Lead Generation – The Debate

As an experienced Sales Engineer, lead generation responsibility has always been a bit of a pet peeve of mine.  Manufacturers especially small ones think the salesman’s role is to go out into the world and miraculously produce large volumes of customer inquiries for their products.  Many of these manufacturers have even told me “all you need to do is bring me the lead, and I’ll do the rest”.  The salesmen on the other hand believes that it is the manufacturer’s responsibility to provide the bulk of the marketing activity and as a result the bulk of the leads.  They go on to say that their primary purpose is to convert the leads they receive into orders, and assure that the customer doesn’t select the competitors product.

Misaligned incentives for Lead Generation

From the sales engineers perspective it’s simple logic why he or she believes this.  For starters most of the people I’ve spoken with work 100% straight commission, and have no salary or expense reimbursement.  Their only incentive is to close business and earn the commission.  Lead generation on the other hand involves several touches with a potential company over a long period of time.  To make, gestate and convert those contacts cost time & money.  Who should bear that expense the Manufacturers Representative working with a 30-90 day cancelation clause or the manufacturer, who in theory should continue on forever?

In House Contacts

Like everything in life there are always exceptions.  Sometimes a sales engineer has in his Rolodex full of the perfect contacts for a new product, but rarely do they have all the contacts for a given product in a region.  When the contact is available, the sales engineer will do the drip marketing to generate the leads from his internal lists as a normal function of his other sales activities.

Lead Generation Solutions for Small Companies

Northeast Tech Reps will provide the lead generating activity for smaller companies.  Unlike other manufacturers representative firms serving the Boston region, Northeast Tech Reps has the ability to provide contract lead generation activities on a national and international basis for a fixed fee.