How to Generate Qualified Prospects

How to generate qualified prospects that have a positive attitude toward you and your business? Answering this question became a top priority for me early on in my career. You see, what I realized was that asking prospects to provide their contact information is extremely limiting. Most people won’t even consider giving out this information, and most of those who do provide it will likely be a “yes”, but oftentimes, these people aren’t buyers.

In fact, learning how to generate qualified prospects is a struggle for most new business owners. You build a website, buy some social media ads, or produce an infographic, and wait eagerly for prospective leads to become new clients. At first, it’s exciting to see the phone ring, but then after a few weeks, you notice that not too many of those calls are turning into sales. As a result, you burn out because of chasing too many unqualified prospects. 

What does that mean for your business? 

As the old saying goes, “If you chase two rabbits, you will lose them both.”

One thing that I want to make clear is that you don’t have to market to a huge population in order to be successful. You’ll be way more successful if you target a specific group of prospects that likely need to use your services. This will cause your conversion rate to soar because you have selected people who have very clear problems that need your solutions. On the other hand, those problems can justify paying a lot for your services, which will result in increasing your profit margins.

Although this concept of qualifying prospects seems obvious, I’ve worked with plenty of business owners that haven’t mastered it or applied it to their small businesses. They are just missing out on a very simple concept that can dramatically transform their businesses. 

So, how do you identify your qualified prospects? 

As you concentrate on perfecting your product/service and expanding your knowledge, taking action, networking with others in your industry and perfecting your pitch, you don’t have to rely on luck or coincidence. The key is taking the time to figure out who your ideal client is and then setting up ways to attract those types of customers into your business. Identifying your ideal client is paramount to your success in terms of finding and qualifying prospects. 

Because it all starts with a description of who they are, ask yourself these questions:

1. Who is the ideal client you’d love your business to work with?

What is he or she like? Be honest with yourself and picture the type of client you’d feel excited about working with when you wake up every day. As an example, just think about the age and demographics you want to target. Determine the geographical area you wish to work in, be it certain cities, parts of cities, or even narrowing it down further to specific zip codes. Also, think about the educational level of your ideal client.

2. Who are you passionate about helping or serving?

If you run a business-to-consumer firm, decide if it’s families or individuals you want to focus on. Then drill down further. Perhaps your services are most suitable for families with small children. Knowing this will help you market to them later down the road. And if your company is business-to-business, what type of business will benefit the most from your help? What specific vertical markets do you want to focus on?

3. What group of people is going to be able to pay for or invest in your products and services?

Another way of qualifying prospects is to ask yourself how large the market you are targeting is. Who has the money? How do they manage their finances? How do they spend their time and money? Where do they hang out? What other businesses are competing in your market space? This is a very important aspect since you don’t want to target customers whose budget range does not correspond to your product/service.

Many times, when people create this list, they have this fear that they’ll pigeonhole themselves and not be able to work with clients outside of their criteria. Well, that’s simply not the case, and you should always start with your ideal client. So, write down 7, 8, or 10 different words to describe who your perfect client is. That’s the first major step to developing qualified prospects.

Bottom line …

You want to create an ideal client profile to the point where it’s almost ridiculous, where you almost feel like it’s too specific. The more specific you can be about your target market, the easier it will be to find them, speak their language, figure out what they really want, or even see where they are hiding. 

Ultimately, as you can see, the process isn’t that complicated. Even if you have one or more ideal clients in mind, identify them again and list each of the factors that make these people ideal for you. Then you can use these characteristics to create a detailed description of your ideal client and use it to generate qualified prospects. 

Now, please enjoy this quick tip and share your thoughts with us. That’s how we start the best conversations. Be sure to take action and have a better than amazing day!