We all know the recipe to run a successful business that is filled with infinite leads. The recipe varies, but may look like this:
5 oz of content
2 additional oz of content
1 tsp of recognition
3 cups of great clients
Few dashes of word of mouth
Bake in the oven for a year or so and outcomes a beautiful moist cake that is filled with infinite leads, that never run dry!
Sounds easy right?
The reason why your leads have ran dry isn’t because you stink at cooking, it’s because your networking and processes are stale.
Get back to basics!
Create Partnerships with Industry Rivals
Although this might take a big bite out of your ego, it’s always nice to settle your differences and realize that there is a ton of money out there. You may find out that your competition isn’t competition after all. All businesses specialize and your competition is no different. Find synergy, make introductions, and send business each others way.
Promote Hyper Local
Given the lack of parameters of the internet, there isn’t much that’s stopping us from doing business anywhere in the world.
However, try to think about where your business is located and focus on being hyperlocal.
This means that all of your attention stays within a 2 to 5 mile radius from wherever your business is located. We understand that you have ideas to make your business famous, but right now, we need to focus on getting more leads!
Focusing on being hyperlocal will allow you to gain additional items for your recipe of success and give you the ability to not only capture local leads, but expand your business throughout the community and then you can grow it to take over the world.
Data Mining
Use the internet to your advantage.
Try to pick an industry that you have had success with in the past, and focus on prospecting within that specific industry for a whole week. Use social media and search engines to create a spreadsheet to organize the name, email address, and phone number of your prospects.
These spreadsheets give you a 30,000 foot view of who your prospects are, which can help you to be selective in the people you target and organize them by likelihood to bite. Once you have this part of the recipe, you can start making contact.
Cold Call
Pick up that device that you use for everything in your life, and use it for it’s main purpose; make a call!
Whoever said cold calling is dead lied.
Take the list that you used to mine data and begin calling individuals on the list to capture a meeting. No reason to hit a sales home run on the first call, focus on a meeting first.
Landing the Prospect Meeting
Once you’re at the meeting, wow the individual with a stellar presentation that leaves them speechless. Even though your new prospect may not be directly looking for your product/service in that moment, plug them into your sales funnel, follow up, and ask them a simple question:
Do you know anyone that may be interested in what I presented to you today?
As you move throughout business, and by using these simple methods in networking, they will result in additional leads for your business.
Listen, it happens, leads run dry. We can’t be perfect and have stellar lead generation all the time, but whatever you do, don’t stop!
The more you network and put yourself and your company out there, the more opportunities will come your way to sell. Sales is a numbers game and although the numbers may be stacked against you at this exact moment in time, it’ll turn around.
Create your own recipe and you’ll be a better business person because of it. Or at the very least, a better cook.
Johnathan Grzybowski is a tech entrepreneur and pro wrestling enthusiast. The millennial entrepreneur blogs about everything tech, marketing, and motivation at Dino.