As service and technology firms begin to awaken from a long, recession-inspired hibernation period, they are again beginning to think about proactive lead generation. If your firm is stepping up outbound marketing, your first step should be to re-examine your firm's thinking about what works and what doesn't.

Consider the following seven service lead-generation misconceptions. Destroying these myths can lead to more production and better return-on-investment for your marketing time and dollars.

Myth No. 1: Cold-calling doesn't work

Time and again we encounter an aversion to cold-calling from service firm leaders and rainmakers. Most service firm gurus argue that cold-calling doesn't work—inconceivable, even, that you might give it a second thought.

Many professionals have tried cold-calling, and it hasn't worked for them. Another subset of professionals believes that cold-calling can work, but because they find it so distasteful they neither engage in it nor advocate it.

Service lead generation misconception no. 1 steers many service firms completely away from cold-calling. Yet, applied correctly, cold-calling can be an amazingly successful lead-generation tactic that can return excellent results, often very quickly.

True, there are many ways that you can try cold-calling and fail, but there are also—if you're willing to seek them out—cold-calling strategies that consistently yield above-average ROI.

Myth No. 2: Web sites don't affect lead generation

"We have a Web site up because we have to have a Web presence, but our Web site has no affect on whether we attract or win new clients."

Service lead generation misconception no. 2 was effectively debunked at a seminar I delivered a few months ago. There were about 40 people in the room, and I asked the audience, "When you're buying something for your business, do you, at some point in the buying process, visit the Web site of the vendor firm?" All the hands in the room went up. Then I asked, "Who is at least somewhat influenced by what they see on the site?" All hands stayed up.

My third question was, "Have you ever been referred to a service firm and, after visiting the Web site, decided not to contact them because of what you saw on their Web site?" About half the people raised their hands.

Web sites affected the perceptions of 100% of that group, and affected at least 50% of the attendees' decisions to become sales leads for another company. So let's put this misconception to bed right now. Also, a Web site can generate leads from search engines and registrations for events and seminars; it can also act as a communication channel between a firm and its prospects.

Bottom line: contrary to popular opinion, your Web site greatly affects your ability to succeed with service lead generation.

Myth No. 3: We need more brand recognition first

No, you don't. So you're about to spend $20K… $200K… or some other amount on "brand recognition" to prime the pump for the lead generation you'll do in the coming months.

Why not just start with directly generating the leads? For every well-known service brand there are dozens of service firms that most people have never heard of. Yet, they find clients and do well. Name recognition doesn't hurt, but for the most part building name recognition should be a byproduct of something else, such as lead-generation campaigns, PR and publishing; events and speaking; or word-of-mouth about your services.

In the end, regardless of your brand recognition, what you need to do to fill the front end of your sales pipeline is to develop a compelling value proposition and then find qualified prospects. If brand recognition is the goal in and of itself, you'll end up spending a lot of money with little return.

Myth No. 4: We need more new leads

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Mike Schultz

Mike Schultz is president of RAIN Group, a global sales training and performance improvement company, and director of the RAIN Group Center for Sales Research. He is the bestselling author of Rainmaking Conversations and Insight Selling. He also writes for the RAIN Selling Blog.

LinkedIn: Mike Schultz

Twitter: @mike_schultz