Top Lead Generation Tactics for Your Business

By: James Gatheru

Lead generation activities are synonymous with marketing. Teams are constantly searching for reliable ways to boost brand awareness and attract the right audience to their solutions.

The “right audience” here means those who can put your solutions to good use and have the capacity to purchase. These are the audiences you want to reach. Except it’s no walk in the park because your competitors are also vying for the same customers’ attention.

How then, do you secure the attention of these audiences? We have some top lead gen tactics your business could put to use.

Leverage Direct Mail

Direct mail campaigns involve sending printed mailers or physical items like perishable items, dimensional packages, and corporate swag to make connections with potential customers more meaningful.

It’s memorable, evokes better responses from recipients, and allows you to explore creative ways of delighting and entertaining target customers. With fewer companies committing a budget to this strategy, there’s minimal competition, meaning you’ll stand out.

Your upfront investment will depend on the stage your target customers are in. It makes sense to invest more in prospects who are closer to purchase than those who are just finding out about your brand.

If you’re driving brand awareness, handwritten notes to introduce your company, brochures, and flyers can work.

A bag of coffee or small swag items like car fresheners or metal tumblers etc are great for those at the consideration stage. You can spend a little more on those at the buying stage as you know them much better now. 

Once the packages are sent, create a timeline for follow-up. Calling up the recipient on the same day of delivery may come off as pushy and they may not have had the chance to open it. Wait a day at the very least.

Create Case Studies

This strategy offers an intensive analysis of customer success stories. From the moment they became cognizant of their problem to the options they weighed, why they chose you and how your solutions made all the difference.

Case studies take customer testimonials to a higher level by exploring the buyers’ problems, your commitment to resolving them, and the resulting positive outcomes. To create effective case studies, consider:

• Write from the customer’s point of view. Potential customers know companies like to toot their horns and they may think you’re exaggerating. Make your case study relatable by allowing the customer to tell the story. They are likely to mention pains that only fellow customers can understand.

• Add direct quotes from the customer. Inform your customer that you’ll be quoting them in the case study to ensure you don’t catch them off guard. Customer quotes add credibility.

• Don’t make it overly long. Naturally, you’ll want to cover every detail and benefit the customer experienced, but too much information may end up boring your readers. We recommend keeping the case study under three pages inclusive of graphics.

Launch a Referral Program

Getting referrals sounds easy enough. You call up a couple of clients and ask them to link you up with a friend whose business could use your products/services, right? 

But it’s not always that easy. There are several moving parts that need aligning to ensure your program brings in desirable results.

Consider this:

• What reward will work for your target referrers? Will you reward the referrer and the referred person, or just one of them? At what point will they receive the reward?

• Make the referral process easy to encourage customers to participate. Use a simple form that requests absolutely necessary information otherwise people might not fill it out.

• Think about which customers to ask. You’ll want to start with those who are satisfied with your brand and services and high-paying customers. In place of a mass email, craft a personalized email to make them feel that their contribution is highly appreciated.

• Get your timing right. Asking too early makes you sound desperate and waiting too long may find your customer having lost morale. The best times to ask include after a year of using your solutions, following a positive testimonial or survey feedback, or after your customer has achieved a milestone with your solutions.

Make Cold Calls

The first call you make to a prospect is crucial. You’re not just trying to sell a product/service—you’re representing your organization and all it stands for. It can literally make or break any chances your company has with the prospect.

For that reason, you’ll want to portray professionalism, expertise, confidence, and comfort. Here are phone etiquette rules to observe:

• Mind your manners. Politely introduce yourself when the prospect takes the call. Make your reason for calling known upfront and avoid chewing or sipping on anything while speaking to the other party.

• Practice steadying your voice beforehand. Most people associate tripping over words or mumbling with inexperience, and that’s the last thing you want your listener to think. Slow down your voice and pause often to allow your words to sink in and give your listener an opportunity to speak.

• Don’t put your prospect on hold to take another call. Remember, you barged into their day and by putting them on hold, you’re telling them their time is not important. Should a call come through, have a coworker answer it or allow it to go to voicemail.

Generate Reviews and Testimonials

The one thing businesses can expect today is that potential customers will seek their peers’ opinions of you before signing the dotted line. They seek unbiased reviews of those who have used your solutions to gauge your solutions’ problem-solving abilities.

It makes sense then to ensure you have a considerable number of stellar reviews and testimonials that potential customers can skim through. 

And here lies the struggle—many businesses struggle to generate testimonials, especially if they are competing against established competitors.

Do you wait patiently for your solutions to speak for themselves, or can you help drive the process? Going with the latter, here are some options:

• Create a feedback-only section on your website. This section can comprise testimonials, case studies, user-generated content, and FAQs. As visitors browse your site, they are likely to head to that section to see what others think of your solutions. 

• Involve industry influencers and independent analysts. Their review of your solutions is likely to generate more interest than the “masses” (which are important too). Reach out to these experts with your solutions and ask them to share their opinions.

• Contact current customers for reviews. Segment loyal and high-value customers and drop them a polite email requesting reviews. You can also request permission to showcase their company logo on your site.

• Respond to reviews. Take time to respond to each one. Where a customer is unhappy, offer a well-thought-out apology and rectify the issue. Potential customers pay attention to such scenarios because that ‘unhappy customer” could be them one day.