You are listening to another episode of the Freedom In Five Minutes Podcast. This is Dean Soto — founder of FreedomInFiveMinutes.com and ProSulum.com and today’s topic is about unconventional but highly effective lead generation methods.
Overview & Episode Content
- Lead Generation through Traditional Paid Ads
- Results-Driven Lead Generation
- Virtual Systems Architects are Supporting Our Clients’ Lead Generation Processes
- Unconventional Strategies to Lower Cost Per Acquisition
- Which Activities do You Love that Could be Your Unconventional Lead Generating Process?
Lead Generation through Traditional Paid Ads
Over the last few months, I have found new ways to advertise my company on several platforms. We used LinkedIn, we used Google Retargeting, we also used Facebook Ads, and Microsoft Ads too. Now these platforms are good but for the most part, it has only been “okay”.
Microsoft Ads, for example, have surprisingly brought in a decent amount of people every month into our funnels. But utilizing paid ads to bring in people has always been tough for me. It’s funny because there has always been a barrier — something about it that has been keeping me from succeeding with paid ads.
Believe me when I say that I have spent a lot of money on courses and coaching programs that “teach” how to use LinkedIn, or Facebook, or Instagram to generate millions of views to “10x the business.” There is always a block when it comes to using these traditional platforms.
Now, I am not saying that we do not use these platforms. We do!
In fact, we need about $100 to get just one phone call with what we’ve been using so far. So, for every $100 spent, that’s one discovery call and it is actually profitable for us at that point. Another thing we have noticed is although Microsoft Ads is great, not a lot of people use Bing. So as expected, not a lot of people are coming in.
I have been doing this for a long time now and the funny thing is that one of the successful ways we do lead generation has not been through these traditional methods. It’s funny because we always think that lead generation is only using these methods and platforms for the most part.
Results-Driven Lead Generation
A good friend pointed out that one of our best lead generation results has been through things that were not considered “traditional” methods.
This friend said, “I don’t care that we are not using those popular platforms. I care about results. If we cannot get results from those platforms then we want to have results through other ways.”
He continued, “Dean, take a look at how you are getting customers right now. One of those ways was through various little partnerships and agreements. Another was by taking courses with other business owners within your target market. You are learning and at the same time, advertising to your business owners who are seeking your services.”
And he also pointed out, “Look, even when you do a testimonial, you get screen time with these people and now you are advertising to them for free!”
People would wonder why I would spend $10,000 on a course — this was about three years ago. I ended up meeting five customers through that one course. And those customers, throughout the three years that they have been with me, have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on our services.
But what was the cost per acquisition of that course? As they stick with me and continue to refer me to other people, the cost per acquisition actually goes down. This one thing became the most valuable thing — blowing Microsoft Ads, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, content marketing, and SEO out of the water!
Virtual Systems Architects are Supporting Our Clients’ Lead Generation Processes
I had massively positive results just by attending these courses — gaining killer amounts of advertising while learning new skills and meeting new friends!
When you are doing lead generation, especially when you have a Virtual Systems Architect like we have at ProSulum.com. You have to realize that it is not all about generating leads but generating results.
You might have your Virtual Systems Architect — virtual assistants with superpowers — find all the networking events near you and put them in your calendar. Imagine if you have five networking events that you can go to every month that you did not have to research! This could be a great system to have for you and your VSA.
And you might have another system in place for your Virtual Systems Architect to follow up on the people you have connected at the networking event. Or you could have your VSA find all the trainings in your area that fit a specific genre. You can attend these events and learn new things while staying within your target market.
If you are a business coach, you might want to attend events that teach you how to perfect your accounting. As a business coach, why would you attend events like these? You see, only people who have businesses will go to these types of events.
This gives you the best excuse to network with several business owners within that event and basically say, “I run an agency. We teach businesses how to scale and we are here to learn better ways of accounting — better ways of doing things. We help businesses go from 6-figures in revenue to 7-figures in revenue in less than a year.”
How cool of an introduction is that to businesses who want to scale? And you are already at a place filled with people who are hungry for it. Just imagine if your main lead generation would be to attend these types of events every week.
Unconventional Strategies to Lower Cost Per Acquisition
A great way for your Virtual Systems Architect to support your lead generation is to have them do the onboarding of people you have met during events — sending them invoices and bringing them in as clients.
Just imagine if you can be out there all day, selling. How cool is that? What a great way to find new people and grow your business.
Results came about for me as a product of small partnerships and courses that I invested in where I met people remotely. In fact, I just purchased another course from Wake Up Warrior called “Warrior Shield” — a full year of connectivity with other business owners who want to be better husbands, fathers, or leaders—some of them want to be more fit or aim higher goals.
The people joining this course are setting ablaze everything they are doing so they may crush it for the rest of the year — and the year to come.
And guess what? I am in this small group of founders and owners who might just be perfect clients for my business. And I do not need to sell to them right away — or sell to them at all. When they feel like they need my services, BOOM! They would know who to call and who to talk to.
As time goes on, the cost per acquisition of clients through this investment becomes less and less. I am learning and growing at the same time — to become a better husband, to become a better father, to become a better businessman, and living my days closer to God.
It’s a great way to do lead generation that delivers results although it definitely is not the traditional way.
Which Activities do You Love that Could be Your Unconventional Lead Generating Process?
As a business owner, a lot of times you get stuck thinking that the only way to do lead generation is to use traditional platforms
But there are ways you have done in the past that are completely unconventional but turned out to be highly successful when it comes to lead generation. What are those things that you can do—things that you are more comfortable with?
Maybe you love going on TEDx Talks, or going on podcasts. There are so many things that you might be better at that fit your personality. It will help you succeed where those other “traditional platforms” are becoming roadblocks to your success.
What are those things that you can do right now that might be considered unconventional but would definitely bring in results and give you the leads that turn into customers.
I challenge you to do one of those things this week or set up a system to get one of those things done this week. And when you do, I want you to track the numbers. Maybe you bought a thousand-dollar course and you got two customers that will buy your high-ticket deals at five thousand dollars each — which is very possible.
So, you might just be investing in a one thousand-dollar course and profit ten thousand dollars! That is a massive return on investment. But people would overlook that and not even count the numbers.
What can you do that will let you take in a significant amount of revenue by doing things the way that you want?
Conclusion
Let me share a story about one client we got from asking people to consult with us. We hired two consultants to look at our onboarding process and see where we were breaking down. One of these consultants loved what we were doing and wanted to become a client. It was such a cool thing!
We never expect to change the heart and mind of people and bring them on as a clients — doing lead generation in a totally unexpected manner.
Resources and Links
This has been Dean Soto, founder of Freedom In Five Minutes. Go check out FreedomInFiveMinutes.com and ProSulum.com if you want a Virtual Systems Architect who will document all the tasks that you are doing and perform those same tasks for you so that you no longer have to do them ever again. Show a VSA how to do something in less than five minutes and gain freedom from your business! All at the cost of less than minimum wage in most states in the U.S.
Check us out online and I will see you in the next Freedom In Five Minutes Podcast episode.