Offline Client Lead Generation

I think I may have a look through the Yellow Pages tonight, seems to be a good tactic, it also confirms that they have some sort of advertising budget.

There are many, many ways of getting brick and mortar businesses as paying clients.

Having worked with thousands of people I've seen just about everything tried in one way or another.

This is a list of the methods most likely to work.

I've put them in order...in other words if the method is at the top of the list it's because the maximum number of people I know have made real income using it:

# 1: Talking to business owners one on one from referrals from friends, family, other business owners etc. Using a system to get referrals is probably the most effective way to get hired.

When someone recommends you and introduces you the business owner is FAR more likely to trust your advice and hire you.

It's also far more likely you'll be able to charge a higher fee.

At it's worst this could be your wife, brother, mother, father or sister telling a business owner they know about you and setting up a consultation.

At it's best a client who loves your work talks to another business owner personally and tells him he should PAY you for a consultation and that business owner calls you after being convinced by your client.

Most referrals will fall somewhere in between those extremes.


# 2: Talking to business owners you already know and the owners of businesses where you're spending money.

This is the obvious place to start if you're new. Talking to business owners is a vital skill to develop and it's something you can only get good at by doing.



# 3: Simply walking into businesses and talking to the staff and/or owner in a low key way, asking a ton of questions and gradually guiding the conversation around to ideas you have to help them based on the information they give you.

The people willing to do this are usually the ones who go from zero to making a full time living the fastest.

It's a whole lot more fun than it sounds and very effective once you develop the skill of talking to business owners.



# 4: Business networking meetings and other meetings like Lions, Rotary, Toastmasters and trade shows where a high percentage of business owners are present. It works a whole lot better if you go as the speaker (high credbility).

Business networking meetings are also a great way to get some experience talking to business owners (or more specifically getting used to the process of asking questions of business owners and gathering information).

Trade shows that are attended by smaller businesses can be a real gold mine...often the business owners are standing around waiting for someone to talk to them and they have hours of down time when they'll be thrilled to talk to someone with good marketing ideas (they're at the trade show for a reason!)



# 5: Snail mail. In particular hand written snail mail addressed to the business owner by name with something inside that they can't ignore.

OfflineBiz members have had tremendous success with a members only 4 line letter getting around 20% of businesses sent this letter contacting them.

One big advantage of an effective direct mail piece is a good percentage of business owners will contact you.

That means you're more likely to use it and keep using it.



# 6: Calling on the telephone. Calling on the phone shouldn't be underrated. You can call cold (I strongly recommend Ari Galper's courses etc) or you can use the phone to follow up...or both.

It is possible to get paying clients just over the phone.

Your percentages will be much lower than one on one consultations but it does open up the possibility of working with clients remotely which is especially appealing for some people.

Following up with business owners you've already met or calling business owners who are referred to you on the phone can be especially effective.


# 7: Email. Same principle as snail mail. Email works better if it's combined with some kind of referral or previous connection (following up with the business owner after meeting him or mentioning someone they know who recommended you contact them).

If you're emailing cold it helps a lot if you use curiosity and talk about some specifics of their business or advertising (so you're not perceived as a spammer).

Since there's no cost with email and most people will actually do it even though it's far less effective than other methods for some people they may get some clients this way (instead of doing nothing).



# 8: Running seminars, workshops etc. This is really not for beginners but if you have some skill already and preferably if you've worked with a few paying clients and you like public speaking you may want to consider this.

It is a whole lot more cost effective if someone else is supplying the room full of business owners (a business networking group for example (see # 4).

The potential to pick up a lot of good paying clients very quickly is good running seminars and workshops but don't underestimate how much time and expense it can take to fill a room full of business owners.

If you're starting out, you don't have any paying clients and you don't have someone to bring attendees to a seminar or talk or workshop for you then instead of trying to convince people to come to a seminar you're probably better off just convincing your leads to take up a gift one on one consultation with you.


# 9: Lead generating online. It can work. You can actually get business owners finding you online and contacting you for more information, a one on one consultation etc etc.

Since this is an internet marketing forum I'm not going to go into any detail on the multitude of ways you can get leads coming to you...websites, article marketing, SEO, email marketing, lead generating reports, audio and video online, video marketing, social networking, pay per click, craiglist ads etc etc.

The real key to this kind of lead generation is to immediately move to the next level.

In other words if you get an email enquiry from a business owner call them immediately on the telephone or in your email reply tell them your happy to talk to them on the phone and ask for their number if you don't have it.

If they call you on the phone try to move towards a one on one consulation.

Just doing that and following up quickly will massively increase the number of prospects you turn into paying clients.


There are obviously other ways of getting clients but most are variations of the ones above.

It does depend a little on your personal skill sets, your experience and a whole pile of other factors which methods you choose to use.

In my experience the people who are willing to talk to business owners early on are the ones who will make nearly any lead generating method effective because they develop those crucial skills that convert a prospect into a paying client.

Also remember that having a lot of long term stable clients who pay you over and over for project after project or on a monthly fee very much depends on the rapport, trust and relationships you build with business owners.

The sooner you get some experience talking to business owners, learning to ask questions, becoming familiar with their language and the types of problems they have, what they want...the sooner you'll be able to effectively turn those prospects into happy paying clients.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

Hi Gary

On average how many leads does that bring in? And what kind of conversion do you get?

I know it varies...but when you do something long enough, patterns start to appear!

Thanks

Dave

Actually I'm hoping someone will come up with something that's NOT covered on that list.

I'm pretty sure someone will and then I can learn something new and really neat.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

Hi Linda,

I do the same thing with a twist.

My offline customers can earn a commission per each new paying client they send me and the commission is deducted from my monthly service charges. Once they reach a certain point they no longer have to pay the monthly service charge for my services and anything exceeding that is extra money in their pockets.

Kinda like a offline affiliate program.
Advantage: Word of Mouth advertising that is motivated by your performance an their greed!

Have a Great Day!
Michael

Often your best referrals will come from clients who don't want money or discounts in return.

They're just happy with the service and the money you're making them.

The first thing you should always do when you get a referral is be sure to thank the person who gave you the referral and keep them in the loop (let them know how it works out...especially if it's positive...they like to know that they've helped the friend they've referred as well as you).

You certainly can add incentives to your referral system.

You can also have people selling your service for you.

I didn't include that in the list of lead generating methods because the best way to do it is to get someone to just recommend you (# 1: Referrals) and give them a commission.

That way you have the security of a relationship with the business owner, you can't get cut out of the deal and the person doing the recommending doesn't need to know anything about internet marketing to do it.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh