Professional Services Marketing Blog

Feb 24 2011

10 New Business Lead Generation Ideas

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

Lead generartion path

 

Are you maxed out on networking events and asking clients for referrals? Looking for some new approaches to lead generation and lead nurturing? Well here are 10 ideas to consider (or reconsider) for your new business lead generation campaign.

1. Write something really, really useful.

I'm not talking about a self-serving fluff piece here. Take a problem that your target audience is struggling with and provide some clear, easy-to-understand guidelines for understanding or solving it. Perhaps there is some complex new legislation or a rapidly evolving technology that folks need to understand. Make it very clear and simple and you will be a hero. (See below for ideas on distributing this wonder piece).

2.  Identify individuals who consult with your target audience on higher level issues.

Why higher level issues? Because they are often asked their advice on implementing recommendations. As an individual they don't have the capabilities to implement themselves, but are in a position to recommend your firm.Once you find them, establish a relationship and gain their respect.

3. Partner with an association on a special project.

Don't just attend meetings and trade shows. Come up with a special research study or educational program and partner with an industry association to make it happen. By doing the work, you take the burden off always stretched staffs. If the material is unbiased you position your firm as the expert on the topic and gain visibility and recognition. If you choose your project carefully, it can be a win for everyone and a great source of new leads.

4. Do a research study.

Conduct a research study, then make the results widely available. In addition to lead generation this will help you position your firm as an expert and you might even learn something valuable! This is an approach we have found to be very successful. This works well as the project for idea number 3 above.

5. Offer a free analysis.

Develop a lead generation offer that involves an analysis of an opportunity that your services are well suited to address. For example, how much money could a company save by using your solution? This serves two important functions. First, many potential clients don't pursue services that might help them because they don't have time to do the front-end analysis to make the case. Second,x this gives you a chance to establish a relationship with a company that you can really provide a benefit to. If you can't provide value, you won't continue to chase them.

6. Develop a well researched list of target clients.

Build a highly targeted list of prospective clients, then try to network with them using LinkedIn or other mutual contacts. By having a well researched target list you can be much more efficient. You'll be surprised how it increases your effectiveness.

7. Try a personalized letter (or express mail package) to break through the clutter.

I'm not talking about a traditional direct mail campaign here. I'm talking about an old fashioned business letter. Seem retro? Exactly! With the rise of e-mail we receive fewer and fewer letters outlining a business proposition. The result it that they get attention. Make sure that the letter is relevant and not just a blind offer of your services. For example, you might point out that you noticed a specific need that their firm had and believe you might have a novel solution that can save them time and money. Focus on your target clients (see number 6).

8. Write a book.

Afraid it's too hard? Perhaps it's not as bad as you fear. These days there are a lot of people who can help you with the writing and publishing tasks. A book is perhaps the crown jewel of all credibility builders. Being a published author also make it much easier to garner speaking engagements — which also generate leads. Don't forget to give the book it's own website. Consider giving away electronic versions of the book, as well. Here's an example of how we did it.

9. Shoot a video.

Do a video case study, then e-mail the link to your list. The open rates and click through on video email are usually much higher. Don't forget to use the word "video" in the subject line. Post the video on You Tube and put it on your site, as well.

10. Turn your website into a lead generator.

Most professional services websites just lie around all day being lazy. It does not need to be that way. By adding valuable content (as described above), adding specific offers and calls to action, and doing some search engine optimization you can generate many more leads. This approach has been a winner for us at Hinge. Last year we got more new business from our website than from any other source. That's not because other sources of leads decreased. It's because our website has become so effective. This post tells you how.

Lead generation ideas work together. One reinforces the other. And when it comes to new business lead generation, it's good to have some shortcuts!

For more ideas on lead generation, download our free research study How Buyers Buy.

 

Filed under: Marketing, Professional Services

Leave a Comment

June 9, 2011

Charles

Hello,

If you are currently on the market for an email service provider (ESP), here is some information regarding Emailvision.

Some of my current clients are Sony, Disney, Ebay, Dior, Burberr, BMW, Intel, Top 500 e-Retailers…etc.

Emailvision:

-$120 MM investment, front page of Forbes in August
-50 Billion Emails sent in 2010 with deliverability of 98% (largest sender in the world)
-Top 50 fastest growing companies in the world
-Highest delivery speed in the industry

We synchronize with an API or a custom Data Synch. High volume senders in your industry are put on a dedicated IP as well.

If you are looking for an email service provider, we work on a CPM (cost per thousand) and have great pricing for a wonderful technology and service.

Are you on the market for an ESP?

Regards,
Charles

July 21, 2011

Nexus Teleservices

Informative article.

I would add that there are a variety of third-party lead generation providers that would serve as an alternative to the time spent on some of these activities.  Depending upon the market, lead criteria and sales conversion ratio, use of a third-party provider in conjunction with some of the recommendations above may be the best strategy.

July 21, 2011

Lee Frederiksen

Thank you all for your comments. It is a good idea to remember that there are a number of legitimate lead generation services that a professional services firm should consider…lwf

August 19, 2011

peter

Very nice article. Writing an Ebook with useful and high quality content is one of the best lead generating methods I’ve used. The idea is to establish yourself as the expert and earn your prospects’ trust. When they are ready for your service, they will think of your brand first and will contact you. Beautiful!

Other methods that yield great results are trade shows, Search engine marketing, and blogging.

You can read more about these methods at http://bit.ly/nne9KS

August 19, 2011

Lee Frederiksen

Thank you Peter. Inbound leads are a thing of beauty!...lwf

October 17, 2011

Raymond

This was a very good article. I have considered writing a ebook, I have a journal of alot of things I have learned and what works for me. Better Web Builder helps you Make Money, Promote your business, and generates leads all for FREE! Highly recommended for Network Marketers or small business owners. See how it works and get started for FREE here: http://www.mybwbsite.com/4627666

November 24, 2011

Jay Wright

Great article!  Sales professionals would really benefit from this list.  Networking events can really lose their effect over time.  However, if one were to utilize some of your ideas (book, ebook, video, research study) these networking events would be amazing for helping get your message out into your local market.
Great stuff!

December 29, 2011

Lee Frederiksen

Jay-
Thank you for your comments…lwf

February 16, 2012

John Smith

Your whole article is quite interesting. Especially the idea of sending letters instead of emails is really good. As at present only few people send letters, if you send a letter they are likely to get noticed. At least for sure your letter would be opened.
Idea of video is also good. Video would get noticed because it take less time to view a video than to read an article.

April 23, 2012

Lally R.

Hi Lee. Very interesting article about this 10 New Business Lead Generation Ideas. I`d like to make a comment on No 10.  “Turn your website into a lead generator”. I wonder about the utility of having a powerful Lead Generation Tool. Since TIME is extremely expensive, I wonder if by having a great Lead Generating Tool would help us a lot, especially by saving a lot of time. I would like to see a tool that allow us to get Buyers, Sellers, and social media (like Twitter) and more.  Anyway, this is a good site. The best for all of you. God bless you.

May 1, 2012

Lally R.

What other strategies about LEAD GENERATION do you consider very effective? I would really appreciate if you could mentions how to you generate leads from Social Media. Do you have your own strategy or a software?  Thank You.

May 7, 2012

Lally R.

Hi Lee. I always remember your 10 brilliant ideas about Lead generation. Also, I would like to add there are different effective strategies about LEAD GENERATION that are really good,  in order to get “better target clients”. In my personal opinion I’d like to emphasizes two of them: 1) “Generating leads from Social Media”, and 2) Having a powerful software that allow you to get leads from buyers, sellers and from twitter. See you.

May 7, 2012

Lee Frederiksen

Lally-
Thank you for your comments. I would say that Number 10 is the single most effective strategy. Now perhaps that is cheating a bit since that one involves several of the others as well!
While it is helpful to automate several areas of social media, such as setting alerts or preprograming tweets, I have not found a software tool that substitutes for reading and understanding a person’s comments on social media and then responding.
Thanks again….lwf

May 11, 2012

Lally R.

Hi Lee. The title of your blog “10 New Business Lead Generation Ideas” is very appealing. I really like the number 10. I’d like to say something about TURNING YOUR WEBSITE as a LEAD GENERATOR on my own way. I hope it might help. There are different strategies for “Lead Generation” and it will work according to your skills, and your “marketing strategy”.

I would like to mentions about “SEO”, and “getting the right keywords” for your website, in order to get LEADS. Those techniques plus another ones will place (after a few weeks or months) “your website” on first page of main search engines” to get more LEADS. But I think, 1) If you boost your “Keyword strategy”, and additionally 2)You find trafficked websites; you will be able to post, reply, answer, comment, and make a recommendation on these “highly trafficked websites” about the products and/or services you provide; so you SAVE TIME and MONEY. As a result, you can take control of the best search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and get access to potentially millions every day.

May 17, 2012

Lally R.

Hi Lee. Great content and good tips in this blog. Lead Generation is crucial and equals SALES; and the Quality of your Business is in direct proportion of the Number and Quality of your LEADS. “Lead Generation” requires skills, techniques and a great “marketing strategy”.

I would like to emphasize the concept of finding “TOP Highly Trafficked Websites in the world = Access to potentially millions of websites every day”; so you can post or recommend your products, services and your own affiliate links. For me this is huge. You could save a lot of MONEY and TIME.

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