Excellence in Lead Generation Comes from These 3 Key Things

Imagine what it would be like if you knew the three keys to superior lead generation and had the guidance to put them into practice.

Think of how your business would change!

Your sales would soar.

You could choose your customers from a long list of prospects.

You would have plenty of time to focus on the most profitable projects instead of being on the treadmill chasing smaller ones.

10X improvements in all areas of your business would be yours for the taking, even spilling into your personal life.

It would be phenomenal, wouldn’t it?

But how do you make that leap from where you are now to the heights of lead generation excellence?

After all, there isn’t a magic wand you can wave for instant 10X improvements.

Or is there?

We Promise You

We promise you will see results when implementing these three critical components for lead generation.

It’s impossible not to.

If you let us guide you and you are willing to make changes, you’ll receive remarkable results.

And best of all, not only will you see an immediate improvement in your lead generation numbers, but your business overall will become more profitable.

You’ll be able to gain a boost to generate high-quality leads and earnings with this fresh approach.

Real Results for Real People

The important thing is that you can do it.

You don’t need a team of marketers or an army of employees.

But first, we need to drop a bomb: everything you’ve read and learned about lead generation is probably wrong.

But don’t worry, help is on the way!

By reading this article, you will:

No longer will you be at the mercy of your competitors or of the economy.

You will be in control, and you will have a plan for success.

You will now be in the driver’s seat and steer yourself toward success and prosperity.

Do These 3 Things to Gain More Leads, More Trust, and More Money

Excellence in lead generation strategies is complex because most businesses are clueless about what it takes to stand out from the crowd.

They get excited about their website, landing pages, or YouTube videos, but they completely miss the boat on the three things that matter the most.

Instead of steering their business toward a healthy lead generation system, they run around in circles with no idea what to do next.

As a result, they waste time, money, and effort on lead generation campaigns that aren’t converting.

In addition, some of them spend large amounts of cash for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) methods that don’t produce any results.

Others create and implement off-the-wall ideas that make no sense.

Some do nothing at all!

And so they fail.

And many never try to convert leads into sales again because their first attempt was dismal.

Don’t let that be you!

Just because you didn’t know how to succeed at lead generation in the past doesn’t mean you can’t do it now.

The good news is that if you follow the three key steps and processes we outline here, you will get your sales moving forward.

What is a Lead?

First, let’s understand what a qualified lead is.

A qualified lead isn’t a name, phone number, and email address. It’s someone who has shown interest in what you offer.

Lead generation comes from understanding what’s going on inside a prospect’s head when they’re looking at your site or ad copy.

Ask yourself:

➡ How do I catch their interest?

➡ How do I keep them engaged?

➡ And, of course, how do I get them to buy?

That is the basic philosophy of effective lead generation. It’s not about how many people sign up for your newsletter or download a document.

It’s about how engaged those prospects are and whether they’re buying from you or someone else.

How to Generate Leads With Less Effort

What if I told you there was a way to generate more quality leads with less effort?

What if I explained how you could accomplish this by focusing on one thing and one thing only.

The customer.

That’s right, generating leads starts with understanding your customers better than they understand themselves.

And guess what – it doesn’t take much work. It just takes awareness, organization, and a willingness to change.

Let’s get started!

Key #1: You Must Have a Handle on Customer Data

The great irony of business today is that marketers are drowning in customer information. Yet, they are not using this abundance of data to improve marketing and sales performance.

Now is the time to change that.

By moving customer data from your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) or point-of-sale system to a marketing automation database, you can unlock a wealth of information to help you better understand the people who buy from you.

There are four steps to take:

➡ Step #1: Gather the Data

Gathering data starts with knowing which attributes are essential to your business.

For example, if you’re a business-to-business (B2B) company, you may want to know your client’s business size.

If you’re a business-to-consumer (B2C) company, then you may want to know their age and gender.

When your prospects opt-in, lead capture is automatically created and tagged in such a way that you can identify them later for special offers, emails, online ads, phone campaigns, and social media tweets.

Your opt-in forms should ask for the following contact information:

* Name
* Email address
* Telephone number
* Company name and job title (if you have a B2B business)

By collecting and storing the above information, you’ll be in a position to develop richer customer profiles.

➡ Step #2: Develop Customer Profiles

You can develop customer profiles with the contact information you’ve collected.

For example, suppose a B2B company has a customer named “Allison” in the pharmaceutical industry and buys at least $10,000 worth of products each year. In that case, you have enough information to develop a customer profile.

That profile would be something like:

* Age: 45 – 55
* Gender: Female
* Industry experience: 20 years

In addition to your customer profile, you can develop a prospect profile. This type of contact information helps you segment consumers into individual groups that require a customized sales approach.

➡ Step #3: Define Segments & Outreach Campaigns

It is crucial to segment your customers by their demographics, purchase history, and behaviors.

You segment them because no two customers are alike.

If you’re segmenting on purchase history, then you can focus your marketing and sales programs on your hottest buyers.

For example, if the hottest buyers are over 45, then you’ll want to send them different promotions than you would offer to a 20-year-old.

Segmenting on behavior is also important because it allows you to react and respond to your customer’s evolving needs.

One of the most popular ways to segment by behavior is through promotion history, enabling you to send your repeat customers promotions similar to what they have purchased in the past.

➡ Step #4: Run Outreach Campaigns

So, now you have customer profiles, buyer personas, and marketing segments.

You’re well on your way to eliminating the guesswork from your marketing campaigns.

Next, you can send outbound messages (e-mail, direct mail, phone calls) to these personas and segments with specific messages about your products and services.

For example, if the buyer persona “Allison” has a 35 percent open rate for promotional emails in the pharmaceutical industry, then you can send her more promotional emails over time.

You’re better positioned to know what will motivate Allison because of your richer profile.

Here are some other ways to use customer profiling:

If you use customer profiling, segmenting buyer personas, and running outreach campaigns more often than your competitors, then you’ll enjoy a clear advantage in the marketplace.

Emotion Sells, Not Products

It’s a well-known fact that when consumers make purchases, they are buying an experience. Marketing professionals have long understood this fundamental notion of marketplace psychology and leverage its marketing strategy.

An essential part of acquiring and keeping customers is the cultivation and interpretation of customer data.

Through careful analysis, a service company can determine which customer segments would be most receptive to offers or discounts in specific areas.

It also allows you to better understand your customers’ needs to receive just what they want without interruptions from unwanted sales talk or irrelevant products and services.

A kitchen remodeling company that’s been around for decades started collecting customer data at our suggestion.

They discovered customers are most interested in sinks, countertops, and cabinets. So they kept track of everything people liked and disliked about their product and committed to making it better for every customer.

After a few years, the business grew exponentially.

People loved the company because things seemed personalized and tailored to them.

Customers appreciated how attentive the company was to what they wanted or always sought to improve their experience somehow.

The company wanted to make each experience special.

And they succeeded!

The Importance of Customer Segmentation

The problem with not segmenting data is that it makes it harder for you to communicate directly with your ideal customers.

Marketing without customer segmentation is like throwing darts at a wall hoping one of them hits the target. But all you’re doing is wasting time and money on marketing efforts that don’t work for you or your customers!

But you’re doing a good job annoying people.

Imagine sending someone an email announcing a sale for a product they already purchased from you. Such a waste!

You see, you can segment your customer base into categories based on what they have purchased to avoid such a faux pas.

And that’s what the kitchen remodeling company implemented.

When a customer has wooden floors installed, they place them in a funnel specifically for that product.

Now the company sends helpful information regarding wooden floors instead of pitching them to buy more wooden floors they don’t need.

Because they’re in the wooden floor funnel, the customers receive helpful emails about caring for their floors and what appliances compliment them. They also provide tips on what to do if the floor gets scratched or stained.

The value of customer insight leads to more future sales resulting in more revenue.

How to Segment Customer Information

The easiest way to start this process is to create a list of customer segments and use that to align your marketing activities.

For example, the kitchen remodeling company can estimate the “lifetime value” of each customer (the average sales revenue generated by that customer over time) and segment accordingly.

You can also look at things like:

➡ How long has it been since they made a purchase?

➡ How often do they purchase from you?

➡ Monetary value—which customers contribute the most?

➡ What are the customer demographics?

Using this data, companies can create segments based on where they fit into your business.

By segmenting your customers, you develop effective marketing strategies that boost revenue.

Customer Segmentation Problems

Bear in mind that most businesses only know about 20% of their customers.

They don’t know what they like or dislike, how long it’s been since their last purchase, or what their needs are.

A well-constructed segmentation analysis will tell you all of this in addition to a customer’s “lifetime value” (the average sales revenue over time).

But here is where things get tricky.

First, your marketing activities need to align with the segments you’ve created.

But if you don’t know the customer, how can this create segments?

This question leads us to Key #2.

Key #2: You Must Know Your Customer

Tim owns a locksmith and security system company inherited from his grandfather.

The business has been around for the last 75 years, but Tim really didn’t know the first thing about his customers.

He didn’t understand what problems they faced, how they felt about security, or what products or services they had purchased in the past.

Tim wasn’t blind to this, and neither are you.

But it wasn’t until Tim scheduled a call with us that he realized how bad his problem was and how he could lose the business his grandfather had worked so hard to build.

It surprised Tim to learn that lead generation strategies have NOTHING to do with sales calls!

However, the more he talked to us, the more he realized how off-base his sales approach was.

His customers were busy people (just like Tim), and they didn’t have time to talk to him about security system features for hours on end.

Instead, they were looking for someone they could trust with their most important financial assets.

It wasn’t about bells and whistles—it was about trust.

Tim’s marketing worked its magic on a whole new level.

It was a brand new world for Tim.

He gathered insights into his customers with our segmentation framework.

He realized that while some customers were looking for a no-hassle, low-cost system, others wanted a high-end system with many bells and whistles.

It was overwhelming at first. Still, Tim’s job got easier when he discovered email marketing to generate qualified leads and sales.

He discovered how to send email broadcasts with additional features and customer stories that gave him an easy way to communicate with his prospects.

He is now building a relationship with his customers while he builds up the business.

Tim says:

I love we can touch our customer base with things that matter to them. No longer do my salespeople stand in someone’s kitchen pitching them on the latest security technology. Our job is to provide our customers with what they want, not what we want. Now customers come to us when they want to talk about upgrading their systems. We don’t have to browbeat them into buying something they don’t want or need.

Tim learned the secret of key #2: Greater customer understanding equals excellent lead generation performance.

Why is it Important to Know Your Customer?

When looking for new customers, it’s essential to know who they are as individuals, so you continuously provide value to them and understand their needs.

The more they trust you, the better your conversion rates will be.

Showing gratitude to customers that decide to work with you fosters good business relationships and helps people feel respected.

Buying from a person instead of an impersonal business transaction is what every consumer desires.

By getting to know your customer, you ensure that kind of relationship will flourish for years.

But you know what?

Most small businesses don’t foster customer relationships. You know this to be true from your own experiences.

I once ordered a pair of shoes from an online retailer. Unfortunately, they were smaller than expected, so I returned them the next day.

They processed the return quickly and with no problems. Their service impressed me.

This is the only company I use now to buy shoes online. So I became a lifelong customer.

Have you ever had to cancel a cable company or cellphone service? What is the standard treatment you receive? Sort of like buying a used car, huh?

Your customer will know your business as either the company they can trust to provide a high-quality product or service or the one that is difficult to work with.

Even the way companies answer the phone (if they even do that) makes a tremendous difference.

Wouldn’t it be great if companies treated you like you were their only customer?

Now you know what you need to do with your customers.

Studies show that customers want:

To make your business stand out, you must provide excellent customer service. 

Your customers will see that you care about them, which builds trust and loyalty.

Knowing your customer better improves communication and promotes relationships.

It also helps you to create a message that resonates with them on a personal level.

This idea takes us to the third key.

Key #3: Clear Messaging

The third key to lead generation excellence is clear messaging.

How many times have you been on someone’s website and didn’t have a clue what they did?

Yeah, me too.

If you want to optimize your lead generation strategies, visitors must precisely understand what you do.

Someone should be able to land on your website and immediately know why you are in business.

You can spend all the money in the world on a beautiful website, Google ads, third-party lead gen companies. But without clear messaging, you might as well not be in business at all.

It’s Not About You

And guess what else?

Stop calling yourself the best of the best, the #1 whatever business, how you always beat your competition.

It’s not true, and people know it.

It’s not true because it’s impossible to be #1 at all times for everything.

Instead of beating your chest, focus on your customer. Your messaging should align perfectly with their needs—not yours!

Bad to Good Taglines

ROOFING

➡ About you: We’re the No. 1 roofing company in the entire world.

➡ About them: Protect your family and home with a long-lasting roof.

ATTORNEYS

➡ About you: #1 Personal Injury Law Firm.

➡ About them: Get help through a challenging life situation.

PLUMBING

➡ About you: The best plumber in town.

➡ About them: Make your plumbing frustrations disappear.

Which message do you think invites your customers to contact you?

The bottom line is that every single customer that contacts you has a problem. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be contacting you.

So your job is to solve their problem quickly and efficiently.

People want things simple. They don’t ask for much.

Sara and Her Expert Home Designing

When Sara came to us, she had an interior design website with the tagline “Decorating and Design Expert.”

She struggled to get traffic, make sales, and ultimately figure out what she needed to do to get more business. We worked with her to come up with a strategy that would solve these problems.

She had a nice-looking website. The problem, however, was that it wasn’t doing anything for her business.

One of the first things we suggested was to change her tagline to be about her customer instead of first touting herself as an expert.

We also helped her with customer data gathering and segmentation automation.

We helped Sara understand the value of video as a lead generation strategy for her design services on the content side.

We also helped Sara’s business by creating an online lead generation funnel that would help nurture quality leads and turn them into paying clients.

In addition, we set up a lead magnet with a landing page and a free quote form that would serve as the entry point for people to sign up for her email list.

We also created a custom opt-in page that made it super easy to join the blog posts list.

So let’s look at how Sara did in the period after she implemented these changes.

Since we began working with Sara, she closed 42% more sales than the previous year.

Sara is now generating revenue faster and more efficiently!

On top of this increase in sales, Sara built an email list of 1,500 leads through content marketing, which allows her to continue generating traffic for free.

Her message is obvious, strong, and straightforward.

How did this happen?

By identifying Sara’s target audience and zeroing in on what they need and want.

We used a combination of personas and buyer journeys to get to the root of who Sara’s potential customers are.

We then use this information to build a sales funnel that would effectively help Sara reach this audience.

The new website has allowed her to expand her reach to new markets and build a more relevant and targeted audience.

Summary

This article discussed the importance of a clean, modern website that supports your customer’s well-being and is easy for them to use.

Your message should be clear as day so your customers know exactly who you are, what services you provide, and how they can contact you to get more information.

If there is any confusion about where to go or what exactly your business does or doesn’t do, then you have lost a customer.

Make sure the calls to action are clear and easy to follow.

Be specific in telling your customer what they will receive when they sign up for your email list or opt-in to your blog.

And be strategic about what lead magnet you offer. For example, giving away a free cookie-cutter PDF isn’t going to work.

For example, if you’re an interior designer, provide a free guide showing them how to design their living room.

Make sure it is as simple as possible for them to join. They don’t need long forms asking for irrelevant information.

Your goal must be to create an online lead generation funnel that nurtures quality leads and turn them into paying clients as quickly as possible, no longer allowing any to fall through the cracks.

Finally, you must know your customers.

Know their pain points and desires so you can offer a solution that meets those needs.

You must be able to speak directly to your customers and give them what they want.

This will help you build a lasting relationship with a highly targeted customer base.

If you follow our lead and implement these three keys for excellence in lead generation, don’t be surprised when your bottom line starts to soar.

What To Do Next

So, if you’re ready to be the best in your field and take your business to new heights, schedule a call with us.

Just click on the button below that takes you to a calendar to choose your date and time.

We hope you found this article helpful. If you have questions about the three keys for lead general excellence or digital marketing, please reach out to us.