7 Steps to Lead Generation Riches

I don't know who said "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing" but it has never been more true. Every week contractors call or question, "How can I get more leads?"

Yet, in that decidedly ruthless way that shocks the inquisitor, we are trained to respond: "What are you doing with the ones you have now?"

By that we mean that there are 7 'main things' to extract full, cash-rich value from your current lead flow. It's right there under your nose...

1. Where'd they come from? (Market source via media.)
2. How big is this target source? (What we call "universe".)
3. How many bought what? (Closing ratio per item.)
4. What did they pay? Upsell offered? (Transaction size per ratio.)
5. Do they have friends? (Referral follow up chain.)
6. What about the ones you didn't close? (Follow up closing efforts)
7. What system will keep all these customers and prospects coming back to you?

Because to us, we can make the phone ring again. But if you're not maximizing the lead value, then it's only marketing heroin. More is not always better.

Those questions are in order, too. The top one is the most important. A mediocre ad to the best target will outperform the best ad to a mediocre target. Yes, as an overpaid copywriter, I just said that. Truth is, we can usually kick your mediocre offer AND help you find the best list because that serves both of us.

Then "target" in to wherever your offer is aimed. From your customer list to your web visibility, which includes SEO, AdWords, and even your radio demographic, Cable reach, and in house prospect list. These are 'segments' you can define that have a reachable quantity.
That leads to #2.

Is this your current list, dated list, big ticket buyers, referrals, church bulletin, little league parents, or chamber of commerce? I mean, you've got to know the size of the pool. To answer whether it's even worth fishing the pool, check out #3...

Do they close well? Or are they a bunch of mealy mouth price shoppers? Maybe they're rabid for image and product 'z' supports that image. Closing ratio must intersect with ticket and gross profit to be meaningful. Then to #4...

Are they high transaction sales that can make your month? Or low transaction that must sustain volume to be profitable? On either, is there a more profitable upsell you're not offering? Before you leave them...

The Great Email Backlash

I hate it. We all hate it.

Email has turned into the digital telemarketer during dinner. It's too much, too often, and - in my lowly estimation - too cheap. I wish they'd charge for it so the spammers, slammers, and scammers could just go bother someone else.

In the meantime, you and I nearly dread the return from a vacation, finding inboxes crammed with promised millions, Viagra offers, male "enhancements" and some scandalous promise from the marketing world. (Yes, probably even me on occasion.)

So, the legitimate emailers of the world are sort of trapped by association. This very e-newslettter goes through massive filtration to keep out of the trash (though we lose a few every issue) and has gotten 'dressed up' mightily over the years to maintain a credible presence. We've taken steps to greatly increase readership, some get by the "wrong" filters though.

Measurement That Matters

We're warned that pride is a bad thing. And I fully understand. Pride entraps its victim in a blanket of mock superiority on its way to personal doom. Boasting becomes pride. Pride becomes conceit. Conceit becomes no one.

Funny, but the ever-boasting blowhard of self-achievement 'thinks' that their accomplishments make them more attractive, more fun to be around, more likable. None are true. Just as this paragraph started, they make you a blowhard. Knowing all this...

My son graduated from High School this past weekend. I am proud of him. There, I said it. He got a scholarship in an honors program. He won the headmaster's Award for Excellence. And all this was achieved with at least half of his parents not being all that great of a student (guess which one!).

If my chest pokes out any further, I will have Eva Mendez' profile... or snap a rib. So I'll stop.

The thing about school is that they 'measure'. Scores are scores, grades based thereupon, college acceptance/scholarships directly correlative, segments sliced accordingly. "Oh, you made a 33 on the ACT test? You go in this stack. And you with the 18, you go over here."

In the job world, the surface measurement is usually money. This - along with pride - is another set up for the Scriptural Sin Grab Bag. Sure, many worthy alternative definitions of success abound: title, influence, responsibility, result, impact. All are important; all worthy of your focus. Harder to measure, but worthy.

Yet here is THE problem with most contractors' measurement and focus Click to see how many thousands of people he can offend in 2 sentences or less...