New sales leads are harder to come by in a recession, and new electronic sales tools can help. Which will work best for you could depend on the kind of company you work for. Some guidance as to which you should use comes from the survey I did for the Customer Collective, “What is Your Recession Sales Strategy.”
When a national sample of sales and marketing mangers were asked which tools they are using more often of as result of the recession, preferences emerged at different kinds of companies.
Entrepreneurial companies have dramatically embraced the use of social media for sales prospecting, mid-sized companies and multinationals led in looking toward the use of webinars, while mid-sized companies look more toward whitepapers. Here are the specifics:
Social media:
According to the study, 74.1% of self described entrepreneurial companies report that as a result of a recession they will be using social media for prospecting more often. In addition, 67.3% of small businesses, 49.3% of mid sized companies, while only 45.9% of multinational corporations will do the same.
Webinars:
Mid-sized companies and multinational corporations lead in the use of webinars for sales lead generation.
The study found that 38.8% of mid sized companies and 36.1% of multinational corporations report they will use webinars more often to generate sales leads because of the recession. Only 28.4% of entrepreneurial companies, and 24.5% of small businesses will do the same.
White papers:
When it comes to using white papers, mid sized companies lead the way.
38.8% of mid sized companies report they will use white papers more often to generate sales leads as a result of a recession while only 24.5% of small businesses, 23.5% of entrepreneurial companies, and 19.7% of multinational corporations plan on doing the same.
The recession will mean a growth in the use of webinars by multinational corporations and mid-sized companies, growth in the use of social media for prospecting among entrepreneurial companies, and growth in the use of white papers for lead generation among mid-sized companies.
I think webinars and white papers are only effective when you're considering to sell products which are quite technical bordering on scientific.
Posted by: sales leads | July 29, 2009 at 04:19 PM
wow! thanks for this informative post! im a senior student taking up economics this really helps me a bit of gaining some informative information in your blogs. thanks. :D
Posted by: Nursing apparel | April 22, 2010 at 02:51 AM
any of those for me are effective.
Posted by: search engine strategy | May 13, 2010 at 04:29 AM