Effective Lead Generation

How to Gain your Prospective Clients' Attention and Generate

the Leads You Need to Make Your Business a Success

By Julie Chance





If you've ever tried to get a child who is engrossed in

their favorite video to do another task you know you must

first get their attention. Often the best way to do this is

to use their name so they realize you are speaking directly

to them. The process of effective lead generation requires

that we communicate with many prospective clients at one

time. Before we can communicate with them we must first get

their attention. And our prospective clients must each feel

we are talking directly to them.



Getting a prospective client's attention is not an easy

task, especially given the hundreds of thousands of other

products and services that are also competing for their

attention. Like the mother who has learned to "tune-out"

her kids bickering in the back-seat while she is trying to

drive, our prospects have learned to tune out all the

promotional clutter that bombards them daily. Here is a

four step process to gain your prospects' attention and help

generate the leads you need to make your business a

success.



1. Define Your Target Market: To gain prospective clients'

attention you must understand their biggest problems and

greatest desires. This requires really knowing your target

market. And in order to know your target market you must

first define that market. What is the profile of your ideal

client? Many people resist defining an ideal client.

However unless you know specifically who you want to talk

to, your promotional efforts will fall on deaf ears. Not

having a defined target for your marketing communications is

like yelling into a room full of kids watching TV, "Will

someone please take out the trash?" They will all assume

you are talking to someone else. The odds of actually

having the trash taken out increase significantly when you

say, "Bobby, will you please take the trash out now?"



2. Identify Problems and Desires: In conversations with

current clients or prospective clients that fit the profile

of your ideal client, what are the "themes" that continue to

surface and which of these themes can you help with – a

desire for a more fulfilling career; the ability to

recapture romance in their relationships; a need to get

spending under control and eliminate debt; a summer home on

Nantucket; tools to better communicate with their teenage

kids? The list is endless. The key is identifying the

intersection of your target market's most pressing problems

or desires and your greatest strengths. If you don't know

and really understand the most pressing problems and deepest

desires of your target market it's time to do some research.

Get out and talk with people who meet the profile of your

ideal client. Be really curious about them, ask questions.

Find out what occupies their mind, what keeps them awake at

night, what they dream of having, being or doing. You're

not trying to sell at this stage you are only trying to get

to know your target market better.



3. Start Where Your Prospects Currently Are: It is often

tempting to paint a picture of a fabulous outcome without

first clearly identifying the problem or desire. I used to

do marketing for a psychiatric hospital that ran television

advertising. The most effective ads were not those that

showed happy, well adjusted kids playing on the playground –

the outcome of treatment. The parents of kids with

emotional issues did not relate to the images of these kids.

We first had to show the child sitting all alone in the

swing crying because no one wanted to play with him or her.

This is what caught the attention of the parents of kids who

needed treatment. Only after we captured their attention

with an image they could relate to right then were we able

to talk with them about the solution to the problem.

Another very effective ad showed a woman sitting alone in

the woods contemplating taking a handful of pills. Women

thinking about taking their own lives related to that ad,

they picked up the phone and called for help. Your first

goal is to get a prospect to say, "Hey, that's me, that's my

exact situation, that's the problem I'm facing right now.

If they have helped others in that same situation maybe they

can help me."



4. Talk Directly to Your Ideal Prospects: In a

personalized letter or a one-on-one conversation you can

address your prospect by name. However with promotional

pieces such as brochures, flyers, direct mail or advertising

this is not possible. In these instances direct response

copywriter Alexi Neocleous suggests starting your ad, post

card or letter with, "Attention (target market

description)". For example, "Attention Renters"; "Attention

Business Owners"; or "Attention Parents of Teenage Drivers".

Another way of talking directly to your prospect is to ask

a question regarding a problem or desire of your target

market. For example, "Are you approaching retirement and

concerned about what you'll do with all the free time on

your hands?"; "Are you considering a career change?"; or

"Are you so busy taking care of everyone else that you don't

have time to take care of yourself?"



The key to effectively capturing a prospective client's

attention is to really understand the problems that keep

them awake at night or the desires they dream of having met.

People buy for two reasons:



1. To get problems solved, or

2. To have desires met.



Once you clearly understand the problems your prospects want

solved and the desires they have you can utilize this

information in your promotional materials to capture their

attention and generate an ongoing stream of leads.



Julie Chance is president of Strategies-by-Design, a

Dallas-based firm that helps businesses from independent

professionals to specialty retailers Map A Path to Success

by attracting leads and turning those leads into loyal

customers. Strategies-by-Design provides a unique

combination of consulting, coaching and training to help

clients improve the return on their investment in marketing

and promotional activities. For more information or to

sign-up for their marketing tips newsletter, go to

www.strategies-by-design.com or call 972-701-9311.