認識銷售線索的作用

對銷售線索(sales lead)的精確定義往往因人而異。事實上，銷售(sales)和行銷(marketing)之間最大的絆腳石之一就是定義什麼是什麼是“銷售線索”，什麼不是？

要對“銷售線索”做出精確定義，可能會因人而異。事實上存在于銷售人員和行銷人員之間的最大隔閡就是什麼可以歸類為銷售線索，而什麼不能。對此能夠達成共識合意，是對於挖掘線索名單者與作跟進銷售者之間協作的很重要的事。

什麼是銷售線索？

大多數銷售人員把銷售線索定義為符合銷售人員既定標準的人，以及誰有追求產品的需要、理由和/或興趣。

然而，行銷專業人士傾向於定義一個銷售線索，為任何人“可能”購買的特質，行銷人員相信一個被證明有購買潛力的的銷售線索為是一個“潛在客戶”。

這兩個定義都是合理的。重要的是要確保每個參與的人都同意他們將使用哪一個定義。通常，銷售人員傾向於採用第一個定義，而行銷人員更經常使用第二個定義。

一些銷售專家傾向於使用“有可能會購買者”而不是“銷售線索”一詞，部分是為了消除由多個定義引起的混亂。把某人當作有可能會購買者和潛在客戶(prospect)，也是一種非常明確的方法，可以將你的銷售過程劃分為一個特定的線索。你剛剛在一個銷售線索名單上看到的，還沒有打電話的人是有可能會購買者；至少部分合格的人是一個潛在客戶。

每個銷售線索的價值不同

從銷售角度看，並非所有的銷售線索都同樣有價值。首先，一些銷售線索源將提供高比例的“垃圾”線索，這意味著沒有前景的線索。例如，如果你用電話簿作為你的主要來源，那麼你所說的大多數人都是垃圾線索。

這就是為什麼銷售人員（和公司）願意花很多錢購買高品質的銷售線索名單的原因之一。銷售名單越有針對性和準確性，銷售人員就越不會浪費在非潛在客戶上。

但即使是有潜力的銷售線索也會有不同的價值。那些可以長期購買高價值產品潛在客戶，會比只是一次性大量購買便宜產品的人，要有價值多了。排位賽過程中的一部分是决定哪些銷售線索是最有潜力成為客戶，這樣你就可以把大部分時間和精力花在培養這些銷售線索上。

一些銷售人員相信他們可以憑直覺判斷哪種線索會是好的，哪些是他們不應該費心去打的。這是一個錯誤，可能會浪費你很多的銷售時間。你最好能夠掌握到能夠給你產生最高價值的每一個銷售線索，并投入銷售功夫予以實現。

Understanding the Role of Sales Leads

The precise definition of sales lead varies from person to person. In fact, one of the biggest stumbling blocks between sales and marketing is to define what is a "sales lead" and what is not?

A precise definition of "sales leads" may vary from person to person. In fact, the biggest gap between salesmen and salesmen is what can be categorized as sales leads and what can't. It is very important to reach a consensus on this issue for the collaboration between those who dig out clue lists and follow-up sellers.

What are sales leads?

Most salespeople define sales leads as people who meet the established standards of salespeople and who have the needs, reasons and/or interests to pursue products.

However, marketing professionals tend to define a sales clue that is "possible" for anyone to buy. Marketing professionals believe that a sales lead proven to have buying potential is a "potential customer".

Both definitions are reasonable. It is important to ensure that everyone involved agrees on which definition they will use. Generally, salespeople tend to adopt the first definition, while marketers tend to use the second definition more often.

Some sales experts tend to use the term "likely buyer" rather than "sales leads", partly to eliminate confusion caused by multiple definitions. Treating someone as a potential buyer and potential customer is also a very clear way to divide your sales process into specific clues. As you've just seen on a sales lead list, people who haven't called are likely buyers; at least some of the qualified people are potential customers.

The value of each sales lead is different

From a sales perspective, not all sales leads are equally valuable. First, some sources of sales leads will provide a higher proportion of "junk" leads, which means there is no prospect of leads. For example, if you use the phone book as your main source, most of the people you talk about are spam leads.

This is one of the reasons why salespeople (and companies) are willing to spend a lot of money on high-quality sales leads lists. The more targeted and accurate sales lists are, the less likely salespeople are to waste on non-potential customers.

But even potential sales leads have different values. Potential customers who can buy high-value products for a long time will be much more valuable than those who can only buy cheap products at one time. Part of the qualifying process is deciding which sales leads have the most potential to become customers, so you can spend most of your time and energy developing these sales leads.

Some salespeople believe they can intuitively determine which leads are good and which they should not bother to fight. This is a mistake and may waste a lot of your sales time. You'd better be able to grasp every sales lead that can give you the highest value and put into sales effort to achieve it.