Give me the top leads - I want more leads....

Remember the movie Glengary Glenross directed by James Foley starring Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, and Alan Arkin....well this movie poses a great analogy for resellers and distributors participating in a vendor's lead referal program.

In the movie, there is a battle between the sales reps and HQ for "top leads." But Alec Baldwin says the top leads are only for closers so you better be ABCing (always be closing). Here is a link to some of the clips.   http://www.slidepiece.net/glengary.htm

The same is true with lead referal programs. Most vendors today have lead referals management nailed down to a formula. The "A" leads go to their own sales force, the "B" leads go to their inside sales force, and the "C" leads those will go to partners. Now, what constitutes a "C" lead. A "C" lead can be a lead that is not qualified and that has not been scored at all. It's a name and if you're lucky there is an address and a phone number. No research has been done for you at all. These are not the ideal leads and it's these leads that have given lead referal programs a bad name.   Now, there are other leads that can be offered to you. But, it will require some probing, some updating, and some relationhip building.

Probe: Ask your account manager what is being done with leads today and if there is anyway you can be in contention to receive some of these "qualified" leads. Don't be shy, they do exist. Vendors are spending millions of dollars generating demand and for the most part this demand in the form of leads are not being followed up well enough anyway. So why should you get the lead compared to someone else?

Update: Offer up a commitment to your account manager that you will update the leads and even report back with win rates and sales activity. This will make their job easier and it will motivate them to give you more leads. Then, your next step is maintain the relationship.

Build relationships: Communicate, communicate, and overcommunicate your sales results and deal activity with your account manager. Spend time with them socially so you can remain top of mind. Always be closing but always be reminding them that you are still thinking of their product first over the competition.

Leads can be a lucrative part of your business development activities, work your vendors for those hot leads so you can spend less time marketing and more time selling.

Also, if you haven't seen the movie Glengarry Glenross you should rent it immediately.