Now that your firm has invested in a B2B lead generation program that includes a strong marketing automation platform, what happens next? Most companies who are newbies in this space wait for leads to score to an initial qualification level and then turn them over to sales. The sales team then takes over and magically converts those leads to closed sales. Your firm's revenue stream goes vertical and all is right in the world! If you believe that your firm just wasted a lot of time and money.

Here's What Is Wrong With That Picture.

Handing a highly qualified "2.0 lead" to a sales person still stuck in the "sales 1.0 cold calling world" will not achieve the desired results. A sales person can no longer call a prospect and engage in a fishing expedition dialogue to try to uncover possible client pain points. Applying available basic levels of business intelligence to qualified prospects is critical to the initial phone conversation. Remember, you are not trying to close the prospect over the phone you are trying to get a face-to-face meeting.

Savvy 2.0 sales people take the time gather meaningful data on their target prospects. It doesn't take two hours of research to do a basic LinkedIn search to see if you are connected to anyone who knows your prospect. A quick call with someone connected with your prospect can yield a huge amount of information on his or her personality and hot buttons. It also allows for the development of crisp messaging that allows you to quickly engage in conversation.

Prospect Research is Easy When You Know Where to Look

Another research approach is to review stated corporate objectives from the prospect's latest annual report or quotes from newspaper or trade journal articles. By knowing their goals and objectives you can tailor your initial conversation around ways your firm can assist them in those efforts.

Selling in a 2.0 world takes different skills and approaches. Have your sales people take 10 minutes to do some basic research before engaging with a new prospect, your results will be better and your prospects will appreciate the fact that you took the time to get to know them before the first call!