The process of matching your business with the right leads is an art, and just like any art, it takes a lot of practice, trials, and errors, before you get to create a masterpiece in the form of a collection of connections that are vital to your sales funnel.
Of course, over the years, experts have narrowed down a few things that companies can do to lessen the burden and cut the time of trying different things out. Afterall, time is money and when you waste a lot of time trying to figure things out for yourself, you might be wasting valuable resources and opportunities as well.
Here are 5 proven ways to match your business with the right leads:
1. ENGAGE WITH SOMEONE WHO NEEDS YOU
It may seem cliche but this is a fundamental aspect of getting the right type of leads into your business process. Not everyone is out there looking for a product or service like yours, but that doesn’t mean no one is. Most of the marketing efforts and lead generation tactics go to waste because a lot of companies randomly target people hoping to hit a miracle prospect who’s interested. A lot of times, out of 1,000 people contacted, only 10 people will be able to become a full pledge customer. Though that may not seem too bad, it’s counterproductive. Spending so much time and effort for that kind of result isn’t efficient at all. So, to increase your chances of connecting with the right people, explore available information on the internet especially in platforms like LinkedIn to look for context clues such as the industry that people are currently in or the business they’re engaged with. You could even narrow it down further to their specific location in the world. You might even be surprised to see some people on those platforms posting about what their current problems in their company are. If you find someone who might belong to a specific industry where a problem you may be able to solve exists, go for it.
- USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
In relation to the previous point, the world is now easier to navigate because of the internet. It’s even easier to find people who have the same interests as you thanks to social media. Social media might not be the first choice you have when it comes to lead generation and finding the right ones for your business, but it should be! It’s a public collection of profiles with detailed information that can help you understand if the people you’re looking to talk to have the potential to become your customers. In social media platforms such as LinkedIn, details such as industry, company, type of work, and the like are available for viewing. More professional features of the platform even allow you to directly message those people. So, stop viewing social media as just another fad that’s only for teenagers. Accept the fact that there are platforms out there that are for professionals and it’s a perfect place to start looking for potential clients based on the public information and the things they write about – success stories, problems in their business, questions, or improvements they’re looking for that you can provide answers to.
- LEVERAGE ON ONLINE ADVERTISING AND RETARGETING
The modern era of advertising is not in print, it’s on digital platforms. Because of the overwhelming amount of user data and information floating around the internet, your advertisements can be specifically programmed to only show up on the phones or emails of those people who have a common interest or a common problem being experienced. For example if you’re putting up an online advertisement on plumbing services, computers can now search for the people who had past activities in the internet related to plumbing services. It could be someone who Googled plumbing services or someone who posted a public post on social media about the need for a plumber. When the people who did those actions are found, your advertisement for plumbing services will show up to their screen. If that doesn’t make them convert to paying customers just yet, but have shown interest in your ad by clicking it, the advertising platform you’re using to publish your ads will show them another set of ads still related to your plumbing service. That’s the beauty of online advertising and retargeting. Artificial intelligence and smart computing can now help you show your ads only to the people who actually have expressed interest in some way for a specific product or service. Leveraging these technologies will save you more money and time than going through the traditional route of marketing to random audiences.
- REFERRALS FROM CURRENT CLIENTELE
Perhaps this is one of the simplest non-techy things you can do to get connected with more people who might be interested in a solution you’re offering. Whenever you solve a problem for someone else and they like how you handled their situation, most likely they would recommend you to someone else who’s in the same industry as they are. Moreover, it’s almost impossible that no one is connected to anyone else in an industry. One way or another, their company or their relations have to intersect with someone in the same industry. That being said, it’s safe to assume that there are more potential clients hiding in the social or professional circle of your existing clientele. If you tap on that network, you might end up connecting with more people who have the same problem as your previous client – problems which you have the solutions to.
- OFFER SOMETHING FOR FREE TO GENERATE LEADS
It’s like when you walk at the park and lead a trail of breadcrumbs behind you and you see pigeons and other birds landing on the road just to get a piece of the crumbs that you dropped. If you are here to solve problems for an industry, you can ask yourself, “do I have something to offer an industry I’m serving, for free that will help them solve a problem?” If you do have one, consider publishing a tool or a guide that explains the approach you want to share. You’ll be surprised at how many people would be willing to sign up with their email to learn how they can help themselves using the information you gave them. By offering free information or tool you achieved 3 things:
- You established yourself as an expert in the field who is out there to genuinely help
- You have attracted a bunch of people who are dealing with a common problem, which means they may belong to closely related industries with other problems that have to be addressed (hopefully by you)
- You get to collect contact information that you will ask in exchange for the free info you’re offering them, making it possible for you to re engage with them in the future through email or phone
Lead generation and finding the right people can take so much time. That valuable time that you will be spending on connecting with them will have been better used in other business functions. This is why it’s important to find ways to streamline or at least take the burden of matching your business with the right leads off your shoulders so you can focus on other tasks such as improving your products or services. You could always do it by yourself, but having another set of outsourced talents to help you out will not only save you time, it will also increase your productivity by 2x, 3x, or even 5x. Whether you’re a lone ranger or you prefer working with an outsourced team, the goal remains the same: connect with the right people who need your help at the shortest possible time.
