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Tag: Lead Generation Strategies

  • How Sales Farming Can Bring New Life to Dead Leads | Entrepreneur

    How Sales Farming Can Bring New Life to Dead Leads | Entrepreneur

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    In the fast-paced business world, there is no asset more valuable than leads, as they are the key drivers of growth and profitability. As is often the case, many leads within your CRM may become inactive and be classified as ‘dead’ due to their lack of recent engagement or conversion. Numerous companies prioritize investing in acquiring new leads instead of allocating resources towards re-engaging inactive prospects. As per the Harvard Business Review, retaining an existing customer is significantly more cost-effective, with a range of five to 25 times less expensive than acquiring a new one.

    What if you could convert these dead prospects or clients into profitable sales? Welcome to the world of ‘sales farming’ and revenue recovery, which has proven to be a game-changer for experts, coaches and consultants.

    ‘Sales farming’ differs from the conventional ‘sales hunting’ strategy, which focuses predominantly on acquiring new leads. Instead, it promotes the maintenance of existing relationships and the reactivation of dormant leads. This strategy entails meticulously combing through your contact database, identifying prospects whose interest in your business has waned, and strategically reviving it.

    Related: How to Get High-Quality Business Leads with LinkedIn and Marketing Automation

    Notable businessmen such as Dan Lok and fitness legend Brandon Carter have effectively employed sales farming strategies. This innovative strategy focuses on nurturing and re-engaging these cold prospects and clients, giving them new life and substantially boosting your bottom line. We assisted Dan Lok in generating over one million dollars in six months by reactivating 300,000 leads. Similarly, we assisted Brandon Carter in converting 25,000 cold prospects into over $400,000 in revenue within four months.

    How, you ask? By leveraging the power of AI and effective Sales Farming strategies.

    Dead leads: recognizing the hidden treasure

    Before implementing the strategy, it is essential to analyze the inherent value of ‘dead’ leads, which are commonly disregarded. A lead may initially go cold for various reasons, including that the timing wasn’t right, the prospect wasn’t ready to purchase, or your solution didn’t meet their current requirements. Often, it is also a previous buyer who, over time, stopped purchasing your solutions. However, conditions alter. What a prospect or client may not have been interested in a few months ago may be exactly what they’re looking for now.

    Therefore, these inactive leads represent a concealed treasure trove of potential business, and it is your responsibility to unearth this value.

    Related: How to Maximize Your Online Sales Leads

    Sales farming: key strategies to implement

    Sales Farming as a strategy relies heavily on personalization and automation. Several market tools can help your business achieve these goals, including Salesforce, HubSpot, GoHighLevel and Harvest AI.

    Bespoke Outreach: The initial step is to create tailored communication. This isn’t just about mass communication; it’s about crafting messages that feel individually personalized, which can help reignite interest in your business. Tools like Salesforce and HubSpot are particularly well-equipped for crafting and managing these personalized emails, texts, and voicemail drops.

    Automated Appointment Scheduling: Streamlining your sales call booking process can significantly improve the experience for your leads, thus increasing the likelihood of conversion. Platforms like GoHighLevel can provide the kind of automated bot assistance you need. Using advanced AI technologies, these bots can interact with leads, understand their schedules, and set appointments accordingly.

    Personalized Video Content: The power of video as an audience engagement tool can’t be overstated. Creating a video and then personalizing it for each lead can greatly enhance your outreach efforts. Several advanced tools in the market, such as Harvest AI, can modify the lip-sync of the video to align with the lead’s first name, taking personalization to a new level.

    Improved Deliverability: Ensuring your outreach messages reach your leads is critical. Services that assist in obtaining A2P and STIR/SHAKEN approvals can enhance your deliverability rates, increasing the chances of your messages being seen by your leads.

    Efficient Lead Management and Tracking: A key aspect of Sales Farming involves efficient lead management. This involves organizing and tracking all communications with a lead. CRM systems like Salesforce and HubSpot give you visibility into a lead’s interaction history, enabling you to design more targeted outreach strategies.

    In conclusion, Sales Farming isn’t just a technique; it’s a comprehensive strategy designed to turbocharge your sales efforts. By offering personalized outreach, automated processes, and optimized deliverability, platforms like Harvest AI and others provide you with the tools you need to breathe life back into your dormant leads and unlock new revenue opportunities.

    Building a sustainable business model

    While the impact and results of Sales Farming are apparent in the short term, it’s also essential to recognize the long-term benefits of this strategy. By nurturing and re-engaging existing leads, you create a sustainable business model that doesn’t solely depend on acquiring new leads. This shift reduces your cost per lead and establishes a more stable revenue stream for your business.

    Remember, the leads in your CRM were once interested in your business. They may have gone cold, but with the right approach, they can be re-engaged and converted. In the grand scheme of things, nurturing these relationships can prove to be more valuable than constantly seeking new leads.

    Conclusion: Unearth hidden value

    In conclusion, Sales Farming, particularly when powered by Harvest AI, provides a significant opportunity to unearth the hidden value within your CRM. It allows you to maintain fruitful relationships with your prospects, keep your pipeline healthy, and build a sustainable business model.

    Remember, your CRM is not a graveyard for dead leads. It’s a farm, ripe with potential, waiting for the right strategy to cultivate it. Start farming your leads and watch as your ‘dead’ leads spring back to life, generating revenue and driving growth for your business.

    It’s time to put your CRM under the plow and plant the seeds of re-engagement and retention. As the saying goes, ‘the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.’ The same goes for your leads. Start Sales Farming now, and harvest the fruits of your efforts in the form of revived leads and increased revenue.”

    Joel Yi

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  • 3 Lead-Generating Strategies To Implement In Your Sales Process | Entrepreneur

    3 Lead-Generating Strategies To Implement In Your Sales Process | Entrepreneur

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As one of my first mentors said: “In business, sales solves all.” This reigns true in the majority of cases. When you make a sale, you can re-invest that into a new employee, advertising campaign, software, marketing, etc. You get the point. The problem with lead generation and sales for most SMEs, however, is that they depend solely on one channel — which, more often than not, is inbound leads or referrals.

    While these are arguably the best forms of lead generation, as the prospect is “warm” & they already know, like and trust you, these methods are the least scalable. Why? Because you’re putting your fate in other people’s hands and not taking a proactive approach to growth.

    Now more than ever, it is essential to diversify your approach to lead generation, leveraging different strategies that work best for your business and target market. In this article, I’ll break down three automated outbound lead generation strategies we use with great success and how you can use them to drum up more business and, more importantly, epic client case studies.

    Related: 5 Ways Businesses Can Get Traffic and Generate Leads

    1. Cold email

    With advertising costs on the rise, companies are looking for more cost-effective ways to generate attention and leads. Now, before you think, “Cold emails are for spammers and scammers,“ — please read this with an open mind. A cold email has become one of the hottest topics in the B2B marketing space, with many new tech and SaaS startups emerging in the cold email automation space to fill these needs.

    All seasoned cold emailers understand that it provides unparalleled scalability for the cost. That said, don’t expect to start emailing today and drumming up new business immediately. It takes time to tweak, refine and improve upon your process. It took us four months of trial and error before we found an email that really hit the mark.

    And just a word of warning — no matter what, you will get people that dislike your email and will respond with criticism. Understanding that this is part of the game will help you persevere and succeed. The best resources I’ve come across and used to learn the A-Z of cold email are Alex Berman’s YouTube channel. Some baseline metrics to aim for in your B2B cold email campaigns are a 75% open rate, 10% reply rate and 2.5% meeting book rate. Review your cold emails every week to ensure you’re constantly improving and hitting these baseline numbers.

    2. LinkedIn outbound

    To be completely honest, I slept on LinkedIn for a long time. While it isn’t my preferred place to consume content, it has been tremendous for us in terms of lead generation. It also has some incredible automation abilities and will produce epic results when done right.

    Where I see most people go wrong on LinkedIn is primarily a basic lack of understanding of people. Who in their right mind will respond to a 7-paragraph, 800-word introductory message? Don’t worry, at some stage, pretty much everyone has been there (myself included).

    Why I believe LinkedIn is far superior to other social networks for B2B lead generation is 3-fold.

    Firstly, it’s a business platform. People expect to be doing business there. Secondly, it has a sales navigator tool. A way to get directly into people’s inboxes without even connecting. Thirdly, it has a lot of automation capability — we use a Walaaxy for this.

    This allows you to import a list of your ideal customers automatically and then automatically connect with them, sending them an invitation message and even a follow-up message sequence, which you can use to explore potential meetings or synergies. Again, the messaging sequence here needs to be short and sweet — as I mentioned, there’s nothing worse than an unsolicited four paragraphs from a stranger trying to get you onto their “free webinar.”

    Related: How to Get High Quality Leads From LinkedIn At No Cost

    3. Twitter outbound

    Twitter has quickly become my favorite social media platform — it is a no-BS place, and people don’t have time for fluff. With that in mind, that’s why it’s such a fun platform to try and crack the challenge of outbound. It’s not uncommon for people to screenshot a bad DM they receive and shamelessly post it to their thousands of followers, causing public embarrassment to the person who sent the DM.

    That’s why it’s so challenging. You need a unique approach. The approach that we have used, which works incredibly well, is a purely value-based message. We essentially offer our services for free — no strings attached. Doing so builds a relationship, an audience and a network of influential people. Believe me, when I say you will be shocked at the kind of connections and relationships you can build. I was even shocked at how I immediately received referrals and people wanting to do more business with us.

    Final thoughts

    If I haven’t convinced you yet to implement these strategies, the fact that it costs me five times less to acquire a customer with these strategies compared to paid advertising says everything you need to know.

    Forget manually sending 100 emails, DM’s, and messages per day. Leverage automation to do the heavy lifting for you, then take over to complete the process. Remember always to constantly tweak and optimize your processes to make micro-improvements throughout all stages of your sales process.

    If you implement all these strategies effectively, watch your pipeline and sales skyrocket this year.

    Lewis Schenk

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  • How to Sell High-Ticket Products With Facebook and Google Ads | Entrepreneur

    How to Sell High-Ticket Products With Facebook and Google Ads | Entrepreneur

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    High-ticket products are the holy grail in the world of sales. Put simply, these products are the ones that have the highest profit margins and can make a huge impact on your bottom line. However, selling such products is no easy task. It requires an effective strategy to generate leads and convert them into loyal customers.

    So, what’s the best way to get potential customers interested in your product and convert them into buyers? Many people turn to Facebook or Google Ads as a solution, but do you have a plan for success? In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk through the process of lead generation and conversion using Facebook and Google Ads to help you sell high-ticket products.

    Related: The Secret to Making Facebook Ads Work for Your Business

    I. Defining your target audience

    When it comes to selling high-ticket products, defining your target audience is crucial. Without understanding who your audience is, you are essentially shooting in the dark when it comes to creating effective campaigns and targeting the right people.

    Knowing your audience means you have a better grasp of their needs, interests and pain points — all of which you can use to craft powerful ads that appeal to their specific situation.

    Strategies for defining your target audience

    Now the question is — how do you go about defining your target audience? Here are some strategies for getting started:

    • Analyze your customer base: Take the time to analyze your existing customer base. Consider things like their demographics, interests and behaviors to get a better understanding of who is buying from you. This will help you create campaigns that are tailored specifically to this audience.

    • Conduct market research: This goes without saying, but conducting market research is a great way to gain insight into the interests, needs and desires of potential customers. This can include surveys, interviews with experts in the field or even using tools like Google Trends to get an idea of what topics are being searched for.

    How to create buyer personas for high-ticket products

    Once you have garnered enough information about your target audience, it’s time to create buyer personas. This process can help you tailor your campaigns to reach the right people with the right message.

    Start by writing down everything you know about a typical customer. Consider their age, gender, job title, income level, interests and goals. Then go into detail on what type of content they’d be interested in, what their pain points are and how you can solve them.

    Finally, give this persona a name and picture — this will help bring it to life and make it easier for you to create campaigns that genuinely resonate with your potential customers.

    II. Crafting a compelling offer

    Have you ever heard of the phrase, “A great product will sell itself?” While there is some truth to this statement, in reality, it takes more than just a great product — it also requires a compelling offer. Your offer should not only provide value and solve the customer’s pain points, but it must be presented in an attractive way that entices them to click on your ad or visit your website.

    Best practices for creating an offer for high-ticket products

    High-ticket products require a bit more thought when it comes to crafting the perfect offer. Here are some best practices for creating an attractive offer:

    • Create urgency, and don’t oversell: Using things like limited-time offers, discounts or exclusive access can be a great way to create urgency and encourage people to take action. Also, the worst thing you can do is promise something that the product or service can’t deliver. Be honest and transparent about what your offer includes, and make sure to over-deliver on the value.

    • Provide social proof: People are more likely to engage with an offer if it comes from a reputable source. Include reviews, ratings and customer testimonials to build trust and make your offer more attractive.

    Examples of effective offers

    Effectively promoting your high-ticket products can drive more sales and dramatically increase your bottom line. To help you get started, here are some examples of effective offers:

    • “Get 50% off our flagship product for the next 48 hours only!”

    • “Sign up now to receive exclusive access to our new features before anyone else.”

    • “Try our product risk-free for 30 days and get a full refund if you don’t love it!”

    Related: How to Scale Your Business Using Google Ads

    III. Designing your ads

    Ad design is of utmost importance when promoting high-ticket items. They can make or break your campaigns, so getting them right is important.

    Tips for designing effective Facebook and Google Ads

    Some tips for creating effective ads include:

    • Keep it simple and concise: Don’t overload your ads with text and visuals. Stick to one message!

    • Use attention-grabbing visuals: Use visuals that stand out and capture the attention of potential customers.

    • Highlight your offer: Make sure to include your unique offer in the ad.

    Best practices for ad copy and visuals

    Certain best practices should be followed when crafting your ad copy and visuals. Here are a few:

    • Ad copy: Make sure to include relevant keywords, focus on benefits over features and use simple yet persuasive language.

    • Respect your audience: People appreciate it when brands respect their time and don’t bombard them with too many ads.

    IV. Creating landing pages that convert

    Your landing page is where potential customers will decide whether to take action or not. So, having a well-optimized one can make a huge difference in your conversion rates.

    Elements of a high-converting landing page

    Here are some elements to keep in mind when creating a high-converting landing page:

    Tips for designing effective landing pages

    When designing effective landing pages, focus on highlighting the benefits of taking action as soon as possible. You should also include CTAs in places that are easy to find, use visuals that capture attention and tell a story, and keep the copy concise and persuasive.

    V. Optimizing for conversion

    A well-oiled machine is needed to ensure that your high-ticket offers are successful. In this section, we will cover how to optimize your campaigns for conversion.

    Strategies for optimizing your campaigns for conversion

    When it comes to optimizing your campaigns for conversion, here are some strategies you can use:

    • Test and optimize: A/B testing is essential for finding out what works and what doesn’t. Test different elements of your ads and landing pages to see which ones produce the best results.

    • Analyze your data: Use analytics to gain insights into your campaigns and find out which ones are performing the best.

    • Improve your targeting: Make sure that you’re targeting the right audience for your offers. Look for ways to refine your target audience for better results.

    Best practices for testing and refining your campaigns

    One of the most important things to do before testing your campaign is to have a set of defined goals. Aside from that, you should also make sure to use reliable tracking tools, think before making changes, and document your results.

    Related: 5 Key Tips to Improve Conversion Rates

    VI. Retargeting and follow-up

    Finally, retargeting and follow-up are essential elements of any successful high-ticket offer campaign. Retargeting helps you stay top of mind with potential customers, while follow-up ensures that you don’t miss any opportunities.

    Strategies for retargeting campaigns

    Here are some strategies for retargeting campaigns:

    • Target customers who have already shown an interest in your offer.

    • Develop targeted content for each stage of the funnel.

    • Test different ad formats and targeting options.

    Best practices for follow-up and nurturing leads

    When it comes to follow-up, here are some best practices:

    • Reach out promptly, and be proactive.

    • Offer multiple contact points (email, phone, etc.).

    • Follow up with meaningful content that adds value.

    • Track your results, and make adjustments as needed.

    High-ticket offers can be incredibly lucrative for businesses, but only if done correctly. By following these strategies and taking the time to optimize your campaigns, you can drive more sales and increase your bottom line.

    Alex Quin

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  • 10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Lead Generation Company

    10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Lead Generation Company

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    There’s no shame in admitting it: Generating leads is exhausting. It drains your time, resources and patience. But despite its inherent pains, lead generation is integral to growth.

    Unfortunately, there is no metaphorical ibuprofen to make the process any less of a headache. Developing a winning lead generation strategy is all about weathering the droughts and downpours with perseverance. But you don’t always have to go it alone. You can accelerate your growth and avoid unnecessary roadblocks by partnering with an expert.

    Hiring a lead generation company can be a great way to expand your business and bring in new customers, but you have to ensure it’s the right move. To help you make the best decision for your company, here are the 10 questions you should ask before hiring a B2B lead generation company:

    Related: A Straightforward Guide To Effective B2B Lead Generation

    1. What is the company’s lead generation process?

    How leads are generated influences the quality and quantity of prospects in your pipeline. So, it’s important to understand each lead generation company’s process before making a hiring decision. Finding a lead generation company that aligns with your business goals and target audience comes down to the strategies and tactics they implement.

    For B2B, inbound marketing is a great long-term strategy, but if you are looking for more immediate results, outbound is the way to go. Still, you’ll want to avoid those who practice outdated lead generation processes such as single-channel marketing, mass-blast email campaigns and aggressive telemarketing. Modern outbound lead generation relies on precision targeting and multichannel outreach to drive brand awareness and interest to the right audience at the right time.

    Keep in mind that your lead generation partner will represent your brand’s first impression on potential clients. So, go ahead; be as picky as you like when choosing the right lead generation company. Not only will a stringent selection process protect your brand reputation, but you’ll end up with more high-quality leads to convert.

    2. Does the same SDR deliver all touchpoints?

    Lead generation is full of repetitive, time-consuming tasks, which is why many companies outsource this part of the sales process. Efficiency can be lost, however, if these activities are split among multiple sales development representatives (SDRs). Still, some lead generation companies practice the dissection of duties based on the touchpoint type. SDRs will be assigned based on a channel such as email, LinkedIn or phone calls. The trouble is this can cause miscommunication with potential clients, which makes your prospecting methods feel unprofessional.

    If you hire a lead generation company, you will most likely work with more than one SDR. Check how touchpoints are handled through the campaigns, and verify that each SDR has their own lead list to pursue. This will help your company maintain a professional appearance through every step of the prospecting process.

    3. Where is the client-facing team located?

    Outsourcing and offshoring are often synonymous, but when it comes to prospecting, the location of your client-facing team can really make a difference. B2B products and services often involve complex solutions that are difficult to sell. Sales development representatives (SDRs) must be able to communicate efficiently and effectively to build rapport with prospective clients.

    Look for a team based in the same location as your target market. If the SDRs and prospects share the same time zone and language, conversations will flow more smoothly. In turn, sales appointments booked will be beneficial and informative for both you and your prospective clients.

    4. How experienced are the SDRs?

    Chances are, if you are contemplating outsourcing, you are searching for experts to help you move the needle. However, retaining experienced salespeople is not easy. SDR burnout is high, with 50% churning within 12 months. Most lead generation companies control costs by hiring inexperienced workers to fulfill the tasks. As you may expect, such SDRs produce inconsistent results at best and numerous mistakes at worst. While lead generation teams often have a sales manager to keep performance in check, they do not handle the daily activities that directly impact your pipeline.

    Interviewing SDRs from the lead generation companies you are considering can help you get a feel for the experience your client-facing team would be bringing to the table. In addition, the SDRs’ LinkedIn profiles can provide you with the background information you need to verify they have what it takes to produce results.

    5. How are the SDRs compensated?

    As we’ve discussed, hiring SDRs new to the field is one way lead generation companies cut down on expenses. Some SDRs make as little as $500 a month, but these entry-level compensation rates can hurt morale and motivation.

    Take some time to discuss the SDR pay structure with the lead generation companies you are vetting. While you might not have much say over this aspect of the partnership, knowing the incentive model will help determine if you can expect a steady stream of quality leads.

    6. What types of leads does the company specialize in generating?

    Some partners are more general in their experience, but the truth is no two industries are the same when it comes to lead generation. If you hire a lead generation company will little to no background in your field, the ramp-up time and cost per lead will be comparable to running the campaigns in-house, if not more expensive.

    Companies that specialize in generating leads for specific types of businesses have proven strategies in place to streamline prospecting and shorten sales cycles. These experts also have a pulse on the industry, so they can adapt quickly when consumer purchasing behaviors change.

    Make sure the company you choose has experience generating leads that are relevant to your business. Ask for case studies, testimonials or references to see if past performance in related industries matches your expectations.

    Related: Tips to Improve Your Lead Generation Process

    7. How will the company measure lead generation success?

    Clear and transparent reporting will help you track the return on your investment and make informed decisions about the campaign’s success. When outsourcing lead generation, you need a partner willing to translate their results into metrics that measure progress toward your goals.

    Before hiring a lead generation company, ask how success is measured and what metrics are reported. Share your current sales goals and discuss how meeting those metrics will help your company close the gap. By setting expectations upfront, both parties can ensure that objectives and priorities are in harmony, leading to a more productive campaign.

    8. Does the lead generation company exhibit internal growth?

    The number one reason business leaders hire lead generation companies is to accelerate growth. So, it makes sense that one of the number one ways to validate a lead generation company’s capabilities is to assess its own ability to grow.

    However, this can be difficult, especially if the lead generation companies you are considering are not publicly traded. Luckily, platforms like LinkedIn make it easy to evaluate key metrics like employee headcount that provide insight into the company’s overall health. A significant dip in employees could be a sign of layoffs or internal disruption.

    When making your shortlist, look for lead generation companies with strong year-over-year growth. At a time when economic instability is shaking the foundations of businesses around the world, you’ll be more likely to stand firm with a lead generation partner rooted in proven success for both their clients and themselves.

    9. Do you have the resources to handle the additional leads?

    Partnering with a lead generation company will likely result in a significant increase in pipeline activity, so it’s important to have the resources (such as sales staff, marketing materials and customer service reps) in place to handle the additional volume.

    In most cases, lead generation partners handle the first four stages of the sales cycle: prospecting, contacting, qualifying and nurturing. Once an appointment is booked, the internal sales team guides prospective clients through the remaining purchasing process. So, lacking the resources needed to usher leads toward conversion could result in lots of lost opportunities. To maximize the ROI of your partnership, prepare your team to take on a full funnel of leads.

    Alternatively, you can seek out a full-service lead generation firm that offers support throughout the entire sales cycle, from prospecting to closing. Such partnerships can be more cost-effective than scaling your resources before you scale your revenue.

    10. Do you have a clear target market?

    A B2B lead generation company will be most effective if you understand your target market and can provide detailed information about the types of companies and individuals you want to reach.

    With a clear picture of your target market, a lead generation partner can develop ideal client profiles (ICPs) for each decision-maker. These ICPs guide every element of the lead generation process, including list building, content creation and objection handling. Using the demographic, firmographic and technographic data of each ICP, a team of experts can develop a custom campaign strategy designed to convert prospects quickly.

    However, if you are unsure about or have experienced trouble penetrating your target market, don’t hesitate to discuss your current challenges with potential lead generation partners. These specialists have a keen understanding of product-market fit and can walk you through the steps you need to take to identify your most profitable target market.

    Related: Lead Generation Best Practices That Help You Find New Customers

    How to know you’ve found the right lead generation company

    It’s essential to do your due diligence by researching the lead generation companies you are considering. Reviews and testimonials are helpful, but don’t be afraid to ask technical questions about processes, procedures and performance.

    There are hundreds of lead generation companies to choose from, all with their own unique purpose and place in the market. Ultimately, the right partner for you will be the one that most closely aligns with your business needs and goals.

    Vito Vishnepolsky

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