I cannot tell you the number of times I have seen companies jump head-first into lead generation projects only to wonder why their efforts failed to deliver meaningful results. Companies spend huge amounts of time thinking about what to say and building this great strategy, but most fail to develop the most important part: who to say it to. The core of any business development strategy is based on a thorough understanding of, and focus on, your customers. Without a clear understanding of who your customers are, you are destined to fail.

Define Who You Want to Target

Lead generation campaigns should always start with the "who?" - who will you target? who has a need for your product or service? No one can optimize lead generation without specifically defining the right audience to approach. Targeting can encompass many dimensions:

• The types of business, typically defined by Industry or Standard Industrial Codes (SICs)
• The geographical location of the business
• The size of the business by revenue, number of employees or both
• The people within the business typically defined by function code or job title
• Specific events that have happened in the business

Industry, Size, Geography

First, look at the types of businesses and industries that would most likely have the need for your product or service. Industry definition can get as broad as "Business Services" or as detailed as "Legal Services". Some types of products and services are very specific to a certain industry - for use in their business processes or workflow. Some products and services, however, can have an application to a broader type of business with similar processes.

That takes us to the second factor to consider: company size. What size company - by revenue or employee size - would be the best fit for your products and services? Are companies over $1 billion in revenue the ones for which your solution fits? Do they have a need for your product or service? Or are you better positioned to target the SMB market? The size of a company makes a huge difference. For instance, we actually segment the same industry, same target title/job function differently based solely on the size. The same industry and title within a SMB has a different pain and therefore in Inbound Sale's case, we actually have a different solution to sell them versus the large corporations. That may or may not be right approach for you. It's more common to see companies target just one size of companies within a market.

Finally, you need to consider geography; this is often based on how you sell your products. Do you sell face-to-face? If you have regional offices, you might want to target around those offices? Do you have a national presence, city-only presence, etc? Do you sell over the phone and web? Most companies understand this criterion well.

Roles Involved in the Buying Process

Next, consider who within that company owns or shares the pain you are trying to relieve. Who owns that pain and who else in that company feels that pain? It's important for marketing to target multiple points within a company. Unless you are selling low-priced commodities, rarely are decisions made by only one person. The "who" can be very different based on the size of the company you are targeting. For larger companies, you may target the VPs or Directors. For smaller companies, you may go too directly to the CEO.

Far too often, I see companies just assume who the decision maker is in a company and only target that person. The problem is this often leads to the company getting blindsided by another competitor or their biggest competitor: status quo. Instead you need to identify whom you should be targeting - you need to look at how your customers buy and the roles involved in the buying decision. These include the following:

• Recommender(s)
• Project Owner
• Investment Owner
• Corporate Influencer/Approver
• Policy Influencer
• Consultant Influencer
• "Old Dog" Influencer
• Solution Approver
• Technical Approver
• Staffing/Implementation Plan Approver
• Financial Approver
• Legal/Contract Approver
• Final Approval
• Buyer/Contract Signer

While you do not need to target all of these roles, it is important you understand the part each of these roles play and how they can affect your lead generation efforts. Any individual could play more than one role, but don't assume that the "big boss" will play them all. Companies use a consensus approach to decision making much more than they did five or ten years ago. The specific roles involved in the decision to buy the product or services that you sell could be different from these, but this should provide a good start.

Any campaign or lead development strategy that you feel is worth investing your time in is also worth the time it will take to develop a complete buying roles chart. This will help you understand the factors that go into how your customers buy.

Why Selling to Management Shortens Your Sales Cycle

Should you target high and hope to get the influence going down? Should you target low and build up the trust of the gate keeper? Should you target both? Let's be honest. Most lead generation programs target the middle of the prospect's organizational chart. Then your sales process becomes a tedious, slow climb up the organization ladder to the person whom you should have targeted from the start.

When developing your lead generation strategy, do you really want your sales people spending a disproportionate amount of their time talking to supervisors? Supervisors are professional lookers. They waste your time, don't tell the truth, and disrupt the time management of your sales cycle and sales quota. Even in complicated sales involving multiple decision makers or corporate divisions, you should always start your lead generation program with management. Why? Because senior executives never waste their time, so they will not waste your time.

Price is important to supervisors, not management. Supervisors focus on features, functions, and price. Senior executives focus on their impression of how your product or service can help their business increase profits, decrease costs or manage consequences. Any time you sell to supervisors, you automatically position yourself as a commodity. Supervisors often compare the pricing of your product or service to their own annual compensation or to what they can personally afford. If your offering doesn't meet their perceptions of what it's worth, they dismiss it as too expensive.

Management is more concerned with how your product or service will help them run their business better. Management bases its decision on impression; not features, function or price. Management's path to making a decision is totally different than non-management's path. Selling to management involves a shorter and more direct sales cycle where you control the communication directly to the decision maker. You are able to move beyond features/function/price elements by creating value for management and turning perception into reality.

Capitalize on Trigger Events

Trigger events provide the context for irresistible messages to your targeted customers. Companies that leverage trigger events outperform their competition. A trigger event is an occurrence that shifts based on organizations' priorities. It could be internal or external to the organization. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that when they occur, new objectives immediately gain importance, while others get tabled until things settle down. Trigger events shake the status quo to its core. What was acceptable yesterday is no longer tolerable. New problems emerge that require resolution. Traditional vendors become vulnerable to shifting needs. Fresh strategic initiatives dominate discussion. In short, business development - and more specifically lead generation - becomes a whole lot easier when you're aligned with what's important in your prospect's organization and focused on a critical priority.

To hone in on key trigger events, it's important to analyze your customer base. Here are three strategies you can use to identify those trigger events most relevant to your product, service or solution:

1. Identify common goals, objectives, and strategic imperatives
   In reviewing your best customers, it's highly likely you'll find that they were pursuing a direction that created opportunities for your offering. They are usually focused on key business drivers such as growing sales, revenue, or market share or improving operational efficiency.
2. Determine common challenges and issues.
   Another way to find your trigger events it to look at the issue your customers were struggling with prior to working with your company or purchasing your product. Perhaps they were facing issues such as declining profitability or ensuring compliance, or maybe increased competition.
3. Review precipitating events on fast-moving customers.
   Take a look at your customers who've taken action quickly versus those who have dawdled forever when determining if they should make a change. If you don't know what happened inside their company that created or added to their sense of urgency, ask them. You might be surprised what you learn.

Companies that leverage trigger events truly dominate in today's market. If you can align your offering with what's urgent and immediate in a company, you change the whole dynamic of your initial contact. So why not target these people to start?

The core of any business development strategy is based on a thorough understanding of, and focus on, your customers. Without a clear understanding of who your customers are, you are destined to fail. By understanding not just the industry, size or geography to target but the roles and trigger events, you can greatly decrease your sales cycle and increase your ROI.