02 Nov, 2023
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My Journey to Becoming a Lead Generation Maestro: Stories and Lessons Learned
02 Nov, 2023
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In the bustling world of freelancing and agency management, I embarked on a quest to master lead generation. Every misstep was a lesson, and every success, a chapter in my story.
I invite you on a journey with me, hoping my tale can help light your path.
1. Navigating the Complex Labyrinth of Digital Marketing:
Years ago, fresh-faced and eager, I dove headfirst into the world of helping businesses with digital marketing. To get clients, I tried every method, from cold calls, to direct outreach, to running flashy ads.
But a chance reflection changed everything.
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Understanding the Right Way to Market: I recall a rainy afternoon, sifting through my client list, when a pattern emerged. Almost all my favorite clients were solo entrepreneurs who actually needed and wanted my help project managing campaigns. Our partnership were win-wins because symmetry existed. We were both getting exactly what we wanted from the partnership. This epiphany reshaped my overall approach to growing my business, making my actions and offers more targeted and personal. I realized that the best way to market any business is to make sure that what you are promoting is EXACTLY what people want. The way to accomplish this to know what you want and what the prospect wants. When either party is not sure what they want, the more sales and persuasion comes into play. When you package the right offer to the right person, magic happesn.
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The People Revelation: Once Covid emerged, I regonized the need for building a team. To my surprise, smart people from around the world were willing to collaobrate with me to set up automation processes that made the process of driving results change from intensely laborious to fun and inspiring. The right people are both a literal and figurative breath of fresh air, making me realize the importance of developing leadership skills.
2. Networking Chats, Adding Value, and Networking Tales:
My LinkedIn networking journey has taught me that behind every every connection, every post, every comment is a story yet to be revealed.
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The Word-of-Mouth Wonder: A past client, whom I'd helped with a particularly challenging project, became one an advocate. A casual recommendation to his network landed me another valued client. This example serves as a testament to the exponetial power of creating one genuine relationships.
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Chance Encounters: On LinkedIn, we successfully networked on behalf of a client with a stranger who helped us land the client on a guest spot for a familiar Podcast which turned into sales. We helped our client nurture the connection for over 18 months before the Podcast guest spot materialized. This demonstrates an example of how staying genuine and open with engagement can lead to unexptected opportunities.
3. Sales Price vs. 'LifeTime Revenue' Adventure:
I charged high monthky retainers for my services. I was able to successfully sell high ticket digital marketing consulting packages. However, I noticed that many of these high-ticket clients failed to convert into long tern operational maintenance clients.
As long as I kept selling more short term consulting packages I made money. However, sales is time consuming.
After digging into the numbers, I realized that the operational service clients were actually better for the long term success of my agency. These maintenance clients needed more help, and therefore were easier to fulfill.
I also realized how the life time revenue for these maintenance clients far exceeded the life time revenue for "Big Tiget" Consulting contracts.
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This realization led me to prioririze "LifeTime Revenue" over "Sales Price." Optimizing for LifeTime revenue helped me choose better clients, retain those clients, and created an environment that required me to spend less time on sales to make payroll, and more time making the business stronger.
4. Cultivating My Network of Connections:
Over time, I realized my network was a living entity, needing care and nurturing.
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Memorable Engagements: Sending personalized book recommendations or insightful articles transformed acquaintances into allies. These gestures, though small, often sparked meaningful conversations, which led to networking calls, which led to understand businesses, which led to collaborations.
5. The Persistence Diaries:
From reluctant clients to missed opportunities, my journey was dotted with challenges. But persistence became my compass. I just kep taking action.
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The Relentless Follow-Up: A prospect once went silent after an initial chat. Months later, a simple 'checking in' message rekindled our conversation, led to a networking chat, which led to a sale.
Conclusion:
Every client, every project, every challenge was a stepping stone in my journey toward mastering lead generation. As I share my tales with you, my hope is that they offer guidance, inspiration, and the courage to carve your own path in this vast realm of online opportunities.