If you need to find new business opportunities for your company, then lead generation will be an area to focus on. It is one of the key marketing skills that you need to develop if you are to be successful.
So you’ve started a business, possibly with a few customers already on the books from a previous business or employment. You decide that you need to find some more customers, but you quickly realise that your skills and experience are focussed on delivering your products or services. How do you find the new customers that you need?
Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news. The bad news first – there are probably many businesses out there already offering the same products and services as yours. The good news however is that if you apply some basic marketing principles, and you do this consistently over a period of time, you will bring in new business opportunities.
A simple definition of marketing is communicating the right message to the right people at the right time, in a way that is right for your business. So let’s take those four points and have a closer look at each one in turn.
The right message
Much has been written about what to say to potential clients, as well as how to say it. The key point to keep in mind is that your potential customer must see the benefit to them in buying your product or service. Generally when businesses (and people) are buying, they either want to move away from an undesirable situation, or move toward a situation they would like to be in. Your messages therefore need to reflect this.
You should pay particular attention to your headline. This is the part that will either make people want to read on, or switch them off. Top advertising writers typically spend 75-80% of their time working on the headline for their message.
Your writing should use the words ‘you’ and ‘yours’ – and should talk about solving your prospect’s rather than about what your product or service is.
The right people
Whether you sell to other businesses or to consumers, you should be very clear on which businesses and individuals will want and be able to buy from you and on who will make the decision to buy. Consider these two very different examples.
A company that sells buildings maintenance services will want to target companies that own their own buildings. Larger buildings-maintenance companies will go after companies with multiple sites, and possibly also more complex maintenance requirements. Smaller companies will be better targeting single-site businesses where the needs are easier to meet. In many cases this company will try to get in touch with the facilities manager – or in smaller businesses the managing director or another senior person.
A retailer that sells luxury bathrooms and kitchens will want to target people in the kind of neighbourhoods with this type of residence. As this company offers a complete service from design, through materials selection and on to installation, they will be targeting people who may be very busy with other aspects of their lives.
The right time
People will buy your services if the time is right for them to buy – and these are perfect ‘leads’ for your business because the potential customer is ready to engage with you now. If they are not ready now, you should stay in contact and cultivate the opportunity until they are ready to buy. Being pushy when your prospect is simply not ready will just switch them off.
You need to think about how frequently your potential customers will buy the product or service you are offering. In the case of buildings maintenance contracts are often renewed annually, so you will need to be in touch with facilities managers in the two or three months running up to renewal. For luxury bathrooms and kitchens, the cycle is likely to be five years or more.
The right way for you
There are many ways in which you can contact your potential customers, and good marketing employs many of these methods in a combination. In deciding which methods are right for your business, you should consider the cost of each method alongside the likely returns from each. This will help you to understand the ‘return on investment’ of your marketing activities.
In conclusion
For many business owners, the world of marketing can appear to be a very confusing place. However, it is well-worth investing some time to understand the basics of how best to market your business. Once you become practiced at it you will be pleasantly surprised by the results you can get.
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