Finding alternate lead sources within your company

Many sales reps often overlook valuable lead sources within their own company, and spend precious selling time looking for leads outside their office doors. They attend networking events, travel to conferences and trade shows, partner with other sales reps, and research potential external lead sources, but rarely consider all the invaluable sources of information around them.

What they fail to realize is that some of the best sources for leads and customer information are fellow employees who work with current customers as part of their everyday job. For example, coworkers in customer service, human resources, accounting, and administration are dealing with and speaking to important customer contacts every day. They are often made aware of key information in their ordinary conversations that could be very useful to reps. This information can help reps adjust their sales strategies and ultimately lead to significant sales. If a sale rep can determine who "touches" their customers on a regular basis, they can establish a steady information and lead source within their own company.

By first considering the kind of information they would like to gather from a source, a sales rep can begin to develop potential internal sources and guide their sources' conversations with customers. Desired information might include insight into the account, if there are nay new contact people in place, if there are any pending organizational change, or if new products or services are being introduced. Using this information, a sales rep can very likely discover additional needs within an existing customer organization that they can help to address.

Some ways a sales rep can guide and train internal sources to provide leads:

• Providing a list of questions or information to gather as the conversation allows.
• Including them in account planning sessions or territory reviews. This elevates them to be part of the team and communicates your vision and direction.
• Following up on a consistent basis. This reinforces how serious you are.
• "Giving back" with some form of bonus. A gift certificate or dinner out are always appreciated, and will keep you in their mind whenever an opportunity arises.

Mutual respect and better communication are critical success factors in generating internal leads and creating internal partnerships. A sales rep and internal resource must respect the role each person plays in the company and their unique value to the customer. Internal partnering will open the lines of communication between different departments, ultimately strengthening the company while also generating additional sales.