Here's an interesting question for you: How much is it costingyou to generate one lead?

Here's another equally interesting question: How many leads doyou need to generate to create one sale?

I have spent the past two weeks asking those two questions offriends, colleagues, fellow sales commentators, clients andprospects — in fact, everyone with whom I have come into contact.And do you know what? Nobody really knew the answer. Of course,there were some pretty wild, finger-in-the-air guesses, but not onerock-solid, convincing response that you would bet your children'sinheritance on.

Don't you find that somewhat alarming?

I do, particularly when there appears to be such a concentratedfocus these days on creating new opportunities. No wonder salesdepartments are viewed with so much suspicion by the “grey men” infinance, they must be totally convinced that we are completely outof control.

So, what's the answer?

The reality is that there are so many sources of leads that theprocess of generating leads can sometimes causesales people to feel overwhelmed when tackling this vital salesactivity.

Every organization is unique and can employ a variety ofapproaches in their quest to attract the attention of their targetmarket. (This will become even clearer once you have created yourideal customer profile). That's why it is essential to invest sometime analyzing which lead generation initiatives worked well in thepast, why they worked well and what improvements can be made tooptimize their effectiveness.

There are three areas that you must consider that can helpevaluate different lead generation initiatives with greaterobjectively.

1. Effectiveness — which lead generationactivities produced the most quality leads?
2. Cost — what were the tangible costs foreach lead generation initiative?
3. Time — how much time did it take toinitiate and follow up on each initiative?

Unless we have an accurate handle on our lead generationactivities, our salespeople will continue to be overwhelmed, whilstthose grey men will continue to be underwhelmed!

Related: Generating leads: Do you buy orbuild?