Lead generation is a big part of outbound calling. Often the sole purpose of an outbound call is purely for lead generation, but not always. For example, in the case of anniversary calls, the main purposes is usually data cleansing and customer product satisfaction, but these calls also provide a great opportunity to enquire into a customer’s purchasing intentions, and therefore lead generation.

There is a subtly to lead generation calls that is only learnt with experience on the phones. A mistake a lot of people make when performing these calls is putting all their cards on the table at once, and being too upfront. Often inexperienced outbound callers will ask a customer straight up if they are interested in a brochure/test drive/quote or whatever the type of lead they are trying to generate. This is not the best way to go about getting a lead.

I find the best way to get the most out of your calls, and generate the most leads, is to follow a step-by-step process I like to call ‘the Eliminator’. The reason I call it ‘the Eliminator’ is because the process clarifies the customer’s interests and intentions before any service or product is offered. In a lot of cases we have already been supplied this information, but it is always worth checking, because intentions and interests change easily. The process is outlined below, and can be changed depending on what type of product/service is being offered:

1. Clarify the customer’s in market date. For example, "Based on the information we have here, we believe you may be in the market for a new product soon, is this correct?"

2. Clarify the customer’s interest. For example, "Was there any particular type of product you were looking at, at this stage?

Note: To this stage we have not once made the customer an offer or talked about our product/service, we are simply clarifying their interests and intentions.

3. Link interest with product range. For example, "you mentioned you are looking for a 4WD vehicle. Fortunately we do have a number of 4WD models in our range, including….."

4. Offer service/product to customer. For example, "if you’re interested I could send you a brochure/organise a quote, so you can see for yourself if it’s what you’re looking for".

If followed correctly, this process is very effective in generating leads. Step 4: making the offer to the customer, is easily the most critical step. The phrasing and delivery of this question will determine whether you generate a lead or not. The idea is to put the customer in a position where it is very easy to say ‘yes’ rather than ‘no’.