6 Tips for Developing High-Quality Industrial Construction Leads

Industrial construction expenditures in the United States are expected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2020, according to a report by MarketResearch. Researchers cite several factors attributing to this growth, including the development of e-commerce fulfillment centers and changing dynamics in the energy industry. As the construction market grows, however, it offers new opportunities for construction suppliers to expand their operations and reach new customers.

If you're a indsutrial supplier, you should focus on building on high-quality sales leads. Leads are instrumental in the sales process, as they provide a base demographic to whom you can promote your products or services. Not all leads are of the same quality, however. Targeting low-quality leads will yield fewer sales than high-quality leads. So, how do you build high-quality sales leads as a trade supplier?

#1) Validate and Verify

Industrial project leads must be validated and verified to ensure they are worth pursuing. Some suppliers assume validation and verification is the same, but this isn't necessarily true. Validation refers to checking the prospect's information -- name, address, phone number, email, etc. -- to ensure they are formatted correctly. If a prospect's zip code only has four digits or their phone number only has 9 digits, for instance, the lead should is invalid and should not be pursued.

Verification, on the other hand, involves checking to make sure all data points for a respective prospect correlate with each other; including the project specific information. If you send a prospect an email, you should include his or her name in the message. Without verifying your leads beforehand, you may end up using the wrong name in your emails, which doesn't exactly present your business in the best manner.

#2) Firmographics

In addition to validating and verifying leads, you can also build high-quality industrial construction leads through the use of firmographics. Most suppliers and salespersons are familiar with demographics -- statistical data representing a group of individuals, typically associated with a niche or market. Well, firmographics follow a similar principle, only it focuses on a company's information instead.

Using firmographics, you can identify companies' annual revenue, market share, growth, size and more. All of this information can prove invaluable in your sales efforts. Whether you contact prospects through email, over the phone, in person or elsewhere, you can use firmographic information to personalize your sales approach to better meet the needs of your prospects.

#3) Act Fast

A lead isn't going to be useful forever. All leads have a finite lifespan, and those within the construction industry are no exception. Even if a prospect is ready to buy now, he or she may not be interested in buying just a few months later down the road. Therefore, construction suppliers and salespersons need to act fast once they've acquired a new sales lead.

Furthermore, you should review your leads on a regular basis for reliability. If a company changes its operations, existing lead information may not longer be relevant. Again, this is why validating and verification is important -- it ensures your leads are accurate and ready for marketing.

#4) Rate Leads

Failure to rate the quality of your leads is a serious mistake that will ultimately cost you sales. If you treat all leads the same, you won't be able to effectively target those who are most interested in buying your construction products or services. On the other hand, rating your leads allows you to pinpoint which leads are ready to buy -- and these the leads you should target first in your sales efforts.

Once you've prepared a list of leads, go through and rate them by quality. If a prospect has expressed strong desire to buy your product or service, he or she is a high-quality lead; thus, you should target them before reaching out to other, lower-quality leads. Determining the quality of a lead, however, isn't always easy. The ultimate goal is calculate the prospect's willingness to buy. So, analyze things like past correspondences and company information to rate the quality of your leads.

#5) Use Database Lead Services

The good news is that you don't have to manually harvest all of your company's leads. There are providers out there who specialize in this task, some of whom will sell you huge lists of highly targeted leads that are relevant to your company. In order to reap the benefits of these services, you need to choose a provider that offers leads specifically for your company's niche. When used in conjunction with your own in-house lead generation efforts, services such as these can prove highly effective at capturing top-quality leads.

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#6) Nurture, Nurture, Nurture!

Finally, be sure to nurture your leads through the sales process. The quality of a lead may change over time, either increasing or decreasing depending on various factors. You can promote higher quality leads, however, by nurturing prospects through the sales process. Just remember to go back and re-rate the quality of a lead if you believe the prospect is now more interested in buying your product or service.

Assuming you follow the tips outlined above, you should have a list of high-quality leads, in which case you can effectively promote your construction products or services.

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