We hear a lot of customers, colleagues, and prospects use the word “lead”. There really is no such thing as a “lead” in the business-to-business commercial services sales world. If you consider leads to be potential clients, warm introductions, or referrals, it may be time to change your way of thinking.

Answer these questions:

1.  What percentage of my current customers hired me to do two jobs for them last year? How many hired me to do 3? More than 3?

2.  How many of my customers have referred me a customer? How many of those referrals have I done more than one job for?

Investopedia defines a sales lead as “a prospective consumer of a product or service that is created when an individual or business shows interest and provides his or her contact information.”

We when get in front of a prospect, is it really a lead? Or, is it an opportunity to develop a relationship with a customer who will drive repeat business to our organization?

Consider this: A roofer puts a new roof on a house with a 30 year warranty. Chances are that roofer will not have many more opportunities to complete additional profitable work at this jobsite. This is a one-time transaction that does not offer the potential for consistent repeat business. This is a lead.

Another roofer wins a bid for a small repair project at a six building garden style apartment complex where he has never worked in the past. It is a safe bet that this apartment complex will have additional roof issues in the future and is typically visited by a roofer multiple times a year.

Simply walking onto the property to offer a bid gives this roofer the opportunity to develop a new relationship with a prospect that can be converted into a repeat customer.

The next time you get in front of a new prospect or referral, ask yourself, “is this a lead or an opportunity?”

When we start thinking in terms of opportunities instead of leads, we start looking at the potential of developing a relationship with a customer who can offer us repeat business and hopefully refer us additional opportunities.

What is one new repeat customer worth to your business?

For more information on how AltaVista Strategic Partners can help you grow your business please fill out the lead form on this page, call us at 410-760-6680, or email us at [email protected]

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