The internet has been a great leveller for attracting new customers but it’s also saturated the market. You can have the best service or product but still lose out to your competitors because they’ve really nailed lead generation.
There are many ways to generate leads and each method has its pros and cons. Here are a few ideas to get you started in generating the leads that will take your business to the next level.
Warm calling
Cold calls have become a real pet-hate for most people. This presents a problem to business because in order to win new customers you need to be out there approaching people. The answer is to warm call.
A warm call feels less intrusive. It’s a follow up call to an email that your audience will either be expecting or won’t consider a cold call because how were you to know they hadn’t read the email. This can help get the pitch off on friendly terms and is also great for refining your ever-evolving pitch.
Social media
Social media is a dream for lead generation, especially Twitter and Facebook. The secret is to engage in conversations with industry influencers and the general public as well. You want to be seen talking to the right people but don’t want to get a reputation for only speaking to influencers. Use the search function to find conversations relevant to your product or service and start talking to people.
Traditional networking
It’s easy to get lost in digital promotion and forget that some of the best leads come from getting out face to face. Networking events are a goldmine of contacts and it’s worth making as many good ones as you can even outside of your industry because the introductions they could make can be priceless.
Educate
Generating leads is about building trust and the best way to do that is to provide educational content. People have become sick of constantly being sold to and your audience wants to be educated, they want to be given something before they buy.
There are many ways to educate your customers and one idea is an eBook. These work in all industries be it a tips and tricks manual, a how to guide, or even a booklet demystifying financial products like mortgages, pensions or SMSFs.
Newsletters and blogs have captive audiences and cut through the noise on the internet. Webinars are an inexpensive way to get in front of thousands of potential customers. There are services that allow you to broadcast a webinar for free and if you make it a regular thing your following quickly grows. Use it to discuss industry news and provide solutions to industry problems. At the end of each webinar direct your audience to your eBooks, blog or newsletter and inform them of your latest offers.
Rich media
Some of the most engaging ways to educate your potential customers is through rich media like Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and photos, videos and infographics on social media. Videos and infographics can be inexpensive to produce and studies show that visual media is more engaging than text media, and with customers yearning to be informed and educated it’s the perfect way to educate and get noticed.
Your potential customers want to hear from experts. They want to feel informed to make the best decision and the companies that offer them that information often put themselves in the best position to close. If you focus on speaking to as many people as you can, engage in meaningful conversations and share some knowledge with everyone you meet the leads will take care of themselves.
