One of the best ways that I found to spark interest in a particular topic and to generate leads and prospects that would call me was to provide free information that was of value to them. I know that sounds a little obvious or vague, but let me assure you that if you do it the way I will suggest, you could create a pretty powerful stream of qualified, interested prospects that will all call you.
When I talk about the types of information I could provide, it is really broken down into a couple main categories.
- Reports
- Consumer Guides
- Audio Recordings
- Video Recordings
I used each one of these at various times throughout my career depending on my target market and it worked great in every case.
The most difficult ones to create were the Reports and Consumer Guides. I actually started out with these and realized before too long that it was much easier to simply make a recording of the topic and have that available. If I made a report or consumer guide, it would take me a week or more to come up with the content and then to actually put it down on paper when I could just as easily grabbed a microphone and spoke into it as two friends do over lunch.
Here’s how it would work
I would think about the clients that I was meeting with and what the main concerns were within that demographic. For example, around tax time every year everyone was concerned about paying too much in taxes and how they could protect themselves from Uncle Sam. I would write out (or speak into a microphone) as if I was meeting with a friend face to face. In fact sometimes it would be with a friend and we would simply have a laid back conversation. Totally causal and most of the time it was un-edited. That gave it more of a trusted friend/advisor type feel to it. People liked that because it was less corporate and more real.
It usually ended up being about an hour long. Much more than that and people lost interest or just didn’t have the time to listen all the way through.
This recording served a couple of purposes.
- It gave me the chance to direct the conversation & bring up problems or topics that I had a solution to solve (although I WOULD NOT provide any solution on the recording or in the report. They had to come meet with me to find out how to solve that problem)
- It provided a “no-obligation” first contact with me and my prospect reducing the sales pitch and allowing them to get to know me a little bit through the recording.
- When we finally spoke in person, it was like talking to a friend and the sales process was soo easy.
- It got right to their issue and allowed me to make a recommendation of a potential product sale on the first (or at the latest) the second meeting. I could actually close more business faster and more effectively.
Now for the hard part
Well, not really that hard, but more thinking outside the box.
It doesn’t do much good to take the time to make the recording if you are not going to do anything with it. You have to get it in the hands of your prospect and that is where savvy marketing comes into play.
I have spoken about the magic of the press release in the past. Well, this is a time to send out a couple press releases to some of the local media outlets. If you have followed my instructions then you have a pretty good relationship with them and chances are they will give you preferential treatment and possibly run the release. It also may spark a full fledged story on their part which will most likely result in free publicity through mention of the free audio recording or consumer guide at the end with instructions on how they (your prospect) can get a hold of one.
You can also run an ad in the paper or on the radio with a clear call to action – more about that later. Be creative and offer the guide for free. You will be surprised at how many people take you up on the offer and actually call you or send an email with a request for the information. These people all get added to your drip / email newsletter list.
The best part about it all is you can deliver the content for free through email once you have their email address.
About Brandon Hansen
