Sales Tips: The ABCs of Lead Generation

How would you like to walk into the office and find leads waiting in your in-box, without having to do any work to get them? You're not dreaming. Lead generation makes this entirely possible.

Lead generation holds exciting possibilities for the home-improvement industry. More and more clients are getting online to do their home-related research, whether they're looking for a contractor or manufacturer, a new home, a revamped garden, or the best kitchen sink around.

Now you don't have to go to trade shows to get in touch with these potential clients. With the evolution of the internet has come increasingly competitive strategies designed to connect you with a targeted list of warm leads.

Today, you can contract with a company who works to promote your home-improvement business. Looking to get the word out about a fantastic new development? Have a great way to help make the moving process less painful? Come up with a fantastic new solution for weeds and other garden pests? There are professionals who can help you design an online form to be filled in by potential leads. That contact information is then passed on to you - a targeted list of warm leads just waiting for you to get in touch!

Conversion rates are also higher with lead generation than with many other marketing tactics. Since leads have willingly provided their information, you know that they're already interested in hearing what you have to say, and in possibly paying for what you have to offer. Imagine - no more cold calling! Let the professionals do the work for you. You can sit back and reap the rewards.

How can you improve your results through lead generation? Here are a few ideas for getting the best, and most targeted, leads.

Opt-in lists work. These are lists where leads fill in a form indicating that they would like to receive information about your business. You're far more likely to get a response from these warm leads than by sending cold emails.

A few ways to make your opt-in lists most effective:

-Tweak them to test results. Creativity may really pay off here. For example, if you're a kitchen-appliances manufacturer, consider including questions about the cooking habits of potential leads: How often do they cook, what are the elements of their dream kitchen, and so on. Though you may never use this information in providing services, it may be the question that spurs them to respond.

-Try designing a few different versions of your opt-in form, asking for different combinations of information. You never know what may inspire visitors to respond to what you have to offer, so change it up!

-Consider co-registration. That's when you place your opt-in offer check boxes on other site's registration forms. It's often a win-win for both parties involved.

A few more tips for success:

-Partner with sites that are related to your demographic. You might consider sites that are complementary to your product or service - for example, if you're a landscaper, you might co-register with a site that offers outdoor accessories.

-Keep track of name performance by co-registration source on the back end. That way, you'll be able to measure which sources are sending you leads that convert, as opposed to lots of names that don't go anywhere.

-Don't partner with any site that you can't personally review. Before partnering with any other site, make sure to test their form by entering your own contact information. That way, you'll know that their practices are on the level.

-If you're using a newsletter as part of your marketing offer, make sure to separate out the editorial and promotional newsletter elements. Allow potential leads to self-select.

-Famous name brands tend to get the best opt-ins, while unknown names get the lowest amount of response. If you can get Bob Vila's name on there, that's great --- otherwise, you might want to stick with promoting your services rather than dropping names that leads may or may not recognize. Eye-catching logos are helpful, and keep your copy short, sweet, and to the point. Less is often more.

Lead generation can be extremely cost-effective. It allow you to determine price per lead, and to react and adjust your marketing accordingly. This is an easy way to increase your ROI, since you can choose the produce or service you're offering, the demographic(s) to whom you're offering it, control the number of leads you're receiving and responding to in any given time, and pay only for leads that are received. This cuts down on marketing that may or may not be received or read, and assures that you'll have warm leads in your in-box.

Lead generation is the most effective way for you to spend your advertising dollars - it's targeted, flexible, and creative. You can tweak it, experiment with it, see what works and drop what doesn't. Its results are easily measurable, and you're more able than ever to control the potential leads you're contacting. Best of all, you can look forward to walking into the office each day, with new leads waiting for you!