What do you do if you're unsure about the best lead generation tools for your direct sales business?

1 Define your target audience

Before you start looking for leads, you need to know who your ideal customers are. Who are they, what are their needs, challenges, goals, and preferences? How can you solve their problems or improve their lives with your products or services? You can use tools like surveys, quizzes, polls, or interviews to gather information about your target audience. You can also create buyer personas, which are fictional profiles of your ideal customers, based on their demographics, behaviors, motivations, and pain points. By defining your target audience, you can tailor your marketing messages and offers to suit their needs and interests.

2 Build your online presence

One of the best ways to generate leads for your direct sales business is to build your online presence. This means creating and maintaining a website, a blog, a social media profile, an email list, or a podcast, where you can showcase your products or services, share valuable content, and connect with your audience. You can use tools like WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, or Shopify to create a professional and user-friendly website or blog. You can use tools like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Pinterest to grow your social media following and engagement. You can use tools like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, AWeber, or Constant Contact to build and manage your email list and campaigns. You can use tools like Anchor, Buzzsprout, Podbean, or SoundCloud to create and distribute your podcast episodes.

3 Offer something valuable

Another way to generate leads for your direct sales business is to offer something valuable to your audience in exchange for their contact information. This can be a freebie, a lead magnet, a giveaway, a contest, or a webinar, that provides value, solves a problem, educates, entertains, or inspires your audience. You can use tools like Canva, Adobe Spark, or PicMonkey to create attractive and useful freebies or lead magnets, such as ebooks, checklists, guides, templates, or cheat sheets. You can use tools like Rafflecopter, Gleam, or KingSumo to run and manage giveaways or contests, where you can reward your participants with your products or services. You can use tools like Zoom, WebinarJam, GoToWebinar, or Livestorm to host and record live or pre-recorded webinars, where you can share your expertise, tips, stories, or testimonials.

4 Follow up and nurture

Once you have generated leads for your direct sales business, you need to follow up and nurture them until they are ready to buy from you. This means sending them relevant and personalized emails, messages, calls, or texts, that build trust, rapport, and credibility, and that move them along your sales funnel. You can use tools like HubSpot, Zoho, Salesforce, or Pipedrive to manage and track your leads, and to automate your follow-up and nurturing sequences. You can use tools like Calendly, Acuity, or ScheduleOnce to schedule appointments or consultations with your leads, and to remind them of your meetings. You can use tools like Loom, BombBomb, or Vidyard to send video emails or messages to your leads, and to showcase your products or services in a more engaging and personal way.

5 Ask for referrals

The last way to generate leads for your direct sales business is to ask for referrals from your existing customers, prospects, or contacts. Referrals are one of the most powerful and cost-effective ways to get new leads, as they come from trusted sources, and they have a higher conversion rate and lifetime value. You can use tools like ReferralCandy, Influitive, or Ambassador to create and manage your referral program, and to reward your referrers with incentives, discounts, or commissions. You can use tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, or Meetup to network with your contacts, and to ask for introductions or recommendations. You can use tools like Testimonial Tree, Trustpilot, or Yelp to collect and display testimonials or reviews from your happy customers, and to encourage word-of-mouth marketing.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?