Why leads are so important, even to a sh*t saleman

I forget who said it, “nothing happens until somebody sells something.”  I have to disagree, nothing happens until you generate a lead.  That’s the true test.  The lead is the seed that drives sales and marketing; careers are won and lost on your ability to generate a lead.  But not for the most obvious reason.

I started my career in sales door-to-door, cold calling, real belly to belly old school style sales. 

I was selling lawn care, so basically you could say I was a shit-salesman.  I absolutely sucked at it.  I hated knocking doors, making telemarketing calls to strangers, there was a point where I seriously questioned my sanity.  One day the regular inquiry rep got sick and there was nobody to cover his territory for the day, my boss handed me about 10 leads and appointments.  There was something about holding those leads in my hand that totally changed the way I thought about my prospects.

I closed 7 out of 10 of those leads that day, and within the week I closed another account from those 10 leads.  I felt comfortable talking to those folks, I felt like I belonged, I felt like I was doing them a service rather than pitching them on something they wouldn’t want, or need.  Remember I was selling fertilizer and weed-spray.  I just kept wondering how I could get that rep. who was sick to stay away.  Or get my boss to give me a couple leads everyday.  There was no way I could go back to punding cold doors, or picking up that 100 pound telephone. 

I soon realized that thether you have leads or not, the game doesn’t change, you’re still in sales; but sales with a lead in your hand versus cold-calling, knocking doors, etc. changes your perception of who and what you are.  Rather than being a nusance, you’re an invited guest.  At least that’s how I’ve done it.  Even though I’m no longer a fertilizer “salesman” we’re all in sales.

Being an invited guest changes your mindset, and allows you to help your prospect find and qualify their needs prior to you ever saying one word to them.  It’s kind of like a greased slide that keeps going down, and you keep going faster and faster until there’s hardly any friction between the lead generation system and the sales process.  They work synergistically together, qualifying, pre-selling, and positioning you as an expert consultant rather than the starving salesman.

Being the consultant brings clients and sales to you, being the salesman puts you in the position to chase.  I know which position I’d rather be in. 

Running a business online isn’t that much different than selling lawn care door-to-door.  For me, it’s easier in fact, I don’t talk to people until they’ve qualified for my time and energy.  If someone wants to talk to me they’ll figure out a way to get ahold of me.  This is a far cry for selling shit, and I love it.  

Be well,

Jesse Boland      

Lead Generation and Blogging: Does It Really Work?

There is a lot of crap on the Internet.  This is a double edged sword because if you can build a nice looking blog (like this one), lead generation becomes much easier.  The fact is, that this isn’t a strategy that works overnight, but you can make it work quickly for you without being a “sleezeball” used-car salesman. 

Using a blog as your prospecting tool is very powerful, especially when you start combining social media marketing, replicated websites, and various “white-hat” SEO/SEM (search engine optimization) that works to drive your content up the search engines online.  Within three months I have changed the face of my business, automated the entire process, and started generating leads from various sources.

Running my business this way has changed my life, made it so much easier, and helped me build a network of friends that help me build my business.  This is true synergy in business.  The blog is the hub of your enitre prospecting system.  It drives leads, it answers questions, it allows people with similar interests to ask me questions, and maybe most importantly it allows people to get to know me before they ever make contact.

If you’ve ever tried building a network marketing business the old way, you probably struggled with the same problems I did.  You found it hard to find people to talk to, you questioned whether network marketing was a scam.  I know this because I’ve been there.  When you don’t know how to generate leads via blogs and various no-cost Web 2.0 technologies. 

This will change your business and your life check out how to build a blog that generates leads, presells your prospects, and injects your business with cash flow right away.  Discover the secrets of lead generation and blogs here.  Just follow the dots and help for your business is on the way.

Be well,

Jesse Boland

Network Marketing Leads

Want more network marketing leads?  Of course you do, we all would like more people interested in what we’re offering.  The sticking point is finding out where to start in order to become more successful generating your own leads, what to say to your potential prospect, and postitioning yourself as an expert in your market.

The truth is, generating more leads isn’t as hard as you might think right now.  Be ”real” with your audience and be willing to teach people with no expected reward.   This is the key to success in any business. 

Why do you think people offer free samples, complementary services, and trials?  It’s not so they can “sell” you their product, it’s so you can sell yourself on the pruduct and then buy it because it meets your needs. 

The lead generation system I use in my business works much the same way.  I encourage you to try a similar system for your business too.  For me (like 99% of my readers) I don’t have an original product to sell, the only original product I have is my mind and my ability to help my readers solve their lead generation dilemas. 

That is my product, I am willing and able to help people put together a leads funnel that works 24 hours a day 7 days a week churning out fresh, targeted, and paying prospects.  I have spent nearly 3 years of trail and error, perfecting how to generate better quality leads for my business.

I can help you do the same thing.  If you’re not getting enough leads.  Or the leads you’re generating are not buying, or the tend to be dragging their feet when you do get on the phone with them, there’s something wrong with your lead generation funnel.  Don’t worry, it can be fixed. 

What does it take?  Not a whole lot surprisingly.  I’ve seen people go from generating 0 leads a month to hundreds just following this simple formula.  And honestly it’s not even my formula, it’s what I’ve learned just by attending simple attraction marketing trainings. 

How much did I have to pay for these trainings?  They were totally free.  Yep, I learned attraction marketing for free.  The lead generation funnel you’re going to learn won’t cost you one red cent. 

How’s that for a good deal?  It’s an amazing deal.  Imagine waking up tommorrow to 5 fresh targeted and paying leads (yes your prospects will really pay you first).  It’s not a dream. . . so if your really want to generate more quality leads for your business follow this link and your will discover how to generate tons of network marketing leads for free.  Just click on the tab that says sign up and you’ll be blown away by what’s beneath the hood.         

How to Attract “Like-Minded” Leads and Prospects

I don’t know how much experience you have marketing on the Internet.  I see the Internet as a huge ocean, there are many many fishing holes where you can find prospects and leads. 

The biggest drawback most people find is the time it takes to find a fishing hole that suits them, their personality, and their experience.  I think the thing that held me back from finding success for the longest time was the language I used when I wrote online, it was too flowery, too showy, I was trying to impress people with what I knew, and it was turning them off to what I was saying.

I’m a fairly smart guy, but I was acting too smart, I was acting like my shit didn’t stink and it was turning people off to the things I was saying.  Yes I was attracting leads, but I was seeing a trend that all my leads were also pompous, and a little pretentious, just like me.

I realized that the thing that drives traffic on the web is language and so I kne wI had to start talking like a real person if I was going to attract better prospects and leads to me and my business.  So I started looking real close at the words I was using. 

That was the huge turning point for me, my business, and also my prospects.  Now I was building rapport and trust with them before any information or money changed hands.  THey understood who I was and how I could help them find the same success I had found.

This really took the pressure off of me.  I was just being myself, and it really helped my self-confidence and the way in which I approached writing, or building a page online.  I also encourage you to try it, if you’re having a hard time attracting prospects, or generating enough leads.  Here’s a 3 step plan to lead generation:

1. Take a look at your online content.  Read it out loud.  Does it sound like you talk?  Or is it flowery and showy.  If it is, don’t worry about it, replace the flowery words with words that you use everyday.  Try to write like you talk.
2. Interlink your online content, don’t always link directly from your blog to your sales page.  Link from a blog post to a Squidoo lens like this one I wrote on network marketing leads
3. Go back and take a look at what’s working, and optimize it.  Put your effort into one thing start seeing good results from it, then move on to the next phase of your business. 

The real key to all of this is having a system that works for you, a strategy that helps you get found by like-minded people on the Internet.  Once you have a “content web” in place you’ll be amazed by the numbers of like-minded folks you’ll attract to you.  This is the key to lead generation success.

Want to Generate More Leads for Your Home Business?

Lead generation is the core of any business. You can go to the bank with that. If you can generate enough people to talk to you will succeed in any business, network marketing or not.

The big barrier to generating enough leads for your business is developing a target market that you want to speak to. Do you know who your target market is? If you don’t, don’t worry, I didn’t know either until about a year ago. But once I figured out exactly who I wanted to target, my business started bring in more prospects, more money, and it got a whole lot easier.

Want to make your business easier? Of course you do.

So what is the first step in figuring out who you want to talk to? Start picturing them in your mind, here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Are you a man or woman?
• Do you own a home business?
• How much extra time do you have on a weekly or daily basis?
• Have you failed a home business before?
• What are your hobbies?
• What are your interests?

It’s okay if you can’t quite see your target prospect perfectly now.  The big tip is as you start marketing to him/her to really ask yourself and your prospect the tough questions. 

• Are you making enough money in your job?
• Is it rewarding for you working someplace where your talents aren’t utilized?
• Do you feel you’re underpaid?
• Are you afraid to retire given the fact that the economy is in the crapper?

These are the tough questions you’ll have to ask your prospects in order to really start getting their brain working.  The next step is to give them a solution.  A tool that allows them to discover HOW they can change the circumstances of their life.  I have found The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing to be a valuable prospecting resource for my business.

It gives people the freedom to search for the answers themselves, giving you, the independent networker the freedom to talk to only interested people.  People who have the desire and motivation to be successful.  These are also the perfect prospects for you.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, please give me some feedback on what I’ve written.

Be well,

Jesse Boland

Network Marketing Lead Generation

Brutethink and Lead Generation

Does it ever feel like you’re not quite figuring out how to generate enough leads for your business. A new concept I’m exploring is “Brutethink” what it is is basically using the brain as a way to find connections between two non-connected things.

So if you want to generate more leads you take that concept and you associate a non-related word with it, then you focus on asking questions about how to generate more leads. Let’s use the word “doorknob” and “lead generation.” How many different ways can we associate those two concepts together in order to improve the way we generate leads for our business?