Lead Generation: What are You Giving Away?

One of the best ways to foster trust in your prospects is to give them something they value.

You might be surprised to see how much business you can develop if you will start off by giving something your market can benefit from. Now…I wouldn’t expect it to be cash money–like the lady on your left–but you have to admit, anyone walking up to you and offering you a gift would have your attention…at least for a moment. Well…that’s precisely the objective.

More than likely, you know exactly what it’s like to be hungry while shopping in the mall when someone working in an eatery in the food court extends their hand with a freshly cooked piece of chicken as an invitation to taste something from their menu. It doesn’t take a lot to tempt a hungry person. Anything which is halfway appetizing will do the trick.

Well, let’s take that principle and transfer it to whatever industry you’re in. What is it that your market is hungry for? Another way of saying this is, what pain are you eliminating? What problems are you solving? Everyone is hungry for something. Maybe your product or service is meeting a fantasy…? No matter what it is, there is something that you can give to suspects to entice them to become prospects. This is the number one step to effective marketing…influencing suspects to become prospects.

Getting your suspects to opt-in is also called a ‘shy-yes’. Let me explain.

In order to win a customer, you’ve got to understand the psychology of building relatinships in the midst of the skepticism within our culture. I’ll compare it to dating. How many of you would think that it’s a good idea to meet someone today, and propose marriage tomorrow? Not too swift…wouldn’t you agree? Of course. But many people in business will meet a prospect today, and look to make a sale today. It’s called the one-call close. Advertising salespeople are notorious for that. I know…I used to be one.

Let’s consider another approach. When a man meets a woman, and asks if he can call her, or asks her out for a cup of coffee. That’s a very non-intrusive way to get to know someone. It’s what I call the ‘shy yes’. It doesn’t require much of a commitment at all. A cup of coffee takes 45 minutes…perhaps? But it allows for first impressions to be created. The main objective is to get acquainted, and possibly initiate an ongoing conversation so the two parties can get to know one another.

The man (gave away) bought a cup of coffee, or maybe lunch in exchange for the woman’s time. Hopefully, the woman enjoyed the time together enough to be open for future interactions.

So…back to the question. What are you giving to your suspects that give them reason to provide something basic like their name and email address? If you can get their name and email, possibly their snail mail address, now you can begin to communicate with them on a regular basis. This kind of communcation is essential to the process of getting suspects to become prospects, and getting prospects to become customers. Remember, people only do business with people whom they know, like, and trust. What you give to your suspects and prospects should carry enough value in their eyes that they begin to feel like you have their best interest at heart.

Realize this…as soon as you demonstrate that you are sincerely interested in taking care of your prospects needs, they will begin to like you, and possibly even trust you. That’s human nature. We give our trust to people once we are convinced that they have our best interest at heart. It’s the same in relationships…a woman begins to really trust a man (and vice versa), once she feels like he genuinely cares about her.

So…what do you say? Are you ready to develop some kind of incentive for your suspects? Let me give you an example. I’m big on doing market research. However, I don’t expect people who don’t know me to just take my word and launch a market research initiative. Instead, I provide a free report that document the profitable results that other independent professionals have gotten as a direct result of researching their market. If you want to see this click here. The give-away is at the bottom of the page.