I was recently asked at an event I attended, “Why are leads important to my business? I do a lot of business by referral and word of mouth.” It seems so simple, doesn’t it? Clearly, you can’t make sales if you don’t have leads. No leads… no sales… Far too many businesses believe that the primary reason they are in business is to create products or provide services. Unfortunately for them, these businesses are are going to be out of business soon while they are stuck with some awesome products that never got sold. With that in mind, it is important to know why leads are important to your business – every good business person knows it… and so should you!
What is the basic underlying issue at hand here? I think it is simple. Most people that start their own business are entrepreneurs. And, entrepreneurs are creators. They/we like to create things. For most of us, we are really good at what we do, and tend to slack on the other aspects of a business like marketing, bookkeeping, sales, and everything else that is needed to run a business. Just being awesome in your field is NOT going to make you successful.
What your business does and what you are in business for are two separate things. It’s crucial that you, as a business owner, don’t confuse these two concepts. Your business may offer a service or even a set of services. Likewise, your business my create products to sell to other businesses or consumers. Maybe, your business does a little of both. The point is that what you do is different from why you do what you do.
Your business is in the business of making money. Period. The End. Full Stop. If you think otherwise, you soon won’t have to worry about the answer. Why? Because you’ll be out of business and working for someone who clearly understands the concept. Every business runs on profit. Profits come from sales. Sales come from leads. Therefore, no leads mean no sales. No sales, in turn, mean no profits. No profits mean you’re no longer in business. Ultimately, profits come from these leads; that is why leads are important to your business!
Looking at it this way, you can see that leads are directly and intimately connected to profits. Because of this, you can see that lead generation is probably one of the most important things that you can do as a business owner in order to guarantee that you stay in business.
One of the best ways to generate leads is through promotion. This promotion can take any form, but its primary purpose is to raise the profile of your business among the general public. You need to do this because the general public is where your leads will come from. When the public knows about your business, they also start to become familiar with you products and your services. This, in turn, will make them realize that your products or your services can satisfy a need they might have or solve a problem that might be troubling them. Alternatively, they may simply become curious about who you are and what you do. Because of this curiosity, they will visit your business in order to find out what all the buzz is about. The important thing is that they visit. Every visitor is a lead and the reason why they visited is the lever you can use in order to convert them into paying customers. You should be offering a lead information product (a lead magnet, an ethical bribe, a freebie – it has many names – see How to Create A Lead Generating Information Product).
I hope this answers the question around why leads are important to your business – Leads can end up becoming customers!
Leave a comment below and let me know how you do your lead generation! Thanks.
WOW…this article was written for me. Understanding the What you do vs the why you do. Useful knowledge.
Thank you
I had YOU in mind, Kecia 🙂 Glad this resonated with you! Thanks for stopping by!