12 tips for generating leads in a downturn

The secret to surviving and thriving in a downturn is continuing to pick up new business – so that reduced orders, failed clients and slow payers do less damage to the business. 

It is little wonder that lead generation is surpassing brand awareness as marketers’ greatest priority – and doing it on the cheap is even more important.

Here are some lead generation strategies and tips from the experts.

1. Use everyone you know to get more leads

Go back to basics – create a top 100 list of all the people you know. “The average person knows 800 people,” say Sue Barrett, founder and managing director of sales consultancy firm Barrett.

She recommends prioritising these people into segments – family and friends, work contacts, and so on. Then call them and ask them who they know in your target market.

She says the important point to remember is that you must be very explicit and clear about what you want. Ask first, “who do you know?”, then “can I call them?” and “can I mention your name?”

“It’s boring,” says Barrett, “but this is how it works.”

2. Create reasons to contact your clients and others on your marketing lists

Marketing expert Colin Benjamin suggests that modifying your rate card, for example creating discounts for buying in bulk or making early purchases, can give you a good reason to get in touch with your customers and others on your marketing list.

3. Boost referrals from clients

One strategy for boosting referrals from existing clients is to offer them incentives for each referral.

It offers another reason to contact existing clients, and it can even be done online. Jason West, CEO of online marketing firm Websalad, says one of his clients, a business-to-business telco reseller, offered its clients cash for referrals that resulted in subsequent sales. The cash was paid through Paypal. He says the company immediately noticed an increase in referrals.

4. Buy a database of quality leads

Buying a database of leads could be a cost efficient way of generating new business, provided they are pre-qualified for your target audience and you get the list for the right price.

Tom McKaskill, serial entrepreneur and author, says in every industry somebody is collecting names. It could be the industry association, a credit agency or a potential business partner. The critical question is whether the list is any good and whether it matches the company’s needs.

Firms must define their ideal prospect and make sure the list is pre-qualified for them, otherwise time and resources will be wasted. “Lead generating should be like a rifle, not a shotgun,” McKaskill says.

To avoid wasting money, firms must do the calculations on what it would cost to get the names any other way. “If you are not collecting data on the cost of a quality lead, then it is a very hard decision to make,” he says.

5. Find some free prospect lists online – starting with SmartCompany

If you look hard enough, you will be able to find some free lists of companies online. For example, if you are looking for targets in a particular sector, head to the website of the industry group or association that represents that sector – many of these organisations publish lists of their members online.

SmartCompany is also a great place to start looking. We’ve created a page with links to all the lists we produce, including the winners of our Smart50 awards and the lists of fast-growing companies that we produce for our regular SmartCompany Dun & Bradstreet Industry Growth reports.

6. Offer short term deals, incentives and risk-free trials

In uncertain times, potential customers are often reluctant to commit to a long term deal – so make it easier for them. Offer short term deals, incentives and risk-free trials, particularly if you have a product or service sold by subscription.

If the customer is satisfied and finds they can’t live without you, they are likely to stick with you.  For more information on this, see our story on the trend of Tryvertising.

7. Use your website to get leads by building traffic

To get leads from your website you must get traffic to your website. Most internet traffic is still coming to sites via Google searches, so it is critical to optimise your site to rank well in Google searches for key words.

Chris Thomas, search engine optimisation expert at Reseo, says potential customers will come through searches on your brand but if you are good at search engine optimisation it will also come through “head terms”, which are key words in your industry.

For example, if you are a funeral director you want to be listed high for “funeral director” “funeral parlour” and your city. (See his SmartCompany blogs for more traffic generation tips)

You can increase traffic to your website through Google AdWords, pay per click advertising, or affiliate marketing programs where you split revenue with other companies that send leads your way from their website.