Sales teams, beware the Easter long break

“Every year, the Easter break takes South African businesses by surprise. They know it’s coming, but somehow always end up running out of time to make their targets and build their pipelines,” says Louise Robinson, MD of CG Consulting.

“This year, it’s going to be even worse. Not only does Easter fall at the end of April, just ahead of May Day, but elections are happening a few days later. Many people will take the opportunity to use 10 days of leave to get almost three weeks off, resulting in extra pressure for businesses and individuals to get their work done.”

She points out that while executives, sales people, and customers alike will appreciate the time off, businesses hoping to stay the course and grow their sales the whole year through can’t afford the break in the sales cycle. Companies should therefore should ensure they have a solid pipeline of leads in place, to make up the shortfall.

“This is where outsourcing lead generation comes in. Giving this task to an organisation that focuses on lead generation as its core business will guarantee a solid pipeline of leads, and will deliver results. A lead generation expert will help to qualify your leads, get smarter and better profiles, identify potential customers’ needs, as well as sniff out what the competition is up to,” she says.

“Lead generation specialists will delivers better leads than most in-house teams can with such a short time remaining before the Easter break because they won’t have to worry about anything other than their appointed task. In-house teams still have to perform their additional daily duties, and short months that are plagued with public holidays make it difficult for them to achieve everything they need to.”

Robinson adds that just getting good, qualified leads takes time, and then turning them into sales takes even longer. “Just having a name and phone number doesn’t qualify as a lead. A good lead requires an interested customer – or potential customer – that will take the time to hear about the benefits of the solution you are selling because it is something they are interested in, or something they need. This requires groundwork, planning and relationships.”

Ultimately, companies who choose a lead generation specialist have nothing to lose, and can only benefit from the relationship, she says. “They generate more solid leads than internal teams do, they lower cost and can only improve business development. Outsourcing this process can ensure a solid and steady flow of leads throughout the year, plugging the holes created by public holidays.”