Have your sales leads slowed to a trickle?
If so, there could be many reasons for that.
However, the first place to look is your marketing content.
I see this time and time again with clients. When a client comes to me wondering why they aren’t generating sales leads, the first thing I do is review their marketing content.
A quick glance usually reveals the answer.
The problem?
Their content is dull, boring and doesn’t do a thing to compel a prospect to want to know more.
Try this little exercise. Take out your most recent email campaign or sales letter. Or, call up your home page.
Now, pretend you are a prospect and ask yourself if YOU would be interested and captivated by what you read.
Be honest. What do you see? Would YOU want to know more?
Today’s marketplace is more competitive than ever. But there’s another significant change that has taken place.
With its ability to provide easy access to information, the internet has made today’s prospect experts.
Most visitors to your site have probably already checked out three or four of your competitors. They know WHAT your offer.
So if you waste their time by starting from the beginning – giving them all the “what we offer” blah blah, chances are you’ll lose them.
As Dan Kennedy points out, today’s prospect STARTS from this perspective:
“With all the options I have available to me, including doing nothing, why should I pick you to help me solve my problem or fulfill my need?”
See the problem?
When your content messaging is communicating great customer service, competitive pricing and a variety of styles or programs to choose from, chances are you’ve already lost your opportunity to make a sale.
That BIG dark hole you see in front of you is your prospect yawning.
Why? Because all your competitors are saying the very same thing.
So what can you do?
Don’t waste a minute and start creating compelling content – today!
Here are 5 quick and easy ways to improve your lead generation
1. Write customer-focused content
Tune in to your prospect’s favourite radio station – WII-FM. What’s in it for me? Think like your prospect. What is your prospect interested in as it relates to your service or product?
Focus on your customer’s needs and wants. I added “wants” here because many times a want will trump a need. Ask current customers what’s important to them. If you have a blog, see what your readers are commenting on and use those insights to build a sales story.
2. Write content for each stage of the buying process
Your prospects are not all alike. Some are further up the track in their buying process because they know your products and services better than others. Write helpful information that acknowledges ALL of your prospect’s information needs. That way, your content will be relevant, timely and useful for every prospect. Make sure there’s something for everybody – from a totally uninformed prospect to one who is getting ready to pull the buying trigger.
3. Package information the way your prospects want it
Give ’em what they want. If you want your prospects to read your content, provide it in a way that makes them receptive. Do they like reading emails? Blog posts? Or, if your product or service is more involved, maybe a report or white paper is the best way to go. The best approach is to figure out what format appeals to the majority of your prospects and then create others for those who don’t fit into that majority profile.
4. Write fresh and engaging content
Many marketers create boring content. No personality. No excitement. No edge. Just beige drivel that makes a prospect’s eyes glaze over. Get your reader’s attention. Be conversational. People do business with people. Let your personality shine through in your copy. That’s what your prospects’ are looking for in addition to a solution their problem.
5. Don’t put all your marketing content in one spot
Get it out there! This article appears on my blog, on LinkedIn, on my Twitter feed and on a couple of article distribution sites. That’s called leverage. Make the same content work for you across a number of channels.
Follow these simple guidelines so your content grabs eyeballs and watch your sales results improve.
