How to Create Your Foolproof Lead Generation Formula in 2024
Recently Sosna + Co’s Managing Partner, Erica Sosnowski, co-hosted a workshop exclusive to the life science community, "Your Next 100 Leads Roadmap." So many useful strategies were shared that we wanted to share the top takeaways in this post.
Read on to learn how you can implement them to gain more leads for your life science company – whether you’re looking to attract new clients, investors, strategic partners, or something else.
Traditional Activities Still Work, But It’s Not Enough Today
As Erica and co-host Jennifer Andrews shared in the workshop, relying solely on traditional activities is like doing 50% of a job and hoping it works.
In today’s rapidly changing landscape, embracing modern techniques and platforms is a winning combination along with the traditional activities you are already doing (think networking, event attendance, prospecting).
By embracing technology, including your CRM (customer relationship management) system, LinkedIn, and email marketing, you will be petter positioned to draw as many leads as possible into your pipeline.
Organize and Conquer: The Importance of Tracking Your Leads
Speaking of your lead pipeline, are you keeping track of the people and companies that come your way? Having a robust system to keep track of your leads is essential to ensuring no potential opportunity slips through the cracks.
What matters isn’t which system you use. A classic spreadsheet might be enough for one company, while a full CRM platform is a necessity for another.
If you’re thinking of graduating from spreadsheet to CRM, HubSpot offers a free CRM which also includes email marketing for automated follow-ups and other tools.
Have a Stack of Business Cards? Try a Business Card Scanner
If you’re collecting business cards from every trade show and conference you attend, be sure to get that person’s details into your lead tracking system.
Typing it in manually can be a pain, so consider a business card scanner (if you use HubSpot as mentioned above, they have a free business card scanner that will automatically enter and upload the contacts into your CRM).
That way you can use automation tools to follow up with warm leads from each event. It makes the follow-up process so much easier!
Leverage LinkedIn to Build Your Email List
Is your company email list growing or stagnating? If it’s the latter, it could be that you’re simply forgetting to ask for opt-ins and hoping people stumble across the form on your website. That isn’t always the case given everyone’s hectic schedules.
Instead, make it easy for your audience to subscribe. After all, your email subscribers are leads.
One simple way shared in our workshop is regularly sharing your email subscription link in LinkedIn posts. You can provide educational content, then include a call-to-action at the end such as, Want more tips like this? Join our newsletter: [URL]
This simple yet effective technique can significantly boost your subscriber list, adding more leads ready to communicate with in your pipeline.
Create Valuable Resources Behind a Form to Gain Highly Qualified Leads
Another way to amplify your lead generation efforts is to create a piece of valuable content, such as a whitepaper or case study, and make it “gated” behind a contact form.
You can ask for as much information on the form as possible, knowing the criteria will end up in your CRM. For example, if knowing a company’s therapeutic area is important to your business, you can ask for this information on the form.
This strategy not only positions you as an industry authority but also serves as a powerful lead magnet, capturing valuable information from interested prospects.
From there, you can send follow-up messages or invitations to upcoming events, webinars, and more.
Don’t Forget to Prioritize Relationship-Building
Though all of the above tactics are effective at bringing in leads, the old adage remains true: “People do business with people.”
This means that while your digital activities are working hard in the background, make sure to continue building trust and strong relationships. Without them, it is more difficult to nurture and convert leads into deals.
Send direct messages to people you met. Ask for a warm introduction to someone who could move your closer to your goals. Make a plan to connect via phone or video call with those you met at a conference.
By mixing the traditional with the digital, you will be in a better position to bring in, and close, business opportunities.
Conclusion
The Your Next 100 Leads Roadmap workshop was just a glimpse into the proven lead generation system developed by Erica Sosnowski and our team. If you want the complete system, download our free guide, featured on Life Science Growth Intensive, which delves deeper into the process.
—
Sosna + Co is a boutique, outsourced business development partner for the life sciences. From M&A advisory and licensing deals with Fortune 500 companies to uncovering the potential of savvy, new start-ups, the principal is simple: we work meticulously to uncover new opportunities that grow your business. Contact us today to learn more.