It is so common that I consult with a business that has a significant decline in sales and they immediately assume their sales department / reps are the ones not doing their job.
I look at where their leads are coming from, are they creating leads themselves, are they knocking on doors, cold calling, soliciting businesses? If this has not been successful then obviously the leads are poor in quality and these leads, lead your sales reps into a negative rut that can lead to poor performance, poor sales, terminations, and even company bankruptcy as a worst case scenario.
Quality Leads-
How do you get quality leads? You get your sales dept / reps quality leads by putting the INTERESTED prospects in front of the sales dept / rep for them. That sounds simple, and it is that simple. SEO / SEM / PPC / Social Media are how this becomes a reality. You need to be seen in order for your phone to ring with interested buyers. As previously discussed, we all know the market has moved away from traditional marketing methods (phone books, newspapers, television, etc) onto Google, Yahoo, Bing, and social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Getting quality leads starts with understanding what your market is wanting, then optimizing your marketing content / material to suit these wants / demands. Whether its PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns or SEO, the concept remains the same; build for your demand.
One simple task can make or break for a quality or poor lead.
Example: If your site is promoting a local diagnostic laboratory with a PPC campaign (bidding $5.50 per click for keyword, laboratory) then you wouldn't want to pay when someone was searching for dental laboratory, so dental would be a negative keyword in your Adwords account; thus preventing it from gaining unnecessary clicks / expenses for people searching for "dental laboratories" when you operate a diagnostics lab.
If your company is seen when someone enters the keywords that represent your company's products service and / or geographic location, then your sales dept / reps will have interested buyers from the day they initiate contact. This all starts and is maintained with quality SEO- Get a quality online footprint and watch your sales dept soar.
