Create a lead generation system

“Determine now what the value of a lead is worth to you and then you’ll be prepared to take the right actions in your business.” -Conquer the Chaos - Clate Mask and Scott Martineau

When I read this I got curious, how do I determine what a lead is worth to us in our business and what are the right actions to get more leads?

Well, as Paul Lemberg says in Formula Five “There are only three ways to grow a business: get more customers, increase the average value of purchase, or increase the frequency of purchase.” This article is about the first way to grow your business, by getting more customers, and to get more customers you first need to acquire more leads.

Once I determined that a lead is a highly valuable asset to our business and that we wanted more of them, I knew that the right action was to create a step by step process for acquiring new leads.

So I created a process, based on cash for coaches by Dan Bradbury to get more leads in our business and I want to share it with you:

Step 1: Measure How Many Leads You Are Generating Now

Begin by measuring the number of leads that you are receiving into our business, without taking any additional action, and store it in a data base. You can use a simple form where you can gave each lead a reference number, identify the person who is interested and what they are interested in. This will give you a benchmark against which to measure. Leads may come into your business by a variety of means for example: through phone calls, by meeting people at networking events, through your web site, by word of mouth or referrals. Make sure that you note them down.

Step 2: Create a lead generation offering and opt-in form on your web-site (permission based marketing)

In business, people do not generally like to be sold to. They do however like to be educated, entertained and informed about things which are of interest and benefit to them.

So, the next step is to create something of value that will educate your potential leads on what you do and which you will give them in return for their contact details.

Create your lead generation offering containing information which will be of value to your niche in one of these ways:

1. downloadable free report
2. newsletter
3. blog
4. audio podcast
5. video

Once you have created your lead generation offering you will need to get permission from each individual to send them your information. On the web you can achieve this using an opt-in form. There are several auto responder and CRM systems on the market that contain the HTML code to create a sign up form on your website. Each set of contact details that you acquire combined with information on what the person is interested in constitutes a new lead. Send each person the information that you have promised.

Step 3: Centralise your data base

As you gather new leads you may collect it into a central database that enables you to keep it all together, so that it can be held and tracked and you will know how many leads you are receiving. You can also start to build up a picture of the patterns between your leads and customers so that you know who they are and what they do, what they like and dislike. For example you may find that they share common needs or wants.

Step 4: Ask the people who are on your database if they know anyone else who is interested in what you do

The best way to get more leads is to ask for them So, you can ask the those people who have already signed up and received information from you in step 2 if they know anyone else who may be interested.

Step 5: Measure the number of leads that you are receiving after implementing this strategy

Go back to your database and measure how many new leads you have acquired since you began using this strategy.

Enjoy.

Find Out What Your Customer Wants and what the Market Wants

Just today, we got a call from a potential client who wants us to come in to teach our selling skills to their sales people. And we said to them, “What is it that your customers want and need? What is it that your customers buy?” And they said, “What’s the difference?”" Persuasion Engineering Richard Bandler and John La Valle

So what is the difference between wants and needs?

In All Marketers Are Liars Seth Godin writes “Marketers profit because consumers buy what they want, not what they need. Needs are practical and objective, wants are irrational and subjective. And no matter what you sell-and whether you sell it to businesses or consumers-the path to profitable growth is in satisfying wants, not needs.”

For example even though people may need a car, they may want a specific make and model of car like a BMW328i and often they will buy the make and model that they want rather than a basic car.

So I set out to design a simple process to find out what your customer wants that I want to share with you.

Step 1: Create a new habit of gathering data

Imagine that you are an anthropologist who is visiting a new tribe for the very first time and you do not know anything about the tribe.
What questions are on your mind?
What are you curious about?
How will you record the data?

Why gather data? So that you can later compare it with data that you have gathered from other existing and potential customers, look for patterns and turn it into information that you can use to better meet their wants.

Step 2: Ask your Existing Customers

I have found that the direct approach often works best.
Ask your existing clients
“What do you want from my company?”.
You may even find that, when you are really listening, there are many clients who will give you all the information you need without you even having to ask for it directly.

As well as asking them face to face, you can ask them by telephone or email and you may also want to come up with a list of ten more in depth questions that you can turn into a mini survey on the web (there are several online tools available, some of which are free).

Step 3: Create a mind map to record the information

An essential skills in the taking in information is to use a mind map. This will enable you to structure the information in a way that makes sense to you.

Step 4: Do some keyword research on the internet

There are several tools available on the internet that will enable you to discover the precise search terms that potential customers are searching for in google which is a great way to do market research.

Step 5: Identify patterns in the data

Once you have gathered enough data from each source you can make comparisons, look for patterns and draw conclusions on what your customers and the market wants.

Enjoy.