Sales and marketing teams always seem to have friction between them and the argument, at least for many, converges on upon the quality of sales leads. Sales needs more leads that convert and it becomes the responsibility of marketers to deliver them.

Having a target client profile is essential, but it’s not sufficient on its own. There always seem to be those contacts that stand out as being qualified regardless of fitting the target ‘checklist’. These customers are the ones most businesses lose out on. Sometimes they fall through the cracks because we aren’t getting the right data points, other times it because we did not realize their unique characteristic fits our target profile.

The following tools will help you identify the high quality leads that tend to bypass the traditional funnel and make your sales team happy.

Gamification & Rewards

It’s no surprise that Word of mouth marketing(WOM) is still one of the most effective ways of getting the message out. People socialize with those who are similar to them, so the positive spillover hits your target market. Referrals however, can also give you slight variations on your ideal customer – allowing you to identify characteristics you did not think about before. The best way to leverage WOM is through a referral program. In doing so you’ll see the number of leads coming from current trial or paid users spike in numbers.

Best Tools: ReferralCandy, Sweet Tooth

Contact Enrichment

Sometimes we are not recognizing our qualified leads because we do not know enough about them. This is where contact enrichment comes to play. These type of tools will scape the web for you, creating a full customer profile with just an email address. Yes, we said it – no first name, last name, location, etc. to dig up details about a prospect. These tools use progressive technology to take email addresses and find any and all public information on the individual. Type of information can range from social profiles, job titles, size of company, to age, phone number and location.

Best tools: ClearBit, FullContact, ManyContacts

Contact Scoring & Grading

One of the most obvious reasons for missing out on potential customers is that you’re looking at the wrong criteria. Building an scoring and grading program which accurately reflects your target demographic is difficult and it’s an iterative process. It also requires rich demographics and firmographics to answer key questions. The best scoring and grading tool should have granular controls and be flexible to changes.

Best tools: Blitzen, Silverpop, Oracle

Remarketing

People love to find the ‘next best thing’, so those who visit your site or sign up for trials can often become disengaged, hopping from one tool to the next. Not to fret, using Google or Facebook’s remarketing tools, you can easily retarget these off-the-radar individuals. With unique technology, Google and Facebook allow you to use cookie IDs to target individuals with material that will urge them to get back to your site or product. To find out more how remarketing works, check out this infographic, or if you already have a remarketing tool implemented, learn how to improve your strategy.

Best tools: Google AdWords, Facebook pixel tracking

Thanks for reading! Let us know what additional tools you use for capturing your top leads in the comments below.

Blitzen specializes in advanced lead management. With an easy-to-use form builder, voice of customer surveys, contact enrichment, and workflows, you can optimize and grow your sales and marketing efforts all in one tool. To learn more, try a 14-day free trial @ www.blitzen.com