6 Prospecting Methods that Yield Bad Sales Leads

Not all sales leads are made equal. Some B2B leads have a higher chance of converting into paying customers -- and these are the ones you should focus your sales and marketing efforts on. In order to do so, however, you should avoid generating leads using the following methods.

#1) Reusing Stale Leads

Some companies reuse stale leads, believing that they "could" generate a sale. If a lead doesn't initially respond, for instance, the company may list it as stale, only to follow up with this lead several weeks or months later. Of course, the chance of stale leads such as this converting into a paying customer are low, so it's best to focus your time and resources elsewhere.

We are not suggesting you ignore these contacts, but perhaps try a more efficient engagement approach, like email marketing, instead of telemarketng. 

#2) Buying Generic Email Lists

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of lead generation and list services that provide high-quality, laser-targeted leads. Others, however, are more generic and offer little-to-no value to businesses. If you're going to buy a list of email addresses, make sure they are relevant and targeted to your industry; and have access to the contacts that you need to target. Otherwise, it's doubtful they'll yield any real value in return.

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#3) Too Much Talk

According to SalesGenie, an all-too-common problem salespersons make when is using a lengthy message during the initial correspondence with a prospect. There's nothing wrong with trying to convey your message, but you have to remember that many prospects aren't willing to read long marketing and sales messages. As a result, they'll close the message and continue with their normal business. So, to prevent this from happening, keep your correspondences with prospects short and to the point.

#4) No Call-to-Action

Whether you're prospecting leads on your website, email, social media or elsewhere, be sure to include a call-to-action (CTA) in your messages. A simple "Buy Now" or "Email Us Today" button triggers a visceral reaction that entices prospects to, well, take action.

#5) Quantity Over Quality

It's not the number of sales leads you generate that matters most; it's the quality of those leads. Sales teams should focus their time and resources on high-quality leads as opposed to low-quality ones. In doing so, they'll have an easier time converting prospects into paying customers.

#6) Unverified, Unvalidated Leads

Finally, try to avoid using unverified and unvalidated leads. While some of these leads may yield sales and conversions, they generally aren't worth pursuing -- not until you've veirifed and validated them, at least. This, of course, is a critical step in preparing leads for sales.

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