How to Gain your Prospective Clients' Attention and Generate
the Leads You Need to Make Your Business a Success
By Julie Chance
If you've ever tried to get a child who is engrossed in
their favorite video to do another task you know you must
first get their attention. Often the best way to do this is
to use their name so they realize you are speaking directly
to them. The process of effective lead generation requires
that we communicate with many prospective clients at one
time. Before we can communicate with them we must first get
their attention. And our prospective clients must each feel
we are talking directly to them.
Getting a prospective client's attention is not an easy
task, especially given the hundreds of thousands of other
products and services that are also competing for their
attention. Like the mother who has learned to "tune-out"
her kids bickering in the back-seat while she is trying to
drive, our prospects have learned to tune out all the
promotional clutter that bombards them daily. Here is a
four step process to gain your prospects' attention and help
generate the leads you need to make your business a
success.
1. Define Your Target Market: To gain prospective clients'
attention you must understand their biggest problems and
greatest desires. This requires really knowing your target
market. And in order to know your target market you must
first define that market. What is the profile of your ideal
client? Many people resist defining an ideal client.
However unless you know specifically who you want to talk
to, your promotional efforts will fall on deaf ears. Not
having a defined target for your marketing communications is
like yelling into a room full of kids watching TV, "Will
someone please take out the trash?" They will all assume
you are talking to someone else. The odds of actually
having the trash taken out increase significantly when you
say, "Bobby, will you please take the trash out now?"
2. Identify Problems and Desires: In conversations with
current clients or prospective clients that fit the profile
of your ideal client, what are the "themes" that continue to
surface and which of these themes can you help with – a
desire for a more fulfilling career; the ability to
recapture romance in their relationships; a need to get
spending under control and eliminate debt; a summer home on
Nantucket; tools to better communicate with their teenage
kids? The list is endless. The key is identifying the
intersection of your target market's most pressing problems
or desires and your greatest strengths. If you don't know
and really understand the most pressing problems and deepest
desires of your target market it's time to do some research.
Get out and talk with people who meet the profile of your
ideal client. Be really curious about them, ask questions.
Find out what occupies their mind, what keeps them awake at
night, what they dream of having, being or doing. You're
not trying to sell at this stage you are only trying to get
to know your target market better.
3. Start Where Your Prospects Currently Are: It is often
tempting to paint a picture of a fabulous outcome without
first clearly identifying the problem or desire. I used to
do marketing for a psychiatric hospital that ran television
advertising. The most effective ads were not those that
showed happy, well adjusted kids playing on the playground –
the outcome of treatment. The parents of kids with
emotional issues did not relate to the images of these kids.
We first had to show the child sitting all alone in the
swing crying because no one wanted to play with him or her.
This is what caught the attention of the parents of kids who
needed treatment. Only after we captured their attention
with an image they could relate to right then were we able
to talk with them about the solution to the problem.
Another very effective ad showed a woman sitting alone in
the woods contemplating taking a handful of pills. Women
thinking about taking their own lives related to that ad,
they picked up the phone and called for help. Your first
goal is to get a prospect to say, "Hey, that's me, that's my
exact situation, that's the problem I'm facing right now.
If they have helped others in that same situation maybe they
can help me."
4. Talk Directly to Your Ideal Prospects: In a
personalized letter or a one-on-one conversation you can
address your prospect by name. However with promotional
pieces such as brochures, flyers, direct mail or advertising
this is not possible. In these instances direct response
copywriter Alexi Neocleous suggests starting your ad, post
card or letter with, "Attention (target market
description)". For example, "Attention Renters"; "Attention
Business Owners"; or "Attention Parents of Teenage Drivers".
Another way of talking directly to your prospect is to ask
a question regarding a problem or desire of your target
market. For example, "Are you approaching retirement and
concerned about what you'll do with all the free time on
your hands?"; "Are you considering a career change?"; or
"Are you so busy taking care of everyone else that you don't
have time to take care of yourself?"
The key to effectively capturing a prospective client's
attention is to really understand the problems that keep
them awake at night or the desires they dream of having met.
People buy for two reasons:
1. To get problems solved, or
2. To have desires met.
Once you clearly understand the problems your prospects want
solved and the desires they have you can utilize this
information in your promotional materials to capture their
attention and generate an ongoing stream of leads.
Julie Chance is president of Strategies-by-Design, a
Dallas-based firm that helps businesses from independent
professionals to specialty retailers Map A Path to Success
by attracting leads and turning those leads into loyal
customers. Strategies-by-Design provides a unique
combination of consulting, coaching and training to help
clients improve the return on their investment in marketing
and promotional activities. For more information or to
sign-up for their marketing tips newsletter, go to
www.strategies-by-design.com or call 972-701-9311.
