I Don’t Rely On My Website For Sales Leads
I love hearing this one. I wonder if they are trying to convince me or convince themselves. Or are they trying to give themselves an excuse for not caring how they appear to the world?
Let me debunk this myth once and for all.
First of all, who says this? It’s usually people that say they get all of their sales leads from networking or referrals. So I ask a follow-up question: “Are you selling as much as you want and are you making the living that you desire?” Invariably, the answer is that they are not, and here’s why.
I also do a lot of networking and I receive a lot of referrals, and the first thing I do when I get back to my office (if I have an interest in the service they provide) is go to their website to learn more about them. And that website will make or break whether they get a call from me. Don’t you do the same?
So there’s the answer. Networking and referrals can be a powerful marketing method for meeting people and getting traffic to your website, but if the quality of your traffic generation is out of balance with the quality of your website, then you won’t see the number of sales leads you desire.
In the end, the question you should be asking yourself is “how many phone calls were lost, because my website wasn’t as good as it could have been?”
So, if a quality website is the way to scale your business you may be wondering how to generate those leads?
Create great content
Blogs. Quizzes. Ebooks. There’s no shortage of content that you can create to generate leads. If you create quality content that your ideal customers are interested in they’ll be willing to give you their email in exchange for that content.
Content is how you start to build authority in your field and gain trust from your leads. Good content helps potential leads learn about why you’re the best fit to help them solve their problems.
The goal of your content should be to inform, persuade, or entertain. Most importantly your content should be useful to your ideal customer.
Collect Email Addresses
Once you start creating great content, the next step is to create forms to capture your news leads. Forms allow you to deliver that great content in exchange for their email addresses.
The key to a great form is to not ask for too much information. You want just enough so that you can’t start to communicate to your leads regularly and avoid scaring them off by asking for information they’re reluctant to give.
Nurture Your Leads
Once you’ve captured their email addresses you can start to nurture your leads and get the sale. While you may use to getting your leads through referrals, now they’re coming right to your inbox! Don’t waste them.
Now’s the time to help your leads get to know you. More great content, emails, phones call, ads, and social media are channels you can use to continue to nurture your new leads.
The reality is if you want your business to grow, relying on networking as your only method of lead generation is not sustainable. Taking the time to create or optimize your website is a worthy investment in your business and will help you exceed your business goals.