No business owner likes to spend their time and energy trying to convert people who will never actually become prospects or clients—you have better things to do!
That’s why generating leads is not enough… instead, you need to focus on generating qualified leads for your business.
This article will talk about five different ways to generate qualified leads with your ideal dream clients (outside of purposeful PR practices).
What are qualified leads?
Qualified leads or prospects are potential clients who fit the profile of your ideal, dream client and who have the intent to buy your product, offering, or services.
Why are qualified leads important?
Qualified leads are so important to growing your business, whether you’re strategizing for a product or service launch, or just incorporating them into your day-to-day business operation.
When you generate qualified leads, your time with prospects can be much more efficient and effective because they are already very interested in what you can offer. With qualified leads, consultations often turn into fitting calls instead of into you explaining your business or selling your services to someone.
How to generate a qualified lead
Before we get into five ways to generate more qualified leads, it is important to note that you always need a clear, easy-to-follow call to action. Whether you’re generating leads to gain a potential client or a power partner, it's absolutely imperative that you always have a call to action.
The saying goes that the confused mind doesn’t buy or do anything. On the other hand, if your client knows exactly what they’re supposed to do, then they are more likely to do it.
Examples of a clear call to action include asking someone to book a call, download a resource, sign up with email, or make a calendar appointment.
So, keeping your call to action in mind—below are my top five ways to generate qualified leads.
Number 1: Email database
Engaging with your email database (through Mailchimp, Honeybook, Monday.com, etc.) won’t necessarily bring in new prospects, but it will help you connect with prospects who have entered your ecosystem over the years. You never know when someone is ready, willing, and able to become a client, so you want to continue to engage with them, nurture them, and create value for them on a regular basis.
Email is a great place to include a variety of calls to action, including reminders to download your email lead magnets or freebies.
Remember that the goal of the email funnel is to progress a potential client to the point where they are ready to jump on a call.
Number 2: Social media posts and stories
We all probably know that it is a good idea to put out value on social media through posts, but it is also important to engage prospects with your stories.
For example, stories on Instagram tend to get much higher engagement than static posts — especially if you include polls or questions. People love giving quick responses and then you can engage back with those who engage with your stories.
For example, you can ask questions like “who would want to learn more about this topic?” and then follow up with them later. When asking questions on stories, always make sure you have a clear call to action that details where you can guide respondents to.
Number 3: Proximity
Email marketing and social media are typically a pretty one-sided relationship. Prospects consume your content, and it is hard to create genuine interaction.
Therefore, taking the time to reach out and get to know prospects on another level is extremely powerful. Typically, the people you want to reach out to are people already in your network, such as past clients or power partners.
What are power partners?
Power partners are people who serve a similar type of client but don’t compete directly with you.
For example, in real estate, power partners would be an architect, a designer, a builder, a landscape architect, a flooring installer, a cabinet maker, a painter, and so on. They're all power partners because they all work with clients who are either remodeling or building a house, but they don’t compete with each other. They are like a piece of the same puzzle.
So, you can reach out to those types of people and build a referral campaign or affiliate strategy with them.
You can also go through your Acuity or Calendly and reconnect with past prospects where the timing may not have been right at the time but now, they could be ready.
Proximity is all about quality over quantity, so continue to nurture those relationships with past leads or past clients and power partners.
Number 4: Video training
Videos are a powerful tool that gives your prospects more exposure to you, your personality, and your value. You can use video to effectively show them how you can help take them where they need to go. It is great for warming up some cold prospects.
Video trainings can take many forms: as recorded or live videos on social media, as LinkedIn events, as a workshop or masterclass, in Facebook groups, and more. You don’t need to be on every platform, you just need to be where your ideal client is.
One thing I love to do before workshops is using Facebook groups to tell people a few days ahead of the event to bring their friends or a business bestie. It can be much more powerful for participants if they have a friend that's learning the information with them or bouncing ideas off of them. This helps bring in more ideal clients and improves the engagement in the group and keeps the momentum going.
In general, making video content is great because you can also transcribe any video you make and turn it into written content that can be useful on other platforms like email or your website.
The one key with video is that you do need to commit to being consistent on a weekly or other regular basis.
Number 5: Direct messages
Direct messages include things like text messages and DMs—anything that’s a personal conversation rather than a mass message. Direct messages are usually great for people you’ve already connected with and warmed up a bit.
For direct messages, a good rule of thumb is if you wouldn’t do it in person, don’t do it online. You wouldn’t walk up to someone that you just met at an event and ask them to work with you. Instead, you have to build that relationship and trust first.
Take a look at their social media account or other online presence and get to know who they are when you engage with them.
Summary: How to generate qualified leads
Qualified leads can be so valuable to building your client base and growing your business in a meaningful and intentional way.
To recap, here are five different ways to generate qualified leads:
Continuously nurture and grow your email database
Utilize social media as an intentional tool, ask for engagement, and always have a clear call to action
Reach out to past leads, clients, or power partners to build affiliate strategies or a referral campaign
Consistently film how-to training videos
Send prospects personal direct messages
If you want more ways to be recognized as an expert in your field, join me in the Pitch Club Visibility Lounge Facebook group, where you can connect with a community of like-minded women working on designing the life + business of their dreams. Oh, and it's free!