Over the course of our recent podcast series, we’ve been discussing pandemic and post pandemic selling skills. We’ve discussed things like Facebook, social media, LinkedIn, YouTube, video, teleconferencing, and today we’re going to be discussing generating leads online. Are you doing it? Do you know how to do it? Do you have the tools you need to do it? We’ll hit all of that in today’s podcast.
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David: Hi and welcome to the podcast. Today, cohost Chris Templeton and I are back, and we’re going to be talking about generating leads online. Welcome back, Chris.
Chris: Thank you David. Nice to be here. You know, when we talk about generating leads online, that can mean a whole lot of things to a whole lot of different people. Talk about what your definition is of that process.
David: Okay. Well, as you indicated, it can happen a lot of different ways. You could post something on Facebook that someone sees and they reply to it and they say, “Ooh, that sounds great. I’d like to be a customer!” Of course that never happens.
Chris: But they may say, “ah, you know, I’m willing to take a look.”
David: Exactly. So it could be that, but I’d like to get a little more specific on this, because as we move to these different methods of interacting with people and communicating with people, I think it’s important to understand that online lead generation can mean more than just somebody finds you online and then you connect offline and you end up establishing a relationship. Online lead generation can actually be a situation where you put something out to the marketplace. It could be some sort of lure, some sort of lead magnet, that is designed to get their attention and to sort of pull them into your orbit. You then would need to have the technology in place to be able to capture that lead. In many cases that would be through some sort of opt-in form, and then you want to be able to nurture that communication, which often involves autoresponders or ongoing communication. And so this starts to sound very technical (and obviously we’re not going to get into all the details in a podcast.) But this is exactly the type of stuff that we work with our existing clients on to help them to be able to increase their online presence, actually be able to generate leads online and to be able to replicate themselves — to be able to automate some of the process — so they don’t have to physically be doing all of the work themselves. And I think as we look at the whole topic of this conversation — sort of doing things in a post pandemic world — we want to look at how we can better leverage ourselves, how we can better utilize technology to sort of clone ourselves so that we don’t have to be all places at all times. We can actually utilize the technology to create an environment in which it appears that that’s the case, where we can be hyper-responsive without actually having to do all the work ourselves.
Chris: And you know, one of the things that I think a lot of people kind of default to when they think about this is, “Oh, it’s going to be sales thing after another,” this automated followup type of thing, and that simply, from my perspective, and I think yours, should not be the case, should it David? These autoresponders should be something that are of value, that show who I am, help to figure out fit, that sort of thing.
David: Yes. Just as in every business communication that we ever have.
Chris: What?
David: It should all be geared like that. We had talked in a previous podcast about sort of the 80/20 aspect of that, making sure that roughly 80% of what you’re saying to a client is just solid value and perhaps using the other 20% or so to sell. Maybe it’s even 85/15 or 90/10. But it’s about establishing those relationships. It’s about nurturing those relationships and helping our clients to get the results they’re looking for.
Chris: You know, I used to be a consultant for a large financial services company and one of the seminars I’d give to agents was that marketing equaled relationship. And I think it’s very easy to forget that what you’re doing, what your goal is, is to create a connection with these types of communications. And so, I think you’re probably right, David, 90/10. 10% sales, 90% information. What do I do to help somebody feel like they’re going to be able to make an educated purchase of whatever it is that I’m selling, by providing information and talking things through that aren’t necessarily part of the direct sales process, but give that prospect enough information where they feel like number one, they know who I am, that I’m delivering value, I begin to trust you. I begin to feel like I’ve got that relationship going. And that can be in any form, too.
David: Right. Absolutely. And when you make this decision to move in that direction, you need to think it through. And just as we’ve talked about before, you need to know where you want to start. You need to know where you want to end up and then you need to be able to connect the dots in between. And when you’re generating leads online, it’s exactly the same thing. You have to have a very clear idea of “who are exactly the types of people that I would like to attract with my marketing” and then “how can I do that?” How can I offer something to them that will do that? An example of this, obviously those who have listened to this podcast are aware of the fact that we’ve got a course called Total Market Domination, where we help our clients to create top of mind awareness in their market so that people can view them as the go-to person. This has been particularly important during the pandemic, because a lot of people have felt like people have stopped buying, but that’s really not the case. And when you’re able to create an environment in which the very best prospects know you’re alive, they know that you’re taking in air on the planet and they know that you can potentially help them… you can continue to make sales regardless of what’s going on in the economy. But it requires an intelligent approach. So if somebody wanted an example of how this works… if they were to go to TopSecrets.com/TMD for Total Market Domination, that’s TopSecrets.com/TMD, that would take them to an opt-in page. Okay. And the opt in page is designed to be of interest to people who might be interested in dominating their market. This is just to give you an idea of exactly how something like this might work. So if you go to that site, what you’ll see is there’s a video of myself, and there’s a button at the bottom and it says, if you’d like to get more information, free information on this, click the button. When they do that, they have the ability to enter their first name and email address. And then, we’ll send them out a series of emails, giving them access to a three part video series on how to create top of mind awareness and dominate their market. The important thing to understand, even with this example, is that, first of all, it’s highly targeted. It is geared to a very specific audience. If somebody hears about a course on dominating their market and they say, “Ew, I don’t want to do that,” well then they’re never going to opt-in for this and that’s perfectly fine. Because I don’t even want to waste the electrons on somebody who has no interest in it. However, for somebody who says, “yeah, that sounds good to me,” that’s the type of person that I would like to have whirling in our orbit, aware of what we do and able to make a thumbs up or thumbs down, yes or no decision about whether or not it makes sense to work together. The way that this works behind the scenes is this is essentially a lead magnet. This three part video series that we offer is an example of a lead magnet. We’ve got lots of other lead magnets we offer on various things. Some are PDF files, some are cheat sheets, some are webinars. We have all kinds of different lead magnets that we utilize, but this is an easy to understand example. When you think in terms of the components that are needed. You have a lead magnet, which in this case is a three part video series. You have an opt-in form, which is included on that page, where people can enter their first name and email address — minimal, that’s what you want to be able to gather — and then you need to be able to follow up. Whether you do that manually, or whether you do that as part of an autoresponder sequence is entirely up to you. However, if you do decide to automate it, then you can have these things literally running for months or years, right? If you’ve got something that works well ,and it appeals to your target audience, you can literally be running the same stuff for years and years and years, which allows you to leverage yourself like crazy. So those are the three primary components if you’re thinking about doing this. If you want to be able to generate leads online, you need a mechanism for doing it. It’s going to involve something that they want, which I’m referring to as a lead magnet, a way for them to get it, which would be an opt-in form, and then some way of following up, which in my experience, the best way to do that would be through sequential autoresponder technology.
Chris: And there are all kinds of online platforms that allow for that to be done in a way that’s easy. And again, the thing that I want to go back to, David, from our last two podcasts is consider video. Start with something personal, because their initial expectation is going to be, “Oh, this guy’s going to now try to sell me in whatever follows up. For most people breaking that expectation is huge.
David: Yes, I agree. And I’m just thinking like even on that landing page for people who can express interest in our Total Market Domination course, there’s a short video on there. It’s maybe three or four minutes. It’s just basically me looking at the camera, talking to the camera and addressing the people who come in. Well, this page has been hit literally thousands of times and so if there’s a four minute video on there and a thousand people have seen it, that’s 4,000 minutes of conversation, one way essentially, that I’ve been able to have with people who have visited that page. So if it’s three o’clock in the morning and I’m sound asleep, but somebody is on this page, I’m able to talk to them. I’m able to communicate with them. I’m able to offer them something of value for free. They’ll either say yes or no, they’ll take it or they won’t. If they decide to take it, then they’ll be able to get more information for free and it’s like a greased chute, which, of course, is what we all want in sales. We want to be able to put a lead in at the top and have them slide down and come out the bottom as a customer. And when you’re able to build these systems into your business, it really allows you to begin doing that.
Chris: And you know, David, there has not been a better time in our lifetimes right now to be playing with some of that and have fun with it. I mean there’s so many things that you can do to bring credibility to yourself.
David: Yeah. Something else that I think is interesting, Chris, is back in January of this year, when things were just all going great for everyone, we talked to people about options for growing their sales and profits and a lot of them at the time said, “I don’t have the time for that. I don’t have time to do that. I’m too busy.” And then things hit with the pandemic. And then it’s like, “well I don’t have the money for that. Now I’ve got the time, but I don’t have the money.” And I think “isn’t that life” in so many cases? It’s like when you feel like you’ve got the money, then you don’t have the time. And when you feel like you’ve got the time, then you feel like you don’t have the money. But ultimately, we all have to make decisions and it boils down to the difference between expenses and investments. What am I going to put out that is just a waste of money? For example, right now I’m paying for an office that I am not occupying. That is an expense. That is not an investment at this point. That is an expense. It’s money that’s going out that I’m not going to get back, but it’s not creating any value for me. But to the extent that I can interact with others and I can learn something from someone else, if I’m able to invest in something that allows me to do that (and I do a lot of that, by the way. I don’t just sell courses. I buy a lot of them too, to try to learn what I can learn,) that’s usually an investment, as long as you take action on what’s being learned. And so what I would say is if you’re thinking about the need to move your business forward and if it makes sense for us to work together, go to TopSecrets.com/call. You can schedule a time to talk with us, see if it makes sense. And if it doesn’t, we’ll tell you that. We’re not looking to try to bang square pegs into round holes. If it’s a fit for you, we’ll tell you, if it’s not a fit, we’ll tell you that too. But the only way you know that is by having a conversation. So go to TopSecrets.com/call, schedule a time to talk. We’ll discuss what type of market you’re going after, who you’re looking to target, what’s working well for you, what’s not working well. Even if we don’t end up working together, you’ll still get a lot of value for the call. So I would definitely recommend that you set aside some time to do that.
Chris: And remember, right now is probably the best time to be able to set some of these things up without having to spend a tremendous amount of money. So it’s the right time in all kinds of ways.
David: I completely agree.
Chris: Thank you, David.
David: All right. Thank you Chris. Talk to you next time.
David: These are very strange times, and it’s likely the next 90 days in business are going to be critical for you. So if I offered to work with you, virtually, over the next 90 days, to help you to minimize the short term damage to your business, and position yourself perfectly for the long-term, as the go-to person in your market, while everyone else is too afraid to move, would you take me up on that offer? It’s important to understand that this is not for everyone. Specifically, you must be serious about doing what’s necessary to grow and scale your business right now. This is what’s going to help you to minimize short-term damage and position yourself as the leader in your market during the recovery. You must be ready, willing and able to invest in yourself, your business, and getting new clients. You must be willing to follow very specific instructions. You must be friendly and coachable. And, you must be ready to start now. This is not for those who want to “wait it out.” If you meet all five of those criteria, schedule a one-on-one strategy session with us to determine if we’re a good fit to work together. Please, only schedule a time when you know you’ll actually show up. Just go to topsecrets.com/call. That’s topsecrets.com/call.
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