Rui Nunes

This is the single most important thing when it comes to getting better leads, which means increasing customers' conversion rates. If you're "barking to the wrong tree", it doesn't matter how much money you invest or how you change your messaging. It's just not the right audience. Let's say you're trying to sell a six-figure SaaS contract to people who don't own/work for a company and don't have any budget. Do you think it's a good idea or are you just wasting your money? If you think it's the second, why keep trying? Check where you're communicating and to whom. If there's something that really makes it or breaks it in lead generation, it is having the proper targeting in place.

If there's something experience has shown me for years on end, it's that automation is the single most valuable and powerful tool for helping us convert leads into customers. Think about it. If the conversion rate drops at every second we delay answering a potential lead asking for information, tackling that problem straight ahead using automation is not only wise but mandatory. Unless you have thousands of people answering every email or phone call in seconds, marketing automation will beat you every time. In fact, it will beat you even if you have millions of them. Why? An automated process can send a personalized answer in seconds based on what you collected in the first place.

I wouldn't say the problem is the strategy if you've done your homework well, but how you apply the tactics. Your strategy may be on point, but how you apply it through your tactics may not. The first thing I would do is question whether the sources and channels I'm using are really reaching the ideal audience we aim for. Assumptions are usually the source of all mess-ups. Double-check if you're advertising and communicating in the suitable media with the right message to drive them to your lead conversion funnel. Also, avoid being too clickbait to spare a few dollars in getting traffic just because it's cheap, but then you get a terrible experience when it comes to converting into leads, and your sales team will hate you. 😅

The only way that tools or technology hinders lead generation is when it's terrible for UX/UI to collect those leads or you have too many filters along the way until you upset them enough to drive them away. So, what I would tackle right away is to go through the lead gen process as if I were the prospect, and I would do so using all the devices and browsers they'll probably use to become a lead. Smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, etc. Even smart TVs. If there's a bug or a glitch in the process, it should be fixed immediately before pushing traffic again for the landing pages. Take a look at how simple things like bot filters may be hurting your conversion rate. Even though it's trying to get bots out, it may be too aggressive.

If you want to become a top lead-gen professional, the thing that separates you apart from the rest of the competition is when you can deliver leads that outperform the ones your competitor is providing. When that happens, you can even ask for a higher CPL because you can demonstrate that you're delivering leads that convert two or three times higher than the rest. For this to happen, you'll need to ensure that your client has a system that helps track the sources of the leads they're converting into clients. A CRM or a simple Excel sheet helps track each supplier's conversion rate. Now, to accomplish a better conversion rate, you need to invest in quality and less in quantity. 😉

You can't beat experience. You can learn a lot through courses and through other people's experiences, but you can't beat having hands-on knowledge. If you don't have enough curriculum or portfolio, why not start a side project or two to test your skills and learn from that experience? You can also take non-paid jobs within the space to build that curriculum when experience is an issue. For instance, call some non-profits and see if they need assistance in getting new leads for donations or supporters. Have a clear before-and-after kind of portfolio where it becomes clear what you've done and what the results were after your work. Hopefully, it will be clear that you know what you're doing!