challenges increase – Naturally, training does not work if the trainers are too uneasy about taking things up a notch. And again, there are similarities in the lead generation process. Good data does not stay good for long if it is not being used to the fullest. Once it is clear that your outsourced employees have reached a particular level of mastery, know that they are assigned new tasks just like any other company.

• They become teachers themselves – Here the process becomes a cycle. Once the newbies become experienced employees, they become mentors themselves in the ways of lead generation. As they are given new tasks, their simpler ones get relegated to those who are still learning. What normal company does not do this really? (Lead generation or otherwise.)

To summarize this in a fancier way, let us go back to the example of a squire. Squires do everything that knights still do themselves except on a higher level. They do things like fix up their master’s swords and prep up their horses just as novice lead generation employees ready the things their seniors will be cleaning up further.

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In short, the whole thing hits two birds with one stone. Trying to separate training from on-the-job experience comes off as risky and inefficient (especially with the cost of lead generation campaigns these days). So the next time you are worried about either inexperienced or exploitive lead generation companies, understand that there are plenty of companies out there who can rule out both at once when they generate qualified leads.

Having software leads from different industries does not always mean their demands will be drastically different. (Although, variety is the spice of life.) The differences are mainly on the surface and right underneath, a lot could actually remain the same. It is like the similarities between science-fiction and fantasy. The differences are only aesthetic but the similarities are hardwired into essence. Imagine if they represented two different software leads?

Under The Face Of Different Software Leads

Suppose your SCM tools were used to help keep tabs on items in virtual reality games. Your software leads are divided between games that are science-fiction and games that fall under the fantasy label. Your prospects are the shopkeepers in these games and want your tools to match the environment. Before you are overwhelmed though, you might want to check how your business software leads could be similar once you look past the environment:

• Triggers – Suppose your manufacturing management software leads inform you that prospects want to access information at the push of a button or at the wave of some magic wand. Despite those differences, both still trigger the same thing. They activate the system and the system responds in the same way. Just because your software leads inform you on how prospects look different does not they really are different.

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• Functions – Is it really that big a deal if they want their data on a hologram or on a crystal ball? That would be no different than opening a Start Menu with a Star Trek or Renaissance theme. Your SCM software still delivers information on their actual supplies and the names of their suppliers. Again, do not be distracted when your software leads have non-core specifications.
• Items – Another distraction could be the objects your software will be monitoring. Sure, your SCM software leads briefly mention your prospects as an in-game ‘rune weaponsmith’ or a ‘hyperdrive vendor’ but data is just data in the end. Both items still need to be accounted for. These software leads do not really have that different a set of demands outside the aesthetics.

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Think what you want about the illustration but the concept really applies in the real world and in real businesses. There are details in your software leads that are purely aesthetic (like the labels born by supplies and suppliers) but really do not go beyond that. If your software lead generation campaign simply takes off those labels, you find that the demands and requirements are pretty much the same underneath.

As you already know, lead generation strategies do not always have to drop prospects that lack the needed budget. Follow-up strategies and a little bit of patience might be all that you need. However, sometimes a prospect’s savings are not enough. It would be like stowing away cash to buy fancy equipment but it turns out harder to use once bought. Your lead generation campaign should always educate prospects!

Using Lead Generation As An Early Beginner’s Course

Say you are an SCM software vendor. Like with actual raw materials, you want to make sure none of your software leads are thrown to waste. You look for a chance to qualify them in the future so you wait for the chance that prospects will have enough the second time you come calling.

Better yet, this prospect is eager to upgrade their SCM with new tech and has been waiting for that day just as excitedly. Unfortunately, that can quickly turn to disappointment when you start implementing your solution and realize that using your software was harder than they expected! You want to avoid this? Then turn your lead generation campaign into a beginner’s course for your prospects!

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• Step 1: Seal their interest – You should not only make sure they are interested in saving up, you keep that interest alive. Fortunately, good follow-up strategies can do this alongside other lead generation tactics that maintain your connection. Understand why they want your product and nurture it in a way that will help them use it properly.

• Step 2: Let them learn at a comfortable pace – SCM software lead generation is not a process you can easily rush. You not only have to keep an eye on a prospect’s budget, your attempts to keep them connected and interested should eat up too much that they might change their mind. You can ask for their commitment but let them learn more about your products at their own pace.

• Step 3: Make believable predictions – Nothing speaks like results (even in the early stages of the lead generation process). One more way to keep prospects interested is to specifically demonstrate what your technology can do for their business. What costs can be saved? What led you to make these conclusions? What can they exactly do with your technology to achieve a particular result?

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When you use lead generation to inform and educate prospects, you are not only helping them save up. You will also be helping them know exactly what they are saving up for and even a little bit more on how much they should really spend. Do not just wait for your software sales leads to get the right budget but help them get their money’s worth!

Pricing is not just an obstacle to software leads. It gets worse when it has been labeled unfair. It is like a scarlet letter on your company’s product to be called overpriced. If you are panicking, you are right to do so but it is much better for you to calm that panic by finding out why exactly has your pricing been judged that way. Who knows what could be happening to your sales leads if word like that starts to spread.

Influencers Of Your Sales Leads Also Influence Views On Your Pricing

As interest is an important element in identifying sales leads, it is prone to influence from a lot of sources. You have a prospect’s fellow buyers. You have competitors. You also have the more technical facts behind pricing products like yours (and as a side note, this can decide whether or not people will buy your justifications).

• Other buyers – You would be surprised at how a social environment can intertwine with pricing. Sales leads are not islands either. Prospects do consult other people for their opinion. And with the internet making for a smaller world, you would have a lot of people to convince if many of them think your pricing is unbelievable. Try targeting software leads, like medical software leads or accounting software leads, that influence others to test feedback on pricing.

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• Competitors – Competitors offering lower prices will naturally attract a bigger of share of sales leads than a company who charges higher. You might argue that there are other factors such as quality of product or even suspect corner-cutting is involved but that hardly changes the natural instinct of buyers to aim for lower costs.

• Technical facts – Now whether it is other buyers or other competitors, the deciding factor in their overall influence is simply dependent on how many facts support you. When you lose your software sales leads to those wanting a second opinion, it shows you are competing with other sources of information that have facts that challenge yours.

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This is why when you try to qualify sales leads, you should always adopt a social angle that tries to view your pricing in terms of what other people have to say. More importantly, you should be prepared to clash facts against facts. Do not think that just having those facts is enough. The same tools you use to generate software leads, engage with prospects, and learn enough to qualify sales leads should be used to help spread the information around.

Software leads may not be like window shoppers but you can learn a lot from the latter’s habits when it comes to finding out what your potential customers want. What is interesting is that your target market generally has a lot less time to browse than the typical mall hopper. That should give you more reason to watch in your inbound software leads closely because there is definitely a reason for they are there.

Tracking Inbound Software Leads

You do not need to get into the specifics of website tracking or anything to understand this concept first. The point is that when software leads come to you, there has to be a reason. Websites do not even have to do anything with this. Its the raw idea that when your sales leads come to your business, something must have brought them there. What comes next is finding out exactly what that is:

Suppose your software leads are for CRM and your software leads are coming in a manner akin to a retailer. What exactly do you watch out for that can tell you why they are there?

• Are they looking for something? – You can hear this straight from things like contact forms or by just watching their eyes (virtual and physical). Good software leads should tell you what it is that catches their attention and brings you one step closer to finding out their needs.

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• Do they look uncertain? – You can tell a prospect is uncertain from the very way they understand what you are offering. That is: it is imperfect. But you know what? That can be a good thing because at times the best CRM software leads come from those that have started to have a need for things like CRM systems to help with their own customers.

• They are loitering – Loiterers are bad for business for a lot of reasons but that is also why they are easier to spot than genuine customers. They are not there to buy. Plain and simple. You think there are no equivalent loiterers for big business B2B and CRM? One need only look at how many spam entries are mistaken for CRM software leads or how many websites are infiltrated via their social media exposure.

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Remember, the concepts above are so basic that they apply to either B2B or B2C. And ultimately, the behavior you watched in your inbound software leads can always indicate the one thing your software lead generation process needs to get going: Needs.

When setting software appointments, one of the things B2B companies do is to keep mum about pricing until a prospect is 100% committed to hearing you out. It can be compared to the simple act of not putting on the price tag until you know that a customer is going to buy the item in the window. However, what about those who make software appointments difficult for the very reason that they need to know the price first?

How Pricing Can Attract Or Scare Away Your Software Appointments

The reality is there is nothing entirely about keeping pricing secret until the software appointments are made. Several reasons for this include:

• Knee-jerk price resistance – Sometimes a large number of zeroes can send a prospect reeling and an increase could decrease your business leads. Keeping quiet about the price in your marketing materials acts as your safeguard, a sort of buffer.

• Complex pricing model – Sometimes the pricing itself needs to be explained as much as you need to explain the functions of products like ERP platforms and such. One purpose of software appointments has always been to reserve more time for either.

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• Attract more curiosity – Finally, there remains the possibility that your software appointments are made by those who are honestly curious about what you are worth. A large number could mean anything and hence, pointless to put on display.

On that last point however, there can be several ways you can really set software appointments based on a reaction that is not directly related to the cost. You can have your marketing materials focus on the advantages of the product. It can also be, in of itself, the reaction to a trending demand. There is also the option of positioning yourself as the expert and assure prospects that they will make the most of every penny spent.

• Focusing on advantages – This is actually pretty classic when you think about how many times this has actually been done before (in B2B and B2C). Whether its ERP software appointments or actual software users, you basically tell your audience why they would want this product. What need does it satisfy? What advantage do they stand to gain by buying it?

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• Reaction to increasing demand – Your software appointments could also be in due part to the natural consequence of increasing demand. More and more businesses are in need of your technology, so therefore price becomes a more minor concern. Just be careful not to set software appointments that are purely based on uninformed jumping on the metaphorical bandwagon.

• Being the expert – If you have already established yourself as an expert, your software appointments will come from those who just want all the facts. As stated above, you cannot instantly say how much it will cost but are capable of explaining if they are willing to invest that much time for you.

So to summarize, there is nothing wrong with keeping pricing a secret. You do not want to lose your software appointments by instant price-resistance and your B2B appointment setting process has the means to draw attention to things that should be of more concern.

What is the best way you can use software sales leads that brought you great success? Most often the answer is to tell the world. You request a testimony from the happy client and then include it for all marketing purposes imaginable. It is almost like your software leads have become bragging rights. The question is: Should they be?

Citing Old Software Leads For Street Cred

You may not use the terms in more professional settings but software lead generation is more than just getting information. The tools you use are also for the sake of building your reputation, your street cred. Just because you work in an industry like, say, business intelligence software does not mean reputation is any less important than knowledge. If anything, they are both interconnected.

See, it is easy to see how old software leads can become bragging rights when it means you are attracting potential sales leads by presenting the different people who have bought from you in the past. You are showing to them the kind of clientele who know you very well and liked what you gave their business.

Despite all that though, there are in fact limits to using old software leads like bragging rights:

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• Achievements must be real – Obviously, they should be based on reality. Making bluffs works in poker but its bad for marketing and business once someone calls them. At the very least, make sure these old software leads are in fact using and improving as the result of your BI technology.

• The past can still just be past – A lot can still happen from then up to now. Your competitors could also be keeping an eye on your old BI software leads and looking for a chance to do better than what you accomplished for them. Draw attention to improvements as well!

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• Not all are impressed – Sometimes your old software leads are not even recognizable to your current set of prospects (and this can happen with either big or small businesses). Stop abusing your bragging rights and find something else be open to other means of convincing.

Like any tactic or tool you use in business lead generation, bragging rights have their limits. There are other ways you can use your old software leads without always counting on them to put in a good word for you. This does not mean you should not try but expand your options all the same.