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Originally Posted by Frankie
Do many companies (not including retail) provide salespeople with sales leads? Are there any industries where company provided sales leads is the norm?
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They are not necessarily separated by industry, rather by marketing method. Direct response marketing is the method you are referring to. The company distributes leads gained from DRM advertising. The salespeople are often not expected to do any prospecting on their own except in cases where they might be asked to solicit referrals at point of sale. Mutual of Omaha used this method for years, but it is not as common among other Life and Health insurance companies.
Another venue by companies is third party marketing where leads are distributed having originated from alliances with other groups. For instance, a company could have an agreement with an association of teachers or health professionals. Members of the organizations would have certain benefits for doing business with the company. So leads are distributed from the roles of membership and contacts are made by the salespeople. In some cases, DRM is combined with that. The lead would originate from a request for information from the member.
These methods shift the focus of acountablity for the sales staff. Their performance is measured almost solely on their ability to convert the leads, which are quite costly, rather than to acquire them from their own activities.
