HOW TO GENERATE FAR MORE LEADS FOR SELLING YOUR PRODUCT AND SERVICE AND HOW TO DETERMINE WHICH OF THEM ARE WORTH YOUR TIME AND MONEY

The phone rings... or a response coupon arrives in the mail... or an actual flesh and blood "lead" walks through the door.

You drop everything so you can pay full attention to this lead. You write the necessary letter... or put an information packet together... or, if the lead stands before you, you turn the full force of your winning personality on him, certain you're about to get the business.

But what happens more often than not...

The phone call that you return to the lead is never answered... or your second call or even your third. The letter you send... or the packet of expensive materials... never gets an answer... even if you follow up by phone.

And the person you spent so much time with in your office merely goes off saying he'll mull things over... and as far as you know he still is: a year later!

Does this all sound sickeningly familiar? Well, if this reminds you of all too many situations that happen around your office, listen up... because you're making the same mistakes that are bedeviling most product and service sellers and costing them time, money and self-esteem.

It's time for a change!

Step 1: Understand The Game

If you believe this, GET OVER IT!

In the game of selling more products/services, here's something crucial you need to keep in mind: a large percentage of the so-called "prospects" who contact you are not real. By this I mean, while they are perfectly interested in the benefits you have available, they do not possess the necessary attributes it takes to acquire these benefits. That is, they either don't have the money to purchase or even the authority to make the commitment. Oh, sure, they'd like to be able to go ahead... and would, too, if you stripped the shirt off your back to make it possible. But as far as approaching the matter of doing business with you with any semblance of reality, they either can't or won't.

Thus, you must start by:

## reminding yourself that a substantial percentage of the people who approach you are not real prospects, that is that whatever they say they do not have the necessary prerequisites to buy what you're selling;

## changing the game from one where you assume everyone will buy to one where you assume that only a fraction of those approaching you will buy... and that only this fraction is deserving of any real attention from you;

## changing the focus of your interaction with prospects from one where you first make every effort to present and defend your credentials and the benefits of what you have available... to one where, before you present any such information, the "prospect" must convince you that he is indeed a real prospect, capable of purchasing your offer, and not just another resource waster.

Step 2: Develop Offers And Marketing Communications That Generate The Maximum Number Of Leads

Is this how you're doing things now? I doubt it.

If you examine the ads, cover letters, flyers, brochures and other marketing communications produced by the overwhelming majority of both product and service sellers, it is clear these people don't have the slightest idea they're playing a very important game, much less do they have any idea what they're supposed to be doing to win that game.

Take the self-mailer flyer I received today from Network Associates of Stamford, CT. They're trying to sell advertising in a new publication called "Carousel Advertiser." Fair enough.

Now, the prospects for this advertising are either 1) going to buy their ads directly from this particular marketing communication, or 2) they are going to somehow indicate to the marketer that they are interested in having further information, thereby inviting the marketer to convince them to buy his service. Once you understand that this is the game, and have made a decision about which action you want the recipient to take, it's relatively easy to create the right marketing communication, the kind that generates fastest response.

Now you tell me, does Network Associates succeed? The address panel says, "GET THE BEST AT THE LOWEST PRICE." That's all.

The reverse (or back) panel says ""SOMETHING NEW INSIDE." Now, I remind you, the game is to speak directly to a targeted prospect, to provide a clear benefit for him, and to do EVERYTHING possible to get him to take the action you want him to take as quickly as possible.

I submit to you that by this standard the people at Network Associates haven't got a clue what they're doing... or what marketing is all about.

- Get the "best" what?

- the "lowest price" for what?

- Okay, so there's "something new inside." So what?

These marketers are so enamored of what they've got that they've forgotten what this marketing communication is supposed to do... to talk to a designated prospect and make him want to take fast action to either acquire the benefit they've got for him... or tell them he needs further persuasion.

The marketing farce perpetrated by Network Associates continues inside the letter with this opening line: "We are introducing our new 'Carousel Advertiser' with a special edition over the next few months." What are these people thinking of anyway?

The only way to respond to a sentence like this is with a great big yawn and the words "So what?" "What's in this for me?" "Why are you bothering me, anyway?"

Look at the first word you see: "We". Now, I ask you: who is the potential buyer more interested in anyway, himself or "we"? Does he care about what you're doing... or what he gets? Put this way the answers are obvious. The reason they are not obvious to the substandard marketers at Network Associates is because they are more interested in themselves... and they are going to force their potential customers to share this interest, whether those prospects want to or not.

Now hear this: this careless, selfish and otherwise inadequate work of Network Associates is absolutely typical of most of what passes for marketing communications in virtually all firms. Check out your own documents and see for yourself... and you'll find out that you're spending time and good money producing "me-centered" communications, too. Just how you expect these communications to generate the maximum number of leads for you is anybody's guess. Instead, sit down and deal with this situation from the point of view of the only person who matters... the prospect. What have you got... what can you think up... what can you do to make this crucial person sit up, take notice, and ACT?

To make this work, you've got to:

## turn every feature into a benefit. Features are about what you're selling. They're descriptions of what you've got and include such matters as your hours of business, how many employees, your location, specific product and service components, price, color, weight, etc. Think of features like nouns: they are just descriptive attributes which define your offer. Benefits, however, are what the buyer gets when he uses these features. If features can be presented in lines beginning "It has..." then benefits are lines that shout "You get..." Of course, YOU GET is stronger and more motivational than "it has."

## prioritize your benefits for the target group you're trying to motivate. All benefits aren't equal. Some are more important than others. But what determines importance is just who you're trying to motivate. We live now in an age of increasingly specific marketing groups. Your job is to be precise about whom you're talking to... the more specific the better. Once you know who you're trying to motivate, then it's easy to select -- and put in priority order -- the benefits you've got available for them.

## craft offers that get your prospects to act NOW. The problem with all too many marketing communications is that they present no incentive for immediate action. Let me tell you something: the objective of every marketing communication, even those tiny ads on the back of match-book covers, is just one thing: to get the designated prospect to take FASTEST ACTION. If you don't provide an incentive for this to happen, you're diminishing the likelihood that it will happen, and therefore cutting into the number of leads you need. This is stupid.

## conceive qualifying devices that improve the quality of those responding. I shall say it again: all prospects are not equal. Some are definitely better than others.

Therefore, it's up to you to do what you can to improve the quality of your leads. You can use things like: getting the prospect to put his own stamp on response cards (instead of using postage paid); tell the prospect they'll be no response without a phone number, or forcing the prospect to call your regular phone number (on his quarter) instead of providing an "800" number.

Important note: I know that many direct response marketers, particularly older ones who started their practices in more salubrious economic times, when the costs of doing business were less, may well take exception to the advice I've just provided about qualifying your leads. Nonetheless, I want you to understand why I have included this important point. Just because times are bad, as they still continue to be, doesn't mean that people want any less than before. They continue to have high expectations and levels of desire.

However, their means to satisfy these expectations are decidedly less. Thus, while they continue to respond to marketing communications... their ability to follow through is markedly less. I want to make one thing perfectly plain: you have no obligation to satisfy anyone except those who are in a position to purchase your product/service and, in fact, by any realistic measure these are the only people who can be satisfied in any event. The object of business is to make sales as promptly as possible, as inexpensively as possible. It is not to send "information", not to spend time with those unable to buy, not to waste your resources with anyone who will not work with you in a purposeful fashion so that he can acquire the benefits and you can get the benefit of the sale. I hope this is perfectly clear, because in these few sentences I have outlined the nub of how you must do business in the pinched decade of the 'nineties.

Step 3: Flush Out All The Poor Leads And Concentrate Only On The Good Ones

1. Because I use cash copy methods to keep the focus exclusively where it belongs, on the prospect and on getting him to take immediately action, and
2. because I need lots of leads so I can rigorously and quickly sort out which are the promising ones from those that get either less attention... or no attention at all!

1. wants the benefit you have available;
2. how quickly, and
3. can afford the product or service you're selling which delivers the benefits the real prospect wants.

## You ask for a phone number, but "prospect" tells you he doesn't have one or, worse, won't provide it. "No calls please" is an indication this isn't a real prospect.

## You ask the prospect to put a stamp on the response card, but you notice the post office has stamped "Returned for postage."

## You call the prospect and leave a message. The "prospect", despite telling you he's interested, doesn't call you back. You call again. Ditto.

## When you do connect with the prospect, he's evasive about just what he wants, just when he wants it, or about how he'll take care of paying for your product/service. Instead of being straight with you, he asks you to send more "information." I could go on and on with this list, but I'm sure you recognize these situations and deal with dozens of similar ones daily. What should be done?

For one thing, don't despair. Once you've started generating an increased number of leads, you're going to generate an increased number of flat worms. The only thing you need to worry about is failing to identify these creatures as soon as possible... and doing what's necessary to get rid of them.

## If you're unsure a prospect is a real prospect, he's probably not. Don't treat all "prospects" equally. Do what's necessary to identify the better ones first.

## Remember, you are under no obligation to call a "prospect" if you're unsure of him... or send your materials... or, indeed, do anything. Your job is to work only with those who give promise of becoming constructive customers. Get rid of the rest.

## When talking to a prospect, be direct. Ask him if he wants the benefits, when he wants the benefits... and how he'll be paying for the benefits. If the answers are unsatisfactory, be blunt. "I want to help you. I can help you. But I need you to be straight with me. Now, please, answer my questions." Real prospects will cooperate. Resource-wasters will do the only thing they're good at: rip off your time, ideas, and information -- and then go on their merrie way!

Conclusion

To begin with, they must change their game. They must do everything they can to increase their lead flow, so they have more people to choose from. This means refocusing all their marketing communications on their prospects... and doing everything possible to generate faster, that is immediate, action. This alone would help virtually all businesses.

Second, once the lead-flow has increased, these businesses - - you! -- must do everything possible to determine if the lead they've received is a real prospect... or just a resource-waster. If you have diligently done everything you can to craft your benefits and to bring these to the attention of your market, then it is right, when the "prospect" has responded, that you do everything you can to determine if he has the ability to acquire these benefits. If he doesn't, finish!

The choice for you is plain: get serious about doing what it takes to generate more leads and to close them faster and so get rich. Or ignore this advice and become an unhappy statistic. By the way, you should keep in mind that if you fail to decide, you've decided... with predictably sad results for you and your business.