More Leads Won't Help You
Reuben Swartz
Fun "Anti-CRM" for Solo Consultants Who Hate "Selling" but Love Serving Clients. Put the "relationship" back in CRM: conversations, referrals, follow-up, lead magnets, proposals. Host of the Sales for Nerds Podcast ????
So many solopreneurs tell me that their #1 issue is getting more leads.
Unfortunately, "solving" this issue often causes more problems than it solves (so I'm told).
First, this leads to a temptation to broaden your target market. This makes it harder to get leads and referrals. And the ones you get aren't great fits, so you have to spend more effort "selling" to turn fewer into clients, which is very discouraging.
This leads to the second point-- the fortune is in the follow-up. If you're not following up with your current prospects, partners, and past clients-- the people who actually want to talk to you-- how are you going to follow up with new leads who probably don't want to talk to you?
Remember, if you're in a relationship business, you're in a conversation business.
And if you're in a conversation business, you need to:
When you get this process humming, it's great to add more volume. Until then, you're just making things more painful for yourself. (Or so I'm told.)
(If this sounds daunting, don't worry, I've put a link to a free training session on how to do both steps in the comments.)
Extrovert for Hire
2 周That's the running joke in business: you don't need more leads. Follow up us good. Community creation is better. Most people think of email as a way to pitch and sell, but if mass email is used to inform and connect, it can be a game changing long term follow up tool.
Executive Assistant
2 周Reuben Swartz I often see solopreneurs chasing any lead instead of the right lead, which leads to wasted time and frustration.?Focusing on targeted conversations with ideal clients is far more effective. I'm curious, what specific strategies do you recommend for solopreneurs to effectively follow up with prospects and nurture those relationships, especially when they're juggling multiple roles?
Fractional CFO | Consulting | Financial Modeling | Capital Raising | M&A | Forecasting | KPI Development | Strategic Finance | COO
3 周Great perspective Reuben. I think folks starting out are so focused on getting new clients that they lose sight of what they're good at and are willing to provide services outside their expertise. End result = low satisfaction for both consultant and client.
7-Figures Ain’t What It Used To Be| 40% of High Earners Face Low Profit and Fulfillment| We Breathe New Life into 7-Figure Businesses | Author of Profit Psychology| Burnout Recovery Expert| International Speaker| JW
3 周This is an excellent perspective and I agree 100%. Its nothing worse then talking to tons of the wrong people and also not sure what to talk about because we haven't gotten clear on who we want to talk to and what we really want to say. Seems super simple but its a step that people get tired of dealing with and so they skip it before they've nailed it.
Speaker | Author | Mentor Science & Tech Execs to Drive Decisions Faster| HOW-TO Model??Creator | Your Guide to Telling 'Stories that Stick' to Stakeholders
3 周More leads aren’t the solution if your follow-up is on life support. It’s like pouring water into a leaky bucket, fix the holes first. Reuben Swartz