In a nutshell, lead generation is the process of advertising products and services through a variety of methods, including online ads and phone calls. It means collecting information from people who are interested in goods or services then routing their requests to relevant businesses.

Many companies rely on a steady flow of potential customers in order to grow. Industries like loans, home improvement, and insurance are a few examples that have a huge demand for prospects. Virtual assistant leads are a crucial part of their sales strategy and requires special attention.

With the implication that organisations have to warm up possible clients for what they have to offer, you may say specialising in lead generation is a feasible career.

How to become a lead generation specialist

Understand the job description

Your exact duties vary according to your client but you mostly perform the following:

• Conducting research for target audiences and strategies for generating leads
• Searching for the right people and businesses and setting up connections with them
• Reaching out to prospects through different forms of communication
• Working with leads generated through other activities like social media and customer referrals
• Qualifying prospects to streamline through the sales process
• Making a list of marketing leads for the sales team
• Reviewing and organising the information you get from prospects
• Sending out cold emails to potential clients

Nurture the right skills

If you want to be a successful lead generation specialist, you need to develop the following:

• Communication: It’s critical to know how to communicate with colleagues and prospects. You want potential customers to see the value of what you’re offering. Meanwhile, you also need the marketing professionals you work with to understand the state of your virtual assistant leads.
• Writing: Regardless if it’s Facebook or LinkedIn leads generation, you must know how to compose messages that convince people to check out the products or services of your client. Not only must your emails and chats be free of errors but also they must be straight to the point.
• Analysis: There are different methods and outcomes in lead generation which is why it’s important to have analytical skills. You have to understand the data you collect and know what the appropriate measures are when issues pop up.
• Research: It pays to have a talent for discovering different leads to help you when making cold calls. There are cases when you only know the name but don’t have the corresponding phone number or email address, and these are information you have to research.
• Marketing: To successfully market the goods and services as if they are you’re own, you need to know everything about the sales process for your client. Be aware of where you fit in the big picture so you understand what’s expected of you from the sales team and the rest of the organisation.

Learn to qualify leads

Sad to say, not every prospect will convert into a paying customer. It doesn’t matter how hard you work to convince them, it may be that they’re not in a position to buy right now. The reasons range from high costs to infrastructure incompatibility, which aren’t your fault.

What matters is that you don’t waste time on low-quality leads like that. You want to make sure that you’re endorsing potential buyers to the sales team and not those who are still hesitant. Through research and analysis, identify who have higher chances of converting through these steps.

Establish your ideal buyer profiles

Most companies that require a lead generation specialist already have several customer personas developed. If not, collaborate with the marketing team to create them. Check each prospect against these profiles to disqualify the weak ones in the early stages.

Differentiate intent from interest

Figure out whether they’re interested in the product or service or are showing a clear intent to purchase it. The easiest way to determine this is by checking the way they interact with the client’s website. If they’re looking at sales pages, they are showing clear purchase intent so they’re worth pursuing.

Check their level of influence

Not every person has the ability to make purchasing decisions. Before you pass them to sales, evaluate if they’re allowed to buy anything. It might be that they’re just an intern so they’re unable to request the goods for their company. It may also be they’re children using their parent’s device to browse.

Look over the whole list

There are instances when you get multiple leads from the same organisation because they contacted you independently. Avoid wasting time and resources on a multi-sell process by checking the list and comparing the source for the leads and their progress on the CRM.

Evaluate their online profiles

If you’re still struggling to qualify leads, consider browsing their profiles on social media or even their corporate websites. This gives you a better idea as to their compatibility with the product or service you’re trying to sell. It allows you to check their level of influence at the same time.

Monitor the statistics regularly

A lead generation expert keeps an eye on their results daily and for good reason. Campaign statistics and real-time reports show everything you need to become better at what you do.

To make it easier to analyse campaign performance, keep analytics simple. You don’t have to review everything on a regular basis. It’s smarter to check only the data that is relevant at the present time.

Depending on your goals, here are the metrics you will want to monitor:

• Performance: click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates (CR)
• Sales: win rates (WR) and sales qualified leads (SQL)
• Marketing: marketing qualified leads (MQL) and return on investment (ROI)
• Cost: cost per impression (CPM), cost per click (CPC), cost per acquisition (CPA), and cost per lead (CPL)

Final thoughts

If you believe you have what it takes to become a successful lead generation specialist, it’s worth sending your application to prospective employers. Make sure to highlight your experience with LinkedIn leads generation or cold emailing to boost your chances of getting hired.

We at Remote Workmate can help you with applying for online roles too. As an offshore staffing agency, we’re able to match you with work opportunities from around the globe. We provide advice before interviews and for career growth too.