Page 120 - Social Media Marketing

Dating Your Leads before Someone Else Does 103

Tip: When leads arrive, have a system in place to record the
marketing source for the lead. Did the lead come from a referral, a
direct-mail campaign, a TV or radio advertisement, a newspaper
ad, or some other source? This data will come in handy later
when you need to decide where to invest more of your marketing
dollars.

Categorizing Leads

As leads arrive, you should have some system in place to catego-
rize them. Your system of categories is best if it matches the types
of clients you have. For example, if you sell both products and ser-
vices, you may start with two categories. If the lead is interested
in products, you assign the person to the products category. If the
lead is more interested in services, the person goes in the services
category. If you are selling insurance, you may categorize leads by
homeowner's insurance, auto insurance, health insurance, and life
insurance.

If you are at a loss for creating categories, one approach that
works across the board is to decide where each lead currently is in
the purchase decision process:

• Need awareness: Most leads are already past this point, but
may still be teetering on the edge of whether they really need
your product or service. Don't assume that the person has
already decided to make a purchase at this point and is simply
looking for the right product or service. If the customer is still
uncertain of the need, you may need to address this early in
your communications with the customer.

• Information gathering: Early in the purchase decision process,
people will be simply gathering information. This is when fol-
lowing up with leads is most important. By providing prospec-
tive customers with reliable, relevant information, you service