Someone in a forum asked about generating leads for an agency startup he’s running – currently he’s getting clients from networking and BNI events, and he wants to know how to move away from that because it feels unsustainable.
And yes, there’s a definite risk in lead-gen based only on networking and introductions: it’s costly, it’s a grind, and there are many moving parts that you can influence but not control. Whereas outreach campaigns or cold calls, well you control how much sending or dialling happens. And the promise of not having to rely on ‘networking’ (shudder), or BNI (also shudde, is of course attractive.
But instead of moving away from what’s working, I’d say he should double-down on it. So I posted this as a reply:
When I squint, it kinda looks like you’re trying to optimise your way out of the early-stage grind. Which might be a good idea, but it’s also risky.
Because for ads to work, or cold-calling, or DM outreach, you need to have a number of things figured out or at least well-hypothesised. Narrow audience definition, psych profile, the specific messaging to use, the type and pricing and naming of offers, and so on.
Without clear and proven definitions of things like that, ‘more sustainable’ channels are likely to be just another type of grind.
And they come with a disadvantage: Currently, in your functioning networking-based approach, you’re exposed to people directly, you get feedback from your conversations, you’re learning your peoplelearning your people. More sustainable channels don’t give you that rich intel, you don’t get the soft data that informs you on how to build a channel.
I’ll hedge this because I don’t know any of the details here, but I think it might be more effective to first double-down on the networking approach, until you have more answers and some degree of predictability in sourcing contracts, and then only start optimising once you have highly specific definitions of the perfect Avatar, the problem-stack they want solved, and the exact messaging to use with that specific Avatar.
Put differently: advertising (or uninformed lead-gen campaigns or content marketing strategies) are a very expensive way to do market research.
But 1 to 1 networking and conversing, the costly and grind-y approach, produce extremely rich data maps, and they generate leads and introductions while you’re at it.
Attentive readers will notice the SFNP pattern here:
If he wants to get out of having to have conversations, he will first need to have more conversations.
Because conversations provide data and intel, they create connections, they lead to opportunities and introductions, they allow you to calibrate and adjust your messaging ongoingly, and, very importantly: they are the single fastest way to get clarity and precision on the most Fundamental Question "How will I find strangers and turn them into customers?"
Which is, of course, the question you answer by defining your Hidden Sales Assets:
First you define your USP, next you figure out which Problem-stack you want to solve, then who you want to solve it for – i.e. your Avatar, and based on those definitions and many many conversations, you design and improve the Messaging to use with those people.
That’s how you find success: by talking to people. And any strategy, hack, or implementation you spend time on that doesn’t put you in conversation with people, will delay your arriving at your goals and your success.
No matter what efficiencies are being promised by vendors and gurus: trying to solve for the grind of answering The Fundamental Question by trying to optimise or automate will only slow you down. And, ironically, it’ll give you a bigger and more annoying grind to deal with, because you’ll be trying to win a race by buying a faster bike, when every other athlete in the race is also buying faster bikes.
So you’d be having a harder time, for much longer, trying to answer the Fundamental Question, than if you would simply do everything you can to fill your calendar with conversations.
If you want more conversations but you struggle to make them happen, I have strategies that work, and we can deploy them together as part of the Wingman coaching, should you decide to get in on the programme.