One of our early mentors drummed into us that the number 1 is the most dangerous one in business. One customer, one product, one 
method of lead generation.
But unfortunately, many businesses forget this lesson at their peril.
Akin to putting all your eggs into one basket, what happens if that customer goes away? Or the product demand falls or your lead generation carks it?
Diversification is key. In clients, products/services you offer and most importantly, lead generation mechanisms.
So let’s look at what happens in most small businesses.
Many of you will have one client who brings in 50% to 80% of your revenue. They buy just one thing from you. And as they’ve been with you for years, you think everything will continue on.
Having worked with hundreds of businesses over the years, I’ve heard some nasty stories of how that can change in an instant. And through no fault of your own.
Clients can go into liquidation. Key personnel can change and the new people bring their own preferred suppliers in. New products come onto the market. The list goes on.
Look at your own business. Do the maths and see which customers bring in the most revenue and profit. If any account for more than 20% of your business, you have a major risk.
Moving onto lead generation, many organisations don’t have a systematic, scalable system to generate more leads.
Yes, you may get referrals, but unless you have a predictable method of generating them on demand using a system, this is not scalable and prone to the vagaries of your referrers.
The only predictable way of generating leads is to pay for them. i.e. Advertising.
Obviously there are a plethora of advertising mediums, both online and offline.
Once again, beware the number one. Relying on any single platform be it Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Magazines or Newspapers is dangerous.
The infamous “Google Slap” saw hundreds of thousands of businesses suddenly lose traffic and sales. Significant numbers went out of business.
Paid traffic is no different.
Google and Facebook can ban you before you say “Jack Robinson”. And no, it really doesn’t matter that you spend $1M a year with them.
And it may not be the advertising medium that changes the rules. Governments meddle more and more in business – stopping you from many traditional forms of advertising. Financial Planners and Insurance Brokers haven’t been able to cold call for years! Anti-spam legislation stops legitimate businesses from contacting qualified prospects.
Therefore you must have multiple methods of lead generation so when one slows down, others can take up the slack.
And above all, no matter how you generate the initial lead, you must, repeat must, get have a mechanism which captures their details, allowing you to nurture the relationship with ongoing quality, educational material as well as offers to buy.
Need help attracting high value, quality prospects?
We create multiple path lead generation and relationship building systems for our clients – including online advertising with Google, Facebook and LinkedIn. We also create targeted sales promotions sent through direct mail or email. All of which are designed to attract, convert and retain high value clients.
Call us on 0414-913-334 to get the ball rolling.
