Referred Business vs Generating Leads

A client of ours has been struggling to generate new business and cover payroll this year.

We have been generating leads for them and they are nearly back to a healthy place.

In 2022, a partnership ended leaving them with a sudden end to their new business source.

The founder asked me what more they could do to increase their lead conversion and close more sales.

I advised him to increase the touch points of follow up after the calls by adding a newsletter, blogs, YouTube channel and/ or an online community.

His reply to this was interesting.

“We don’t have enough resources to do that right now.”

When I quizzed him why, he explained a rather large project they were delivering which consumed his team’s time and attention.

However, the biggest surprise was that this project was quite unrelated to the services we were promoting and generating leads for.

This is a classic example of how a business grows when it grows via referred leads, rather than growing by sales and business development activities.

The analogy I like to think of is a wild animal that gets used to being hand fed.

The animal will take on a supplier of food willingly as long as the food is available just like a business can accept referred business and projects that cover a wide variety of skills and task levels.

However if that source of food is taken away, the animal is left a bit overfed, a bit out of shape and entirely unaware of how to hunt and get its own meals.

When a business is built around referred clients and projects, it can grow to a grand old size. It can hire staff and have projects on the go that match the project revenue.

However, the result is there is no margin of time or resource to invest in any lead generation, lead development or lead nurture.

The crunch comes if referred business dries up or disappears and worse, if major projects end leaving a massive gaping hole in the budget.

Suddenly the business has to start hunting and fending for itself but doesn’t know how to navigate the wild, how to isolate a target, how to approach a target, how to chase and land the target.

Building a business via cold lead generation and sales development requires a much leaner more calculated approach.

Maximum energy and time allocation is placed into hunting a specific type of lead or business that can be found and converted with relative ease and this usually requires a strong felt need, a strong desired outcome and agility on the behalf of the decision maker to invest.

This way project delivery will never take precedence over conserving enough energy to turn around and hunt the next meal.

Developing business via partnerships is an entirely valid and effective form of business generation, however remaining lean and agile is always the best and most sustainable way to grow a business.

This ensures you are always able to feed yourself and your team if the need arises.

If you would like to work on your lean, mean, lead generation machine and get your business in shape, then comment below or reply to this message and we can set up a call.

Jen Bishop Consulting best lead generation agency in London UK

Jen Bishop Consulting best lead generation agency

Don’t Talk About What You Do

A classic mistake in B2B conversations and cold outreach I see all the time is people talk in terms of what you do.

• I run Facebook ads.

• I build funnels and landing pages.

• I’m an SEO expert.

• I coach executive leaders on transition planning.

• I sell luxury holiday homes and exotic real estate to wealthy individuals and family trusts.

The problem with doing this is people don't know if what you do is relevant to them.

Often what you're saying is technical mumbo jumbo.

Nearly any message about what you do is ONLY relevant to super hot leads who are:

1. Aware they have a problem

2. Aware a solution exists out there to their problem

3. Aware that you and your services are likely to be able to solve this problem in a reasonable time frame.

For most people you meet, what you do will not make sense to them.

This is because they:

1. Are not aware that what you do is likely to solve a problem that they have

2. Might not even be aware of what solution exists to solve their problem

3. Might not even be entirely aware of what problem they have but they are experiencing challenges in their business or life.

In order to potential leads talk about the results you create for a certain demographic or niche.

The leads you encounter are much more able to connect to you and your relevance to them.

If you say ‘I help trades and services bring in 5 -10 leads a week without paying any advertising costs.’ - this is waaaaay more clear.

They know WHO you help and HOW you help them.

What you do [in this case SEO] is not even listed in that statement.

These details come later.

When selling B2B results fall into the broad categories of:

• Profit

• Productivity

• Profile

You can help companies increase revenue or decrease costs.

You can help teams and leaders be more productive and higher achieving [which in turn makes the company more profitable]

Or you can help the company's reputation or brand engagement or customer loyalty [which in turn makes the company more profitable].

Basically, every B2B message should state results in terms of financial benefit.

In brief, turn all your communications into the results you create.

You’ll get a much better response from the right people !!

Jen Bishop consulting best lead generation agency in London UK

How To Raise Your Prices

We are going to raise our prices in the coming weeks and have been examining ways that other coaches and consultants navigate the price increase.

Firstly, it’s important to note that to charge higher prices you need to be able to create consistent results.

So this is definitely for those who are already creating great results but feel they are undercharging and don’t know how to move the price upwards.

If that is you, then let’s jump in.

It seems that there are several strategic ways to raise your prices that work quite well:

#1. Target a larger client or a client you know can pay more.

Without fanfare, 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥.

The rationale behind this is that most cold and even warm prospects do not know your prices until quote in a sales call.

This means that a price you set confidently on the call is the one they will accept and consider.

The key to knowing you're ready to state a higher price is a deep certainty within yourself that your work is worth this price.

This is usually because you have been delivering at a certain price for some time and know the results you are getting.

If your current clients who are getting results, would willingly pay double to get these results, then simply go higher.

On your next sales call simply state your new price and sit quietly.

#2. If you are not 100% sure of the price, simply 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞.

For example, if you currently charge $3000 for 3 months engagement, then state that your offer is now 4 months for $5000.

While you are essentially giving more time away to your clients, it's likely they will still achieve beneficial results within the 3 months of your program is proven.

The remaining months will be a buffer for them to feel like they have access to you if they need to, however if they are achieving results it's unlikely they will need your time in an intensive manner.

You can then later, amend your service back to three months but retain the higher price.

#3. An alternative to #2 above is to 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐝 [e.g. $5000 for 3 months engagement] but 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 or extra features 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐔𝐒.

For example, on the sales call you simply state your price 'The investment is $5000 for 3 months coaching', and then incentivize it.

'If you sign up today, you get 1 month extra for the same price.'

This is a good tactic if you find you are getting many clients who retreat to 'think about it.'

Giving incentives for quick decision-making can help close ambivalent sales conversations.

#4. 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

For example, if you lift the bar even higher and state you have a year-long program for $12,000 and a course-only option for $990 then place your 3-month coach at $5000, this can make the new price seem a reasonable option between the extremes.

Psychology dictates that people will perceive your work to be of higher value because you can command a higher price

And they will gravitate to the midpoint between low and high prices to gain the maximum perceived value for themselves.

Of course if someone accepts your highest tier offer you now have a new bar set for what you are able to sell.

You can simply rise to the occasion.

These are just a few ways I have observed people raise their prices.

𝗪𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝?

How To Raise Your Prices | Jen Bishop consulting best lead generation agency in London UK