About Lead Generation

Having a strategy about lead generation is an absolute must in today’s competitive business market.

If you have been in business for any length of time, and no matter what type of business you are operating, you will know that it its highly unlikely that customers and clients will simply jump out at you and say “let’s do business!”

Sure, in many businesses you will get some word of mouth referrals but it is not a good idea to rely on these.

Instead, you need to be much more proactive in generating leads that could turn into potential clients.

In this brief article I want to cover some basic ideas about lead generation which will be helpful specifically if you operate an online business.

#1: People Buy From Those They Like, Know And Trust!

Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people like you and me are waking up to the enormous opportunities for having an online business.

And…..this presents a potential problem.

There’s a whole heap of online marketers out there with online businesses all pitching these amazing offers to try and entice people to do business with them, or to buy something from them.

Why is this a probem?

Because there is just so much noise and hype out there for the average consumer that it is difficult for them to know what to believe, or who to believe.

So, unless we, as online business operators have a strategy to break through all that noise we’re going to have a pretty tough time running a profitable business.

So, what’s the answer?

Step 1 is to find a way to develop a meaningful and genuine relationship with potential clients and customers which will lead them to first of all get to know us, and then hopefully like and trust us.

Unless we do this, it is highly unlikely they will ever buy from us.

More about how to get potential clients and customers to know, like and trust you in some of my later blog articles.

#2: Knowing Who Your Customer Is

If, in marketing your products and services you are trying to attract the attention everyone, you will end up attracting no one to your business, or to your product offering.

So, the first thing you need to do is to spend some time determining as clearly as you possibly can a profile of your ideal customer.

The question you need to answer for yourself as clearly as you can is……who exactly are you marketing to?

In the online business world, this is known as defining your customer avatar

In doing this exercise you’ll need to consider things like:

Their age and gender
Occupation
Income
Relationship status – e.g. single, married, divorced, kids
Their like, dislike, hobbies interests
What problems do they have
And…..where do they hang out online

In doing this you will probably discover several distinct niches that you could profitably serve.

This step of clinically analysing and identifying who your ideal customer is will be critical to your ability to successfully market your products and services to them.

To help you do this you can download this customer avatar worksheet

#3: Develop Trust By Always Providing Value

Here’s a question.

Just because you’ve signed up to someone’s email list would you be prepared to reach for your credit card and buy something they are offering without being comfortable about who they are, or what they are offering?

I’m sure you would say “No Way”.

Well, the people on your email list will feel exactly the same way.

As leading internet marketer Ryan Deiss would say, expecting newcomers to your email list to immediately start making purchases from you would be a bit like proposing marriage on a very first date with someone. It just ain’t gonna work.

So, how do you go about creating value for your customers. Here’s just a couple of first steps you can take:

Find out/understand what is important to the customers in the niches you want to serve.
Determine the value that your products and services will provide. Apart from what your product or service does for them, what are the associated benefits? For example how does your product:
- save time
- save money
- make things easier, safer or convenient
- increase security
- provide peace of mind
- increase a person’s status or credibility
- etc

Summary

Lead generation is an ongoing and vital activity in any business.

In this short article about lead generation we’ve just scratched the surface. But hopefully you’ve found enough information here to get started on your lead generation strategy.