|
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
|
Get the first chapter FREE!
If you haven't already done so, why
not sign up to receive the first chapter of Outsourcing Yourself
FREE. Along with other helpful tips on how
you can transform your current job into a secure, profitable
home-based business.
|