How you can effectively generate leads

You have a great business idea. So now how do you get leads for your business? Today you'll get the answer to that question and more, even if you're an introvert. This is the Launch your business podcast because we know starting a business is challenging, but it doesn't have to be confusing. Each week we'll give you the tactical advice and the necessary tools to scale your business without feeling burnt out. Terry I'm Terry Rice, business development consultant and staff writer here at Entrepreneur Magazine. Let's dive in on today's episode. I'm answering your questions and this one comes from Bree Jackson. She wrote in I left my job at a non profit and now offer project management services to other non profit organizations. Unfortunately, I did not go to school for business and I'm not sure I can get leads for my business. What's the best way to get started? Well, first of all, I went to business school and I still had no clue how to get leads. I Remember I spent 20 hours sending cold emails to prospects and I failed miserably. But there were a few reasons why. Well, first of all, I talked about myself the entire time and beyond that I spoke about what services I offered as opposed to the outcomes they could expect. So things did not go too well. But today you can learn from my mistakes and speed up the process of getting qualified leads for your business. Let's go ahead and get started. The first step you should take is this. Ask your existing network if they know anyone who may want to use your services and this can be your personal and professional network. I would keep it short and say something along the lines of this. Hey Mark, I'm now offering project management services to nonprofit organizations. Would you happen to know anyone who could use my help? And you can remix this however you want, but the goal is to be clear on what you do and who you help. And if you can identify around 20 people in your network to reach out to, you'll be well on your way to getting leads sent your way. This is typically the easiest way to get leads, so you want to start here. Next up, social media. You want to post valuable content on the social media platforms that your audience is active on and you know better than I do what channels they're on. For me, it's normally LinkedIn and Instagram and in this example, someone who's offering project management to nonprofits. You could say something along the following lines. Here are three ways nonprofits can increase their impact by optimizing their project management process. And then explain those three ways. But don't stop there. At the end of your post, this is very important. Say something along the lines of this. Do you have any questions about this? Feel free to send me a direct message or ask me in the comments below. This part is very important because once someone asks you a question and you answer it, you can have a bit of back and forth and eventually say, hey, would you like to talk about this via Zoom or a phone call? There you go, you got another lead and this approach will help you meet people outside of your network by displaying your expertise, worldview, and personality on social media. Another way to get leads is by creating a lead magnet, and this is viable content you would give your audience in exchange for their contact information. It could be a handy guide or a checklist that solves a problem or inspires them to take actions that will benefit their organization. I'll provide more examples in the show notes, so be sure to check those out. And in this case, it could be a guide called how the Right Project Management System can Increase the Impact of your Nonprofit. Now keep in mind the title needs to be eye catching for your audience. Don't worry if it doesn't sound overly interesting to everybody else and you want to promote this on social media as well. So you can have a post about how important it is to choose the right system. Then encourage people to download your guide for more help. So now that you used your lead magnet to get contact information for your audience, you have two choices. One is you can individually reach out to these individuals and say, hey, thanks so much for downloading my content. Do you have any more questions about it? Or you can create a newsletter that goes out to everyone on your list. And when you do that, you want to nurture your list with valuable content. So what information can you share that will help them and demonstrate your expertise? You'll also want to think about how often you should email your list. It may be difficult to constantly talk about project management systems, so a monthly newsletter may be a better fit there. My newsletter is focused on entrepreneurship, so I can easily create engaging content on a weekly basis. So let's do a quick recap here. First, start by asking your network for help. That's the easiest way to get leads. Then post valuable content on social media and ask people if they have any questions based on what you've shared. After that, develop your lead magnet. That valuable content you can share in exchange for their email address. And then lastly, don't forget to nurture your audience with an ongoing newsletter. This process will get you off to a great start. And it gets even easier once you begin landing clients, because you can grow even faster through referrals and testimonials. And once you get to that point, the easiest way to get more leads is rather simple. Just treat your current clients well so they'll be more than happy to spread the word on your behalf. And that's our show for today. Thanks for joining and if you have any questions that you would like to get answered, contact me at Terryrice Co or on Instagram at Terryrice. I'll see you next time. Apply what you've learned on today's show. You'll find the show notes and more resources at Terryrice Co. Podcast again, that's TerryRice CA and the best way to support this podcast is by subscribing, telling a friend and leaving a review. Also, you can get more tips by following me on Instagram, terryrice, or follow me on LinkedIn. This episode was produced by Josh Wilcox of Brooklyn Podcasting Studio and edited by Dan Lardy. Special thanks to my wife Dominique for keeping our kids relatively quiet as I recorded. Thanks again for listening. I'll see you next time.