As Germany goes home with its fourth World Cup, it makes you want to look back and see just how many people all over the world got up to watch the game live. Coincidentally, these global viewing habits are similar to those looking to score global ERP leads for their own software firm.

What World Cup Viewers and Global Lead Generators Have in Common

For some people, watching the finals could be as simple as taking an extra-hour lunch break. (That’s certainly the case for a lot of U.S. viewers.) But for others, it could mean waking up in the middle of the night and swapping soda for coffee.

Yet regardless of time zone, you really had much of the world’s attention centered on the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Humanity has really come a long way from learning about such events via newspaper or telegram.

For global lead generators however, this a reality they need to wake up sooner to if they want to consistently produce ERP leads from all over. Your prospects are like your own little World Cup event and you need to be where the game is at, not the other way around. Here’s a list of common strategies that lead generators exercise so as to engage a global audience:

  • The 24-hour shift – Sometimes it can be as easy as just running operations 24-7. But then again, that’s obviously not easy for a lot of businesses (small ones in particular). Still, if you want a basic idea, you can start with assembling your typical day-time staff and night-time staff. It might also help to do a bit of medical research on sleeping habits so you don’t accidentally run the latter to the ground.
  • Outsource your night staff – Forget cost-savings, geography is actually a more common reason for outsourcing than you might think. It’s like asking someone to watch the game and tell you how it went (except more accurate). They do the calling and neither of you have to lose any sleep. Plus, it has the added benefits of giving some part of your marketing responsibilities to another experienced company. Although, you might still have to hit the graveyard shift yourself a few times just to deliver feedback on their activities.
  • Opening a branch – You could also go as far as to open your own branch centered in your new target region. (Pretty much like flying all the way to Brazil for the World Cup will.) It won’t be cheap but it does give you more control once operations are up. This is helpful when your software firm still leans more to installing traditional infrastructure and on-site hardware.

The internet has opened the door for even small companies to make global headway. Despite all those advances however, they don’t change age-old obstacles like time zone that easily. You need to get your business to brush up on the right habits.