Lead generation or in more specific form, prospect building is done by almost all companies in some form or the other. The traditional approach of lead generation is rapidly going through a transitioning stage. The need of the hour is to be smart and gain competitive advantage by utilizing “Time Sensitive Sales Trigger”.

So, what do we mean by Time Sensitive Sales Trigger?

These are basically events that can lead to quick conversion in your sales and marketing efforts. Few examples can be:

Competitive Changes: This can be in the form of business model changes, closing/expanding facilities, contract win, FDA approval, joint ventures & partnership, new market opportunities, product launch, real estate transactions, technology advancements, weak operational performance, etc.

Financial Changes: Sales drop, bankruptcy, credit downgrade, distressed loan, EBITDA drop, IPO, loan default, restatement of earnings, etc can be few examples within this.

Ownership Changes: Here, we can think of divestitures, legal issues, M&A, strategic alternative and others as some possible events.

Personnel Changes: This can be crucial specially when we think about fortune companies- typical example could be headcount changes, top level management (CEO, CFO, COO, CMO, CIO, etc.) removal, resignation and appointment.

Recognition Changes: Awards, press releases, conferences, events, trade shows, reviews, feedback and perhaps improved web ranking also give insights on company’s current standings.

The above scenarios help companies to target the right prospect with the right solution at the right time.

Also, with social media at its peak, companies have started leveraging social media big time and it’s showing positive impact. Now, apart from dependency on above news and events, companies have also shown great amount of interest in reviews, comments, social post to create real time/concurrent leads for their sales funnel.

This is based on my recent consulting experience.

Thoughts??