98 lead generation strategies to grow your business

In the new sales and marketing paradigm individuals, consultants, entrepreneurs and small businesses can play on a level playing field with the big boys. Anyone can embrace the power of the internet, couple this with a powerful sales and marketing strategy and bootstrap their way to success on minimal expenditure. 

In fact, minimal budgets, far from being a barrier to success, can actually focus your mind on what you really need to do to get more sales. Minimal budgets make you ask the question all of the time, "What will get me the best sales results?" Minimal budgets don’t lure you down the the tempting path of spend, spend, spend!

I had a friend who used to run a small business. He complained a lot. Mostly about lack of funds. "If only I had the funds to spend on advertising I could compete with the big boys." he used to say.

He didn’t and he went bust.

Since then he has set up a new business with a budget of  £0. He even had to use someone else’s credit card to pay the £4.99 per month for his webspace!

His business is flying. Lack of cash focused his mind.

But in today’s new selling paradigm, lead generation is key. If you don’t know how to generate leads then you’re not playing the game properly. Most small business owners and professionals I speak to employ less than 5 methods of lead generation regularly. They rarely review or change their tactics. The average number that people employ is 2 or 3.

This is not enough.

If you want a successful business you need to utilise as many methods of lead generation as you can. You need to monitor the success of these lead generation methods, measure their results and tweak your strategies until you find a mix of 7+ minimum methods that work.

Once you have this mix you need to keep on shaking it up and trying other methods as well.

Here is a list to get you started. I am not saying that all of these will work for you or be practicable in your business or industry because every situation is different. B what they will do is set you off on the right track, get you thinking creatively about lead generation and, perhaps most importantly, they will remove the biggest blocker to your sucess, "But I don’t know what to do!"

Please comment and let me know other ways that have been successful for you and which are your favourite methods out of the ones below. I will share my top 7 with you another day but for now… and in no particular order,  here are 98 lead generation strategies to help you grow your business…

1. Sales letters to decision makers
2. Classified advertisements
3. Catalogues in venues
4. Flyers
5. Leaflet dispensers at tageted locations
6. Special reports
7. Online catalogues
8. Telemarketing
9. E-Newsletters
10. Traditional newsletters
11. Viral marketing
12. Ebooks
13. Magazine and paper inserts
14. Associates and affiliates
15. Introducers
16. My top 100
17. Family and friends
18. Joint ventures
19. Radio ads
20. TV ads
21. Position yourself / your company as an expert   
22. Internet adverts (PPC)
23. Press releases
24. Yellow pages
25. Toastmasters
26. Sponsor an award
27. Fax marketing
28. Business cards
29. Chamber of Commerce
30. Public relations (PR)
31. Attend industry seminars
32. Gather and use testimonials
33. Offer a free consultation
34. Offer a free trial
35. Organise an open day
36. Promote an industry event
37. Give endorsements to prominent people
38. Set up a Squidoo lens
39. Write articles online
40. Form alliances with your peer group
41. Create a give away e.g. calendars, mugs, posters…
42. Write for the local newspaper
43. Syndicate a column
44. Write letters to industry magazines
45. Conduct industry research
46. Send articles to clients
47. Advertise on buses, bill boards, cabs
48. Speak at the local college
49. Panel at professional seminars
50. Write a how-to pamphlet
51. Offer a finder’s fee
52. Do pro bono work for charity with industry links
53. Sign your car
54. Make up t-shirts
55. Do a stunt (e.g. Richard Branson)
56. Cross-promote with other businesses
57. Enter a contest
58. Create a contest
59. Direct mail new clients
60. Post card promotions
61. Business cards
62. Networking offline
63. Networking online
64. Trade shows
65. Referrals
66. Speeches
67. Cold calling – foot
68. BNI
69. IOD
70. Trade shows
71. Franchise shows
72. Blogging
73. Social networking sites
74. Christmas cards
75. Birthday cards
76. Thank you cards
77. Add value notes / paper cuttings
78. Promotions
79. Article writing
80. Online forums
81. Bill boards
82. Freebie pens / t-shirts / mugs
83. Teach a class
84. Send letters to papers as expert
85. Local radio interviews
86. Loss leaders
87. Free teleclassses
88. 3-foot rule
89. Podcasting
90. Youtube
91. Ebay
92. Mini-courses
93. Two-step paper ad
94. Rotary
95. Church
96. Masons
97. Golf club
98. Press release