How Are You Getting Hot Leads?

Had a dialogue with a client this week about where their new leads are coming from that lead to new business. The client kept using the term “referrals” as their major driver for new business.

Now on the surface this sounds great and exciting news – referrals are driving all their new business opportunities. Then the dialogue went deeper and the news was not as great.

It appears they were not doing anything to create or control the flow of “referrals.” They just happened to show up from “word of mouth” situations. Is this a real strategy for leads?

This issues happens to most sales people and especially to professional services groups. And, it is similar to the “instant gravitation” found syndrome which is a short term fix. Making matters worst is the continued reliance on this “false” strategy.

The truth is their are two types of “lead generation techniques” which appear to both be labeled as “referrals.” Actually, only one of the techniques is actually a referral.

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