The quality of your clients and the size of your paycheck begins at the lead generation level. The way you prepare prospects to contact you via your ads, your website, your free or fee-based information products, your company logo and "look and feel" - all influence how quickly and effectively you can make sales.
High qualifying, ready to buy leads are those that are:
- Quick and easy to close
- Less price-focused and more value-focused
- Naturally motivated for success
- Understand what you do and what's different about you, so they're easy to educate quickly
You need to understand that what you do at the lead generation level will affect your results further down your sales line. Feel free to utilise the five strategies that can enhance your lead quality.
1) Prospective Targets
Many business people and marketers are unwilling to laser-focus on the specific prospect group that they can help most. For example, if a mechanic is an expert at restoring old BMWs, instead of concentrating on that market he sometimes makes the mistake of trying to appeal to all car owners.
You can also target clients by a psychographic profile which is a psychographic aspect that features the basis of some type of trait such as lifestyle, character or psychological characteristic. This can be very effective as it offers you more than the simple demographics of gender and age which can sometimes fall short of your expectations.
You begin targeting your specific interest group by using your headlines wisely. One example is, a financial planner using effective headlines such as "Not Getting Any Sleep For Worry Over Having No Money Upon Retirement?" Using compelling headlines will motivate those potential clients into entering the marketplace.
2) Pre-Educate
Especially if your products / services are higher priced, intangible, complex or in a highly competitive industry, it's critical that you educate prospects about your offering and value.
There are many ways to do this including downloadable Special Reports; White Papers; Questionnaires, Surveys and Audits; Seminars and Events.
You can also monetize the education process by charging for materials. This not only generates a revenue streams but also forces motivated prospects to "self-select". Self-selection is a critical component of the most successful lead generation programs.
3) Pre-Qualify
Pre-qualification includes self-selection. Other aspects involve describing exactly who your service or product is intended for. One example is using special phrases that aid in reducing the number of unqualified buyers from your market niche. For instance making such use of phrases like, "Steady Employment with an income of $60K+ per annum? See our no-deposit First Home Loan!"
4) Pre-Sell
This one goes without saying. If your ads, sales letters or other materials are compelling enough, you can actually make 95% of the sale before the prospect even speaks to you. All you have to do is answer 1 or 2 questions and then finalise the paperwork. A pre-sold lead is the ultimate outcome of a successful lead generation program.
You are not doing enough pre-selling at the lead generation level when you have to struggle with every prospective client to make a sale.
5) Future Pace
Future Pacing is "showing" the prospect what their life will be like in the future once they have your solution. It's a technique that can be used in print as well as in a sales setting, and makes the benefits you offer much more immediate.
Social proofing elements such as backing your future pacing by adding case studies and testimonials are fundamental to many successful lead generation efforts.
Although this article deals more with lead quality than lead quantity, by implementing some of the concepts above you should see a significant improvement in results.