A lead is the person who is already interested in a business’ product or service in a particular shape, form or way. In other words, instead of cold calling a prospect, the customer hears from an organization or business they have already opened a line of communication with.
Follow the steps below to create the ultimate lead marketing and generating system for local businesses. Each step in the system is important, so take your time if you want to do it right.
Step 1: Find out why customers want to buy from a business
List at least three compelling reasons why customers would prefer to buy a business’ service or product as opposed to buying from the competition. Take time to talk to salespeople and even customers to find out the problems they want to solve when selling or buying the business’ offerings.
Step 2: Draft a special report
This special report should contain insider information that the average business prospect may not know. The report should also contain highly educational facts, and should NOT have “salesy” information. You can have your report as a written document, an audio recording or a video that you will use to communicate with small business owners how you intend to generate leads for their businesses.
Your report should feature an exciting title. For example, titles that begin with “How To…” should have numbers and be framed in such a manner that reduces fear of loss.
Step 3: Create a direct response advertisement
Develop a small ad that looks like a newspaper article and that includes a compelling headline that is the same as that of your special report. Talk about the problems identified within the first sentence. For example, “65 percent of Chicago dental clinics are losing thousands of dollars to frivolous lawsuits.” Offer a solution to the problem by referring to the special report.
Next, tell the readers how they can get your special report and the benefits they stand to reap if they act immediately. For example, “Don’t make these mistakes and avoid losing thousands of dollars by calling Eskew Law at 888-888-8888, and request the special report immediately.”
Step 4: Set up a response mechanism
Be prepared to receive lots of leads by creating a response mechanism which logs the leads and tracks where they are coming from. The worst thing you can do is write a great report, run a hot ad and lose precious leads.
Have a toll-free, direct response system that captures your leads’ names and addresses. These telephone numbers make it easy for prospects to respond, while the toll-free number reduces chances of losing your prospects. The system will also help you handle several incoming calls at once without much effort.
Step 5: Create a follow-up fulfillment system
Suppose you have created your lead generating ad, calls are coming through requesting the free report, but how will you manage all the new prospects? If you intend to send about five follow-up marketing texts, this can easily become a nightmare.
Use a Contact Management System to manage the leads while keeping tabs of your entire marketing program. The system allows you to create marketing activities that should be done at specific times. For example, after receiving the lead, you send out the special report at once. You can call your prospect within three days. You can even send a follow up postcard in 6 days before sending the sales letter with a great offer in ten days.
Simply attach a new lead to the activity schedule and the software does all the work. By next morning, select a task list and it indicates all marketing activities done during the day for all your prospects.
