Generating leads is part of every business. Everyone has to have customers and prospective customers are leads. Even the shopper perusing the weekly grocery store ads is a lead, but generally leads are potential customers whom you contact in a variety of ways, several times before they make a buying decision and purchase your product or service.

We used to think of leads as being mostly for real estate agents, insurance agents and stockbrokers, but nowadays, counselors, life coaches, and those marketing any kind of product or service via the internet must generate leads and stay in touch with them in order to sell their products and services.

How do we find these leads? There are many methods. Then what do we do with them? We continue to stay in touch regularly to remind them of our services and products.

Referrals are your best customers. That’s still true, even with the internet. Start with any client base you already have and build it with good websites and some advice from marketing professionals who will help you to get more traffic to your site. You can ask people to enter their name and email address on your site to receive free information about the very thing they are on your site to learn about.

Give free talks at bookstores and to professional organizations. Ask them to give you their email address so you can follow through with more valuable information. Always invite people to forward your emailed letters to anyone they know who has the same interests or needs.

Then you send that free information to them. Sometimes it’s a series of reports you have created. Each report is sent to remind them of you and your services. Give them some good solid content and also show them why they will need your service or product. Most of us will need professional help to create a site that will do this.

Newsletters are great, too. By this I mean a regular email to your list that includes solid information such as articles about your industry and solutions to the problems your customers or clients have. If applicable, include your calendar of events, such as talks and workshops or support groups. Definitely include a good photo of yourself to personalize the newsletter.

With regular contact to your list, following good web marketing advice, and asking your list to send others to your site, you can generate leads and build your business.

About the writer

Wallace Mettarod started in insurance sales. On weekends he helped his neighbors and children learn about their computers. Last year retired to run his own home-based internet marketing business. You can read more on the subject of leads at FSI Leads

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