Turn your speakers up to 11 and enjoy!

The Golf Improvement Cycle

Free Golf Lesson

In a few short months we managed to generate over 10,000, well qualified, leads in the golf niche – mainly US. Canada and Australia. Many of these have now converted to paying customers. The key has been to deliver quality content in the form of video/free download etc in exchange for visitor contact details.

The other one I would like to show you is my own site (hopefully not too much shameless self promotion

TheOnlineSalesManager

This is a brand new site – so no stats as yet. However, I have used this particular eBook download with great success on previous sites so…fingers crossed it will convert well.

“Leads are the lifeblood of selling” – Jeffrey J.Fox, bestselling author of Secrets of Great Rainmakers.

Back in 1763, Josiah Wedgewood, of Wedgewood Pottery fame, was generating leads for his pottery business based on “word of mouth” referrals. He had convinced Queen Charlotte to let him name the line of pottery she purchased “Queens Ware”.

That was enough for him to set up one of the most effective lead generation campaigns in history via his own paperwork and stationery. Now Josiah would have shuddered at the term “Lead Generation” back in those days – but that is exactly what it was.

Fast forward to 2007

NEWSFLASH: ” The New York Times is to axe 500 staff members as a result of falling circulation and a slump in ad revenue as more readers turn to the Internet for news”

” For the first time the consumer is boss, which is fascinating, scary and terrifying because everything we used to know will no longer work.” - Kevin Roberts, CEO Saatchi and Saatchi

“I believe today’s marketing model is broken. We’re applying antiquated thinking to a new world of possibilities” – Jim Stengel, Proctor and Gamble

But the one thing that has not changed is the insatiable demand of the business world for quality leads. There is no doubt that Small/Medium Enterprises, in particular, are willing to spend money on lead generation. They are not so sure about “branding”…and who could blame them?

How does a small business measure the ROI on brand recognition – but that is a bigger discussion for another day.

So, just how does the small/medium business of 2008 generate leads?

It’s not so hard really. One powerful model, that few businesses have cottoned onto, is to combine the proven muscle of traditional media (e.g Radio/TV/Newspapers) with the proven conversion power of a lead generation website (or more accurately a “Minisite”)

The trick is to drive massive traffic (via either traditional media or search engines) to a website that does nothing but build a database of prospective customers. The job of the website is NOT to sell a product (at least not in the first instance) – but rather to sell the consumer on the value of exchanging his contact details (usually first name and email address) for information that will go some way towards solving his problem.

Done properly, that “exchange of value” will give the business owner the right to maintain contact (via email or even snail email) and build a relationship with the consumer. The sale comes later.

Just like Josiah Wedgewood did with his paperwork and stationery in 1763, the business owner of today can build up a relationship with the prospective customer – leading eventually to a sale.

That is the essence of Lead Generation in 2008.

Wouldn’t Josiah have loved to have had these tools at his fingertips?

In Part 2 (tomorrow) we will have a look at some effective lead generation websites.

It was one of those gala dinners where you get to dress up and prepare to engage in some friendly chit chat with people outside your normal circle.

At least that was what I was expecting. I wasn’t really prepared for a duel. I didn’t really think I would have to defend my honour and choose my weapons.

But, without warning the main course conversation drifted to the riveting topic of “websites”. Now this was not my fault – Not this time anyhow. Take it from me. There is no better way to kill a dinner conversation than to suddenly start expounding the virtues of niche based, content websites or web hosting or even blogs.

But websites it was. And this was my turf. I had to defend it.

She had mentioned earlier that she owned a restaurant. I actually had been there many times. Beautiful old building steeped in history, Wonderful ambience but yet very trendy. She ran a great business.

I have no idea why she was inviting discussion on her website. Maybe she was just proud that she had one. Doesn’t matter. I was like a lamb to the slaughter. I sheepishly suggested “Maybe you should put up a page talking about the history of the building”.

Why? She snapped back.

“My clientele are young and trendy….they don’t care about history” Mmmm I thought. I have bitten off more than I can chew here. Another drink perhaps?

I wasn’t quick enough to say that “Well I am quite interested in the history of the building” and “I like to eat at your restaurant – maybe there are others out there who feel the same way” No, that would have been too smart. Instead I lamely volunteered “A history page would generate some additional traffic on your website”

“Why?” She snapped again. “I dont need traffic on my website”.

At this point I knew that I was on a hiding to nothing. Time to gracefully retreat from this little conversation.

I said. “Really. It sounds as though your website is working really well. Best not to mess with it” What a wimp! I didn’t really believe that.

Couldn’t help myself. Before hitting the sack I checked out her site.

Sure enough. There it was – a graphic artists dream. Flash intro with no “opt in” page in sight. No way to build up a customer list. Lots of photos but virtually zero content. There was no way she would get any free passing Google traffic.

Here was a really smart business woman who was totally ignoring the online potential of her business. She didn’t even own her own .com domain name. A competitor could easily take advantage of this.

But, then again. Her business was thriving. Her energies were obviously going into making the restaurant the absolute best that it can be. Can’t argue with that.

“I can see her point” I thought. But I couldn’t really.

What a wasted opportunity.