Have A Lot Of Sales Leads? Do Not Be Like Aesop's Hare!

If sales leads are opportunities, Aesop's little fable of the tortoise and hare can teach you how taking them too lightly is a fatal mistake. Many people interpret the story as a reason to take things slow and steady, like the tortoise. But on the contrary, natural speed can still make for a natural winner. For lead generation, the real moral is to not let pride compromise that speed when you are in a race for sales leads.

What The Hare Should Have Done (And Why You Should Do The Same When Racing For Sales Leads)

Ask yourself, what was the hare's greatest error? It was not because it was too fast (just in the same way being quick in qualifying sales leads cannot always be bad). The greatest mistake was in his own pride. What about you? Are you in danger of the same arrogance when you look at your own sales leads and scoff at how what few business leads your prospects have?

For example, when you are in tax consulting. You have scores of clients who are thrilled to have fewer tax problems. You have tax sales leads on such a regular basis, it feels like you are at the top of the game. Do you make the fatal mistake of assuming you are now too big to fail when it comes to pursuing sales leads?

If you are showing any of the following signs, it is time to wake up or else the competitor whom you have labeled a tortoise could easily steal all those sales leads from under your nose!

• Ignoring competitor's progress ' The hare thought to make his great error when he thought the tortoise was too far to catch up. On the other hand, you must not underestimate the pace of your competition. Even a man can outrun a car eventually when the latter runs out of gas. Neglect your sales leads and your competitor might end up overtaking you once you make too long of a stop.

• You habitually postpone follow-ups ' Unless you need room to think on improving your game, you cannot afford to procrastinate. You have inbound sales leads coming in for a reason and it is not just letting them pile up and rot in your database. Be lazy with your response and they will start shifting to your competitor!

• You take too many chances ' The hare's nap can also stand for wasting opportunities deliberately as if to show up your competitors. At best, it shows you only have more cash to burn. At worst, you are violating an image of integrity. If your consulting deliberately slacks off because they think you can, think again. You might not think it is that big a headache but your customers will.

You may think you have the most sales leads but that only means you have a higher standard to live up to. Do not be like the hare and allow arrogance to blind you to your own reputation. Your sales lead generation should make the most out of its natural speed!