Top 5 Ways to Generate Qualified Prospects for Your Small Business  

By Jeremy Cohen 

Do you ever wonder if you could be doing a better job  

marketing your small business or professional service firm?   

Successfully marketing a small business is hard work.  There  

are several key skills required to consistently develop new  

business that you, as a small business owner, must master in  

order to succeed.  

The first skill you need to have is the ability to regularly  

generate qualified leads.  You must consistently build your  

list of prospects if you are to grow your business.  Your  

business will not grow if you market to the same, stagnant  

population over and over again.  While there will be a  

certain percentage of people who choose to buy from you  

after repeated contact with your marketing material, the  

amount who buy will always be limited by the size of the  

list to which you market.  

How often do you add to your list of qualified prospects? 

Here are five steps you can take to improve your prospect  

building skills.  

Focus On Client Needs 

Whether you print a brochure, advertise in industry  

periodicals or use search engines to generate traffic to  

your web site the first thing your marketing materials must  

do is get noticed.   One of the best ways to have your  

future clients notice you is to use words in your marketing  

materials that focus on their needs.  By using such words  

your clients will immediately associate your ad with their  

problem or unmet need.  

For example, if you are a patent attorney your ads will have  

a much better chance of being noticed and acted upon by  

those who need your service if you use the words, "Get paid  

for your invention" instead of "Patent Attorney".  Getting  

paid is what an inventor wants.  You may be proud of your  

status as an attorney but your clients are interested in the  

results you provide that solve their problem.  

Be sure you use words in your marketing material that focus  

on your clients' needs.  They will get noticed more often.  

Eliminate Waste 

Another step you can take to improve your ability to  

generate leads is to eliminate unproductive marketing  

methods.  Marketing takes time, money and effort.  If your  

tactics are not generating the results you want stop using  

them and try something new.  Of course, in order to separate  

the good tactics from the bad you need to measure the effect  

of individual marketing efforts.  

Perhaps you run the same ad in two different newspapers.  If  

you don't know that the ad in "paper number two" is  

generating 95% of your prospects you will never know that it  

would be a smart move to reallocate the money you spend in  

"paper number one".  

What steps can you take to measure the effect of individual  

marketing tactics?  

Once you know which tactics are lead generators and which  

are not you can improve your ability to generate new leads  

simply by reallocating the resources from unproductive  

tactics to ones you know work.  

Use Your Web Site Properly 

Another way to maximize your ability to generate leads is to  

use your web site properly.  The purpose of your web site is  

to generate leads.  To maximize the number of leads your web  

site generates make sure your site has information your  

prospects want, is easy to navigate and maximizes the  

opportunity for your prospects to get in touch with you,  

either by calling you or by providing you with their contact  

information.  

Clearly let your visitors know you're there for them and  

they will be much more likely to reach out and get in touch,  

especially if your site's content demonstrates that you  

understand and can solve their problems.  

Cross Marketing 

Cross marketing is the process of establishing marketing  

relationships with companies whose product or service  

complements what you sell.  For example, a company that  

helps web site owners track the traffic to and through their  

site would do well to develop relationships with web hosting  

companies.  There is a natural symbiosis here - anyone who  

has a new web site needs to (or should) measure their site's  

traffic so they can make well-informed decisions to guide  

the evolution of their site and any web hosting company  

wants their clients' business to succeed so they can keep  

them as a customer.  Companies don't need web sites if  

they're out of business.  It therefore makes sense for web  

hosting companies to promote web statistics companies and  

vice versa as each can benefit from the other's service.  

What cross marketing tactics do you use to promote your  

business?  

Ask Questions 

Regardless of your favorite marketing mechanism the goal is  

the same: to generate interest in your products or services.  

Whether you use a web site, a brochure or newspaper ads to  

generate leads the first thing you must do is get your  

future prospects thinking about the problem that you solve  

and they have.  A great method for invoking this type of  

thought is to use questions in your marketing materials.  

If you are a dentist, questions like, "Do you have tooth  

pain?" or "Are your teeth sensitive to heat or cold?" will  

do a much better job of drawing in your prospects that  

marketing materials that say, "Do you need a dentist?"  

What questions can you ask to get your prospects thinking  

about the problems that they have that you solve?  

Move Your Marketing Forward 

Take some time to examine your marketing efforts with  

respect to the notions outlined in this article.  Is there  

room for you to improve your ability to generate leads?   

Most likely, there is.  

Copyright 2005, Better Marketing Results and Jeremy Cohen 

The author, Jeremy Cohen, helps small business owners and  

professional service providers attract more clients, grow  

their business and be more successful with his marketing guides 

and coaching service. Get his free marketing guide: Jumpstart Marketing: More Profits, Clients and Success at:  

http://www.bettermarketingresults.com/y.asp