The old saying is, “If you build it, they will come.” Unfortunately, building is expensive and you have to find a customer to pay for it. This does present a sort of chicken and egg problem. Luckily for you, this is a handy-dandy list of 7 steps you can take to generate and cultivate plenty of leads. Play your cards right, and a lot of these leads will turn into paying customers. When they come, you can build it.
1. Determine what you consider a good lead. If you get a thousand leads that go nowhere, you’ve wasted a lot of time. Do you want your tools gathering dust while you chase second-rate leads? Look back on your previous customers and figure out what made them good leads. Now search for them and only them.
2. Dig leads out of the trash. Rather like bags of chips, sometimes you throw away a lead without enjoying all of it. So look through every conversation you’ve had over the past few months, and reopen the ones that fizzled out but had some promise. Like in the bag of chips, lead crumbs can be very tasty.
3. Shake down your customers. Everybody knows somebody who needs something built. Your customers know people you can work for, so dog them for this information. Actually, you should politely ask when they’re still high on the great job you just did for them. If all else fails, “catching up” with an established customer can be a great time to see if they can offer any referrals.
4. It’s only spam if they don’t want it. If you have customers, some of them might want more things built. If you don’t ask the customers who already trust you, you’re going to lose the extra business to someone else. Toss out some quick “how ya doin'” e-mails and see where it goes.
5. Focus on how you add value. Unless your customers want to live and work in tents, they need you. Add words like “ROI” and “cost savings” to your website. Work on the people who are ready to buy by stating how much value you add to them.
6. See your customers as people you’re trying to help. When your marketing to people you care about helping, you’ll start providing better information. In turn, these people will want to spread your content and the word about you and your company.
7. Keep everyone in the loop. An e-mail every week or so that’s interesting and informative can keep people warm, so when things look up they’ll be ready to hire you.
What are some other quick ways you can generate leads for your business?
Blog Post Written by Jimmy Donnellon
Jimmy is an inbound marketing professional with a background in public relations and marketing. Jimmy helps his clients found on the web, convert visitors into leads and helps them track their results.