Want more sales leads? Here's how to get them

Ah, fresh sales leads, the fuel for growing companies. You want them, you need them, and you can never have enough. There isn’t a company on earth that doesn’t thrive on leads.

Are your your lead generation efforts paying off?

If someone gave me a beer and taco every time I heard, “If we could only get people to know more about our offerings, they’d buy,” I’d be well-fed for the next ten years. My wife would have some choice words for me about poor eating habits, but that’s a story for another day.

Before you can convert prospects to customers, you must convert them to a lead.

Getting prospective customers to raise their hand and take a look at your offering is a bit of an art as well as science. Yet, you don’t need to pay a rocket scientist to get great results. 

Converting a lead to a purchasing customer starts with a journey. Not yours; it’s your prospect’s buying voyage. But’s here’s the kicker that some people will not agree with: have a goal and strategy (of course), but don’t worry about the sales funnel and lead management. Well, not yet anyway.

Why? The starting point is to have qualified members of your target audience take notice of your business in some way. The goal is to attract people and get their attention quickly, and simply get them to the very top-of-funnel.

Let’s make sure we’re on the same page before going any further. A person that’s provided contact information, in some form, is a top-of-funnel lead. At best, they have potential to buy from you and nothing more at this point.

Some people are in the very beginning of their buying journey and are seeking new information. These people don’t know what they don’t know.

Others are in the midst of their investigation and want to learn more about something specific. These people want an education.

Then there are the prospects ready to become buyers. These people are serious and may have already zeroed in on a couple of companies to do business with.

The problem to turn any of these potential customers into leads is the same: Your company needs to stand out in a crowed market in order to get the sales results you want.

Here are three steps you can take now.

Anticipate problems your target audience is trying to solve. Great companies don’t just solve problems; they predict them. Sure, the companies most effective at selling, view themselves as problem solvers. True enough. However, if you take this a step further and “give to get,” you’ll position your business as different instead of just better. Offer insight and educate people on the journey they are taking to solve their problem. Let them know what roadblocks they can expect to encounter, what new trends that will affect their decision, and how they can prepare for the unforeseen. This is how you become a truly trusted adviser and win business. This is how you demonstrate that you’re better -- because you are different.

Create irresistible lead magnets. You are now ready to generate all the leads you want, at the expense of your competitors. Create a mouthwatering offer that will give your prospects something of value and help them understand how to solve the specific problem with actionable information. The key is to make it super useful, with great value to your target audience. That’s the only way to get people to respond and give you their contact information. Make it 100% about them. There are literally hundreds of ways to build and use a lead magnet on your website, at trade shows, in social media, news releases, and more. Educate them through the experiences of similar people in similar industries with a case study or report. Offer a cheat sheet, checklist, or resource tool kit. Try a free video training or certification course. Or offer a “how-to” newsletter. The secret to success is to focus on a particular problem and promise immediate and tremendous value that people can start using right away.”

Have a call-to-action with urgent language that converts. We humans are a skeptical bunch and need a little push. Great lead magnets alone won’t get everyone to give you contact information. A call-to-action encourages your prospect to complete the response you want; fill in a form, click through to watch a video, hand you a business card, or maybe even call now to register. A call-to-action should clearly tell users what you want them to do. Actually, it’s a good idea to have two call-to-actions where the first one lets prospects know what to expect when they give up their valuable contact information. Include active “power words”. Some of my favorites include discover, start, save, free, get, find, now, learn, and confused – as in, “Confused about lead generation?” There are other aspects of an effective call-to-action including colors, position, and whitespace. Look at the campaigns of other companies (not necessarily in your industry) to get ideas.

Warning! These three steps will confer you with super marketing powers! Instead of pitching products or services to a doubting audience, you’ll showcase your unique expertise and share your knowledge, accumulated over years of helping others.

Your lead magnet’s promise to educate your target audience on the particular problems they are hot to solve will get you as many qualified leads as your business can handle. The sooner you get going, the sooner you’ll have fresh leads.

Ron Stein is President of FastPath Marketing (www.marketing-strategies-guide.com) and the author of the Rapid Impact Marketing & Selling Playbook. As a speaker, coach, and consultant he works with small business owners helping them to accelerate the path between their vision and the actions needed to reach, win, and keep customers. Ron is the creator of the FastPath to More Customers Now! 7-step marketing system based on more than twenty years as a successful business owner, corporate CEO, business development executive, and salesman. He is also a mentor at two nationally recognized business accelerators. Ron offers one-on-one and small group mentoring, conducts seminars, and consults. He can be reached at 727-398-1855 or Ron@FastPathMarketing.com.