Generating leads is more than just a numbers game. If we can focus on quality, not just quantity, we'll do better for our small businesses.

What is lead generation?  Lead generation is a process of collecting information that is meant to get potential customers into your pipeline.  Your small business pipeline and lead generation is not just for B2B, it’s for everyone.  If you sell something, your audience knows they want to be sold something.  

What will be working in 2021 in regards to lead generation?  I think going forward, businesses will begin asking for exactly what you want when doing lead generation - that will absolutely 100% increase the quality of the leads. It will decrease the number, but it will increase the quality - not just trying to get 20,000 people on your email list.  Also, making your lead capture connected to the thing that you are trying to sell.

However, you may think you don't have enough people to ask.  When it comes along, there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing a specific, straightforward ask, because that will get you real people who really care and are interested in your product/service. 

So, if you are going to generate good, quality leads - either our sales team or ourselves as our own sales team - it’s going to require getting yourself out there.  You need to get your business out there in front of your audience.  

 Pro tip - use testimonials.  So if you are going to be asking a cold audience or using advertising to get attention, the best way to grow that audience organically and to make that ask is to be extremely specific about what it is, and then apply a specific testimonial to that 

What we're really going to need to do at this point is ask people real questions. What is it that your customer wants?  How can I provide that to the customer?  And then providing the product/service to them and saying - if you want more information about the thing, give me your email address so that I can add you to my email list - you can choose whichever content you like to put out there - but let's make sure we are honest, build true relationships and build our true brand for 2021. 

Want some more information on how to start your business's best recovery from the pandemic?

We've got an article about that: Smart Branding Rules For Small Businesses During Scary Times