Make waves while you go fishing for leads
Reel 'Em In Socially Maybe?
Over the weekend, I found myself engrossed in a game of “Fish it out” with my daughter. The game includes a ring filled with plenty of fish and a fishing rod for each player. The mission is to snag as many fish as we can while the ring keeps moving. The one who reels in the most fish wins
Very similar to what SDRs (Sales Development Representatives) do I felt. Essentially they play a real-life version of “Fish it Out” hunting for warm leads in an ocean of prospective customers. They cast a line, and reel in a lead, only to discover it's not quite the catch they hoped for. It's like chasing after slippery fishes in a moving ring—sometimes you net a big one, and other times, your efforts seem to come up empty.
In the real competitive world of sales, landing quality leads is as important as quantity. Moreso, when it comes to quality, it's about knowing where to cast the net and how to reel them in effectively. And that's what lead enrichment is all about.
In the sections ahead, you will gain answers to questions like — What is it? Why automate this process? What are its benefits? How does it work? And another big and important question — Does it correlate with social enrichment?
So, grab your fishing rod, and let’s hook these topics one by one.
Lead enrichment is about collecting and organizing important information about your leads — details like company size, job title, industry, email, and phone number. It refers to — anything that helps your sales team reach out better and give them a better grasp of potential customers, providing valuable insights into what they need and like.
Manual fishing with basic fishing rods
When it comes to capturing data manually, how exactly is it done?
1. By using forms: This is one of the straightforward methods, where manual data is captured by a contact form on the websites, a signup form for a webinar or newsletter, or a registration form for an event. Although considered a source of valuable data as it comes directly from the prospects, getting them to fill the form itself is a task cuz, we all know that nobody likes filling up such forms.
2. Data Vendors: This is purchasing lead data from B2B data vendors. These vendors offer a raw dump of databases containing contact details, company information, and other relevant data about potential clients and decision-makers. However, it's like getting a big haul of fish, but you have to sort through them manually to find the ones you want.
3. Social Media Research: Another method is to search for and gather data from social media platforms. This could involve exploring LinkedIn profiles to identify potential prospects, analyzing Twitter conversations to understand industry trends and interests, or monitoring Facebook groups for relevant discussions. While this approach provides real-time insights, it requires manual effort to sift through and extract relevant information.
Now after all this, segregating and refining the collected data to pinpoint the right target audience is definitely daunting. So, if you can get tools that can help you enrich such data with additional information to qualify and prioritize leads effectively, why not?
Landing a prize catch and no swimming away
Lead enrichment tools are used to automate the task of fishing out quality leads. They are designed to fit right into your CRM system, and can be tailored to meet the specific needs of your business. Some such tools include: Lusha, Apollo.io, Clearbit, ZoomInfo, and UpLead.
When using these tools, there is no blind fishing involved. You begin by defining the additional information you want to collect about your leads. This could be details such as what companies they work for, their age and location, what technology they use, their social media profiles, and even hints about what they're interested in.
Now here are some things that these tools can do for your business.
1. Better Targeting and Sorting: Adding a lead enrichment tool streamlines lead organization and understanding, automating the process of identifying valuable leads and eliminating those less likely to convert.
2. Smarter Funnel Planning: These tools figure out high-fit leads that are data-driven based on firmographic data points, ensuring there are no holes in the fishing net for the fish to escape. This means less funnel leakage and focused efforts on capturing leads that are most likely to become loyal customers.
3. More Leads, Less Hassle: These tools auto-populate data fields on forms using Website data. This means you get more leads without scaring people off with lots of questions, leading to increased lead generation.
4. Faster Response Time: Lead enrichment tools provide instant access to essential information, enabling swift and effective responses to customer inquiries. Spend less time sorting through data and more time closing deals.
All this means, better data, rapid response, smarter decisions, and unstoppable business.
Keys to hook quality leads
1. Data Collection: It all starts with gathering important information about potential leads. This can be achieved through in-house data collection methods or by acquiring external data from third-party sources. External data sources offer a convenient solution for obtaining vast amounts of information without significant overhead costs. This data includes details such as company websites, names, sizes, and locations, providing a comprehensive picture of each lead.
2. Lead Scoring and Segmentation: Once the data is collected, it's time to size up each lead. Like sorting through a catch to find the biggest and best fish, lead scoring assigns points based on criteria like job title, age, and location. Segmentation then groups similar leads together, making it easier to target them with the right bait—er, messages.
3. Lead Routing: This step is about giving leads to the right people in your sales team. Tools can help automate this by considering things like industry, deal size, and location. It's important to get this right so that each salesperson can focus on leads they're best at handling.
4. Lead Conversion: Once a lead is hooked, it's time to bring them onboard. Lead conversion happens when a lead meets a predefined threshold and swims smoothly through the marketing and sales funnel. This usually happens when a lead is ready to make a decision or take action, like buying something or signing up for a service.
5. Lead Nurturing: The final step is about keeping in touch with leads and building strong relationships. Even if a lead isn't ready to buy yet, it's important to keep talking to them and offering helpful information. This helps move leads closer to making a purchase and keeps them engaged with your business.
Social waves and Lead currents
Continuing from the lead nurturing bit, just like lead enrichment, social enrichment is another crucial aspect that aids in engaging with leads and nurturing relationships. While lead enrichment focuses on gathering and managing data about potential customers, social enrichment revolves around building meaningful connections and interactions through social platforms. When these two concepts come together, they create a powerful synergy that can enhance overall business performance and customer engagement.
Here's how you can connect social enrichment with lead enrichment:
Integrated data management: Merge data from lead enrichment sources with social data from platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook to create comprehensive customer profiles. This combined data provides a deeper understanding of leads and customers, enabling personalized interactions.
Social selling: Encourage sales teams to use social media for prospecting and relationship-building. By engaging with prospects on platforms like LinkedIn, SDRs can establish rapport and trust in a more personal manner, complementing traditional sales strategies.
Content marketing alignment: Analyze social media data to understand audience interests and preferences, then tailor content marketing efforts accordingly. This alignment ensures that content resonates with the target market, driving engagement and generating leads.
Social listening for sales insights: Monitor social media conversations to gather insights into customer needs and preferences. This information guides sales strategies and helps SDRs address customer concerns more effectively.
Lead nurturing via social channels: Incorporate social media into the lead nurturing process by engaging with leads through custom-crafted content and support. This proactive approach keeps leads engaged and moves them through the sales funnel.
Analytics and reporting: Integrate analytics across lead enrichment, sales activities, and social media interactions to measure effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.
Even today, many people primarily rely on websites as the sole source of first-party data, and social media platforms, although used to a certain extent, are not being tapped to their full potential in terms of first-party data.
However, social media can provide valuable insights into people's preferences and activities. For instance, consider a company aiming to launch a personalized campaign targeting CFOs or CROs. Even with tools like Zoominfo, personalized social details or signals about individuals' interests in university sports or volunteering are often unavailable.
None of the existing tools currently offer such social signals. Nevertheless, these signals could be a gold mine for SDRs to enhance their outreach efforts and execute outbound hyper-personalized and targeted campaigns.
What if there were a tool designed to address these specific pain points that are currently unmet? A tool that serves as both a lead enricher and a social enricher. You might be in for a surprise soon.😊 Keep reading our space for more updates!
Why does this matter?
Today's digital space is hyper-connected. Just capturing the right data won't suffice; similarly, mere engagement on social platforms is not enough. It is the link between the two that counts because this leads to a holistic understanding of the prospects that go beyond traditional demographics and transactional metrics.
This deep insight pushes SDRs into a place where they develop proactive relationship-building with a great sense of empathy. Social channels are dramatically responsible for these genuine connections.
Moreover, this partnership opens doors to novel avenues of innovation. From predictive analytics using social listening for anticipatory customer needs to AI-driven sentiment analysis for preemptive issue resolution, the possibilities are endless. Much like a skilled angler who constantly innovates their fishing techniques and equipment to reel in the big catch.
So, incorporate social media into the lead nurturing process, automate the process with tools, create custom-crafted content, develop personalized interactions based on customer behavior and preferences, keep the leads engaged, and move them up through the sales funnel. Bring in revenue, revenue, revenue! 😊That’s all for now. Have a great rest of the week y’all. Ciao! 👋
Recommended Reading 📖
Lead Enrichment: What is it and How is it Crucial for the Sales Team?