I often talk about the importance of lead generation. Without an effective system for generating quality leads, there is no opportunity to generate the new business necessary to earn more money. One of the core philosophies I teach my clients is that when entrepreneurs shift their focus to generating quality leads, any problems with lack of revenue or uneven revenue quickly disappear.

But today, I want to go one step further, and discuss the importance of examining your client generation strategies. What I mean by that is this…

If I gave you a pop quiz, and said, “Tell me where every client you’ve had came from,” what would you say? Would you even have an answer?

For too many business owners and sales professionals, the answer is “no.” Or to be more precise, “I don’t know.”

That’s unfortunate, because the difference between knowing and not knowing this vital information can mean many thousands of dollars of lost revenue, wasted time, and frustration.

Knowing exactly what brings your clients to you is critical for your success at generating future leads and clients. 

But doing so must be a deep dive to glean the kind of information that can inform how you pursue leads going forward. Here are the steps to take to examine your existing client generation and put it into place as a strategy for future lead generation.

Examine the surface layer information.

How many of your existing and past clients came from:

• Social media?
• Cold calling?
• Referrals?
• Paid ads?
• Blog posts?
• Email marketing?
• Professional associations?
• Networking events?
• Other sources?

For most companies, that surface layer is where they stop if they do any examination at all of where their clients are coming from. But I’m going to encourage you to go beyond the typical analysis. Taking the time to do more than scratch the surface will be worth it.

Go deeper.

Trace each client back to their origins and what or who led them to you. The first step was quantitative – a numbers exercise – whereas this step is qualitative. You can’t track it on a chart but the information is valuable nonetheless.

Let me give you an example. A colleague of mine generates a large portion of her clients through word of mouth. One client has referred her to another who has referred her to another. Of course, that information is useful, and she has put in place a referral system to generate more leads.

But upon deeper analysis, she discovered that almost all of her referrals in the last 4 years could be traced back to a single client, whom she found through a posting on a professional association job board. So while the referrals are an important key to her future success, the professional association membership as well as taking the initiative to search for clients on the job board might have easily been overlooked as two other keys to future success.

You might be surprised at what you find when you do a deep dive. In my own work, I’ve found that service to my community is a surprising key to new clients.

Implement a strategy based on your findings.

Once you’ve gone through steps 1 and 2, it might become clear that your current lead generation strategy is missing the mark.

In the example above, if my colleague had not done a thorough analysis, she might have let her association membership lapse or forgot to check the job board as she got busy with existing clients. This would mean leaving clients on the table, even with a good referral system in place. But since she has greater awareness, she might even double down, joining a second professional group or planning to spend time each week searching job boards.

What will you uncover when you do more than scratch the surface? And how will it affect your lead generation strategy in the future?

I would love to hear what you discover when you do a deep dive into your client generation. Comment below or let me know on Facebook.

Generating leads is one of the many issues we tackle in our Celeste Giordano Coaching Mastermind Group. That’s why members report that they not only gain more clients as a result of joining, but also raise their revenue. If you’d like to join the elite group of business owners and professionals in our Mastermind, contact me today.

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Celeste Giordano’s mission is to help business owners develop the skills, knowledge and attitude necessary to “DoublePlus^TM” their income and become effective and inspirational leaders in their fields. Whether it’s taking your successful business to the next level or starting a new venture, she will teach you the exact skills and strategies you need to enroll more quality prospects, build a rock-solid team, and break through obstacles to achieve real profit and lasting success. Celeste is a professional business growth specialist, a master sales strategist, and dynamic speaker with 40 years experience in direct sales and managing high-performing teams.

To learn more about Celeste, click here.

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