subject: Find The Big Fish In Accounting Software Leads [print this page] It's quite simple to see the similarity between lead generation and fishing. Actual fishing is in fact more than just tossing a line or casting a net in random waters. If you're looking for a specific fish, you need to know more about where it swims and what sort of bait to grab its attention.
For B2B accounting software, you can see the parallels in that you need to know what sort of clients would need it, what they would do with it, and what sort of features to create that would grab their attention.
However, like in fishing, there is also a chance of only catching the small fry. That can actually be more devastating in lead generation when it comes in the form of pursuing leads with too small and too private a need for them to be interested. After all, accounting software can be too broad when it comes to defining who uses it and what for. There are some that are only used for the benefit of managing an individual's private budget or perhaps an entire family but nothing more. Others however go as far as to rely on it to manage their company payroll and other financial business transactions.
It doesn't matter what method you use be it advertising, telemarketing, or even emails. Confusing B2C leads along with B2B leads can have significantly negative results. You might accidentally call them in the privacy of their own home. They might visit your website and be shocked at how high the price and how inapplicable your large software is to the relatively few accounting tasks they want done.
It's highly doubtful that you or any B2B software firm would want that negative publicity. In fact, in the case of telemarketing, it's precisely the reason why Do-Not-Call registers exist and that most people set up spam filters to block advertising emails.
Do not despair though. It's not as bad as it sounds. Going back to the analogy, all you need is to find out why the small fry keep getting caught instead of the big fish. In case you still don't know what the big fish stands for in your industry, it is the other business who might have great use for large-scale accounting software. Surprisingly enough, even small businesses have a tendency to demand them too so you need not narrow your search only to those who are very big.
What you have to do is simply refine your qualification process. Maybe the reason why you're not getting the good leads is because you're not conducting the lead generation plan well enough. Then again, nobody can hardly blame you if you lack both the experience and the budget.
This is what outsourcing is for. There are plenty of lead generation services out there who are quite adept in gathering information for B2B software companies. Even something as basic as telemarketing can actually provide some surprisingly accurate results. Some would even say that politely calling through the telephone is faster and more direct in qualifying a prospect. How about you give that a go? There are many experienced B2B software telemarketers out there all ready to help you find that big fish.
