Generating Leads & Enquiries. EP #196 - Den Lennie

G', day, guys. It's Dan Lanning here, host of the how to Scale a Video Business podcast and bringing to you here episode 196 of the show, which is pretty staggering, actually. I keep kind of having to pinch myself that we've almost hit 200 episodes. But today I want to talk to you about one of our growth accelerators, Inside the Video Business Accelerator. But how to generate leads and inquiries, how to basically get more customers. This is probably one of the most common questions that I see asked out and about in the Internet world. So we're going to dig into it today and share with you exactly how.

You know, the whole idea of getting customers is often.

The subject that most video business owners feel like is the most important. How to get more customers. But in actual fact, a better question to ask is, how do you get more of the right kinds of customers? The kind of customers that are in your target market who are ideally suited to the offer that you have. Because when you try and sell to everyone, you end up kind of pleasing no one, and you end up having some great customer experiences and some not so great customer experiences.

And, you know, video businesses typically tend to focus heavily on production and kind of ignore everything else. And if there's a period where there's a bit of famine, you know, you're on the bottom of the roller coaster. You feel like, you know, there's just nothing around. It's usually because you haven't done some real kind of lead generation and lead nurture and development, you know, probably three or four months earlier.

So, you know, if you want to go broke quickly, then keep doing that. So what I want you to do today is address this really as soon as possible. Then, you know, then you risk, you know, if you don't address it, you really risk going out of business. And I think if the last year's taught us anything, it's that you've got to have a kind of bulletproof process for continually bringing new opportunities into your business. So ask yourself, what are you doing to nurture your existing prospects? Because not everyone is ready to buy right now.

In fact, it's likely that if you started marketing today, then it wouldn't be for at least 90 or even 120 days before you necessarily see a return on that. And oftentimes what I. What I come across and observe is that people are very impatient. They feel like they've done some market outreach and, and like, you know, someone hasn't bought something right away and they're like, oh, shit, you know, like this isn't working. So, you know, you got to think about that, you know, and you're in your lead generation process being an ongoing process where you're feeding many, many opportunities into the top of your funnel, but they may not be ready to buy straight away. So one of the things you can do is, is capture data on your website. So if someone visits your website, do you have a method for them to leave their information beyond the simple contact us form which, let's face it, nobody uses, you know, so, so that you can then follow up with clients via email, phone, etc. Now you know, I moved house recently and I wanted to kind of get back into some fitness. So I checked out a new Gym and within 60 minutes they'd called me to set up an appointment. Now that is serious lead generation action. I did some research, I left some connection details on their website and by 3 o' clock that day I'd met them and signed up. And they want a recurring sale. By simply following up faster than any other German area and giving me a means to, to leave some details, I didn't want to necessarily call them up. So I filled out an inquiry form and I think they had an ebook that I downloaded. Because the thing is, most of us, when we visit a website, we browse and if we don't, if we're not ready to buy there and then like it's E commerce, then we're simply going to leave and not take any action and it's maybe unlikely that we'll come back to that site. So you want to be creating some kind of follow up strategy, lead capture strategy or data capture, because otherwise you're just leaving business on the table. Which, you know, leads me really into kind of an overall marketing strategy which is, you know, do you even have a marketing strategy? And a marketing strategy is, you know, what is the process you're going to deploy to attract ideal clients into your business? You know, are you using social media in a way that actually generates inquiries or are you, you're just posting stuff willy nilly on LinkedIn without any structure. Because if you're not consistent in your marketing, you're simply not going to get consistent results. And in fact, it's true with anything in your business, if you don't do things consistently, you won't get consistent results. And I hear a lot of filmmakers often tell me, oh, you know, I'm too busy to market and I'm busy on a project and then the project finishes and then I start marketing. And so you get this, this roller coaster in your approach to marketing, which is why you get a roller coaster in the income that's being. So, you know, if there's no clear pathway for a prospect when they land on your site, they can easily become confused, end up taking no action, and leave. So what we teach in the VBA is to create a systemized method of attracting ideal prospects into your business and nurturing them into an elite system, really of, of nurture, so that they are taken on a journey, have all of their questions and answers given to them. Because what we do as human beings is when we're not sure about something, we have questions in our mind. But then we think, well, maybe that's a daft question, maybe that's a question I should know. So I'm not going to ask it, but I'm going to dig around this website to see if I can find the answer. And if they find the answer, then it's like, okay, I've actually found the answer to my question. I feel comfortable and confident in this website, you know, so maybe I'll dig around a bit more. And let's say there was an ebook. You could download the ebook and read a bit more. In fact, if you want to go through this exact process now and you haven't done so already, go over to my website@denleny.com d e n l e n n I e.com and click on any of the buttons on the site. You can download an ebook, you can watch a training. All of those have a lead capture box. So that what we're doing is we're sharing valuable advice about how to scale and grow your video business for free in return for an email address. And then we'll send a series of emails asking you questions and providing great value. Now, the thing about this is you can unsubscribe at any time, but the idea is that we want to build a list of an email list of prospects who have put their hand up and said, yeah, I run a video business and I'm looking for some help to grow it. So what we then do is we provide lots of resources on our website and then we communicate via email. If people leave a phone number, we can call them up. We don't typically tend to do that because I tend to be of the opinion that, you know, phoning people up and asking for a sale when they're not looking to solve a problem necessarily is not a very effective execution of an idea. I don't believe in cold, you know, cold reaching out cold calls, calls. I don't think it works. I think you're much better off having someone raise a hand, download some content, consume some content, and then when they're ready, reach out and say, you know what, I wouldn't mind a chat about this. And look, it happens a lot. Oftentimes you may be sitting listening to this podcast and have listened to 100 episodes plus and haven't felt that it was quite the right time to reach out and have a conversation about maybe taking your business up a level. But what I want to do ask you to think about and consider is that, you know, how is that working out for you on your own? How is doing this on your own actually impacting the results you're getting? Are you seeing an increase in inquiries by just listening to this show and applying bits and pieces, or do you feel like you could be doing more? Because that's really what our VBA Mastermind is all about. And while we're on this topic, a couple of people get in touch saying they're a bit confused by which is which. And so I want to just spend a couple of minutes explaining.

The difference between the two programs that we offer. So we have a we actually have three options so you can work with me one to one, and that's a minimum of three months commitment. And we have a call every two weeks. We have the VBA Mastermind, which is for you. Really, you've got to be doing $10,000 a month minimum, ongoing to qualify for that program because many of the businesses in there are doing many multiples of that. And so we've discovered that that's the threshold and that is that is a group accountability coaching and mentoring program. We have weekly group coaching calls. There's a library of training content and we have at one to one time as well. And then for businesses that are in the kind of two to $5,000 a month range, we have the VBA Accelerator foundation program. And that is the training content that is used in our higher level programs. But without the one to one coaching and without the calls. So we can make it a lot more accessible in terms of investment for businesses who are that two to five grand a month level. And the idea of that is that we want to help you put the tools and foundations in place to to 10 grand a month. Because once you get to 10 grand a month, things start to change.

Ask yourself this has owning your own video business been everything you dreamed it would be when you first got started? It might be hard to admit, but think about whether you're genuinely achieving Everything you set out to when you made that decision to grab the camera and go it alone. Are you really working less? Are you really earning more? And are you really in control? Chances are you're bloody good at what you do, but you're having to work like a dog, 70 plus hours a week, whether it's filming, editing, marketing, or any of the other jobs that come with being the big boss of your own video company. When you're managing projects, constantly searching out for new clients and worrying about cash flow, it's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture or make real progress. Let's face it, that stress is the last thing you need when you're trying to run a profitable company that supports you and the people you care about. Truth is, a business that provides financial, professional and personal freedom really is achievable. But maybe you've got that nagging feeling that you're overworked, lacking stability, and struggling to get to where you really want to be right now. It could be that you just don't know how to make a positive change on your own. So I created the Video Business Accelerator coaching programs to really supercharge your video business. With these unique coaching programs, you'll learn all the tools you need to get complete confidence in the success of your video business. You can take the first step on your journey to a successful business that doesn't control your life. Let me show you how. Head over to Denlenny.com and click on accelerator.

So I just wanted to kind of wrap today up by talking about, you know, this idea of generating leads and inquiries. The fact is, if you don't start putting some mechanisms in place on your website to capture data, then you are, you are leaving opportunities on the table. And one of the biggest sort of bits of resistance I hear from filmmakers is that they're kind of resistant to doing any marketing because it's hard. But what we do in the VBA is we make it easier by giving you a pathway, by giving you a lot of the mechanics already done. For example, we share an exact funnel that you can just plug and play. So we've actually built all the automation for you inside of activecampaign. And then all you need to do is either write an ebook or come up with a look. It doesn't have to be an ebook, but ebooks are very powerful because they have the authority of a book, but they're easy to consume and so they have the perceived value of a book. But other things I've seen people you very successfully is like a video series that explains, you know, how they solve a particular problem for a market. So all of these things are really, really important. And none of it is, is. Is like, it's. None of it's difficult, but it's also not easy. It's simple enough to understand. But of course, the difference between listening and agreeing that you understand implementing it is, you know, it's a big difference. And that's why we have accountability programs, because we know as filmmakers that we're challenged by, you know, the consistency that's required to do the hard stuff. And, you know, business needs consistency and monotonous tasks repeated over and over again. You know, building leads into a business. You know, it's not easy. You know, and the thing that I've learned in the last 12 years of running a business is that things just change all the time. Something that worked really well six months ago suddenly doesn't work anymore because there's some. There's some factor that's changed. And so you've got to be, I think, in an environment where you're constantly being exposed to different.

Opportunities. You know, for example, on. On the call that we're doing tomorrow, it will be talking about, you know, what's working now and what's not working. And so we have this opportunity with 20 plus video businesses to consume and talk about what is working in the market and what is not. So I just want to kind of keep reiterating that, that if you are sort of trying to figure this out yourself. And I had a great call with a new member last week, Corey, and he said something really salient on our. On our chat. He said, you know, my son said to me, dan, that dad, you're always watching the same videos about the camera you already own. You need to change your algorithm. Like, your YouTube channel is just full of videos about the camera that you already own. And I love that phrase about changing your algorithm. So let me ask you this. Are you ready to change your algorithm, or are you stuck in a bit of a rut, looking at the same stuff over and over again, hoping that something will change? Because as we all know, the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. So I want you to think about that. And it's a nice short episode this week, guys, and I will see you for another episode next week. You've been listening to the how to Scale a Video Business podcast with me, your host, Dan Lenny. If you're a video business owner, it's hit a ceiling and we benefit from mentorship, support and coaching. Then check out how you can work with me over at.

Don'T forget to subscribe and rate the show over on itunes, and we'd really appreciate you taking a few minutes to leave a review. And don't forget to share. If you feel you've gotten value from this episode and you think it would be useful for other filmmakers you know, then please do me a massive favor and share it on social media and in groups that you might be in. So thanks for listening. See you in the next episode.