Attracting Quality Leads

The ability to continually attract leads - and in particular quality leads - is a critical capability that all entrepreneurs need to master - or at least those that want to enjoy the serious wealth that your own successful business can deliver.

The good news is that the steps you need to follow are not too difficult - they merely require that you exercise the necessary discipline to cycle through these steps on a consistent basis. The other good news is that most of our competitors in our market segments are so poor at direct response marketing that even a rudimentary lead attraction / copywriting skill combined with some basic database marketing capability will provide us with a massive advantage.

Attracting an abundant supply of quality leads requires that we follow the following steps:

Conduct Appropriate Market Research.

The absolutely essential first step is to conduct appropriate market research.

If you say that it’s self-evident that businesses need to conduct marketresearch - think again. Most companies and entrepreneurs are pretty shoddy at carrying out this vital first step. Many don’t even bother - and then wonder why they are going out of business.

Define A Clear And Compelling Unique Selling Proposition

You need to claim a unique promise of benefits that clearly distinguishes you from all your competitors. If you get this right, it can have a massive influence on the success of your business.

A tough question that you need to be prepared to answer. If your answer is vague or uncertain, you will have trouble convincing prospects to do business with you. Your USP has to instantly convey why they should do business with you - it must also be specific, concise, and promise a meaningful benefit.

If you don’t have a clear USP, you may be surprised to find out how difficult it is to develop one. Don’t feel alone - many businesses struggle to identify what’s different or special about their business and therefore why their customers should buy from them instead of their competitors. In ‘The Ultimate Marketing Plan’, Dan states that some of his clients ‘…have taken months, even years to finally hit on a USP that they liked and that really worked’.

If you find yourself in this position, whatever you do, don’t resort to the knee-jerk method of price undercutting to attract your customers. This is very hard to defend against somebody with deep pockets who is determined to take you out the market. Take the time to work on a USP that allows you to differentiate yourself on attributes that are not price based - in fact that ideally allow you to price yourself on the upper side of the market.

Communicate Low-risk Offers Via Compelling Sales Letters

Irrespective of whether your are conducting your business primarily online or offline, the same basic principles apply. The first few contacts between an individual and a company are not that likely to result in an immediate sale. There is a huge trust issue that you have to overcome, particularly when one of your competitors is already servicing the account. Unless there is a major breakdown in the relationship between your prospect and his/her supplier, you are going to have to work very hard overcoming the built-in resistance to change / established loyalty in the existing relationship.

To keep your costs down, the smart option is to get targeted prospects to request free or low cost products or services - ideally solicited through a direct communication such as a postcard, letter, or email. To get these prospects to act, you need a compelling sales letter - even to give away something for free. There are so many marketing messages being beamed at your prospects that the natural tendency is to filter out most of them. It is only something that is different, or offers a significant benefit that will cut through the clutter and get the attention of you prospects.

Run Goal-directed Campaigns

A simple, but effective model that Dan Kennedy advocates is his ‘3M’ model (the basis for our logo), which stands for:

• Market,
• Message, and
• Media

Dan states that you need to have a clear understanding of the specific market you are targeting. You then craft a offer or sales message that specifically caters for that market - the more accurately you match your message to your specific market, the greater your response rate. The media that you use to communicate with your target is also important, although not as much as the other two.

Access Quality Prospects Through Referrals And Alliances

Referrals from satisfied customers and leads sourced through strategic alliances are the cheapest sources of new leads. In both cases your are introduced to prospects by people who already have a relationship with those prospects.

Despite the fact that these are the best types of leads for you to get, most businesses have no, or very poor processes for getting referrals and endorsements. Often endorsements happen through a satisfied customer’s own initiatives, not through any goal-directed activities on the part of the business. This is a great pity, as asking for referrals is not difficult- it can be easily systematised.