How to Find Qualified Leads for Your Business

If you’re a business owner, finding a client who matches what you’re selling and who is interested in buying it is everything. This is known as a qualified lead. To compare, someone who isn’t a good lead is a person who is looking to adopt a cat, but ends up on your website to buy a new car due to a typo. Before we can go any further, you need to decide which type of lead you want to generate.

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

Marketing qualified leads are those who have engaged with your marketing team's efforts, but they’re not ready to make a purchase yet. They’re the type of leads that fill out a form on a landing page or a pop-up that inputs their contact information. This generally means they’re interested, but they want more information.

Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)

Sales qualified leads are those who tell you that they’re interested in buying your product or service through their actions. For example, they may be someone who contacts your support email and asks questions directly related to the product or service.

Product Qualified Lead (PQL)

Product qualified leads have used your product during a free trial period (or were sent a free sample). They are also customers who are looking to upgrade their current plan or service. For example, you take a free sample of a pretzel from the mall and it’s really good. So you turn around, get in line, and buy that pretzel. That makes you a product qualified lead!

Service Qualified Lead

Service qualified leads are the same thing as a product qualified lead, but they're interested in a service. So instead of a pretzel, you’re thinking about upgrading your internet plan from 30 upload speed to a 1 gig connection.

How Do I Generate Leads?

Generating leads is the easiest part, in theory. As a business owner, you should have an idea as to who is interested in your product/service. Target them! It helps to make an avatar of your normal demographic: how old are they, what’s their gender, what’s their average income, and do they have any hobbies relating to your business? For instance, say you sell sweaters for dogs. You’re going to market to dog owners of all ages and both genders (because who doesn’t like dressing up their dog?) with a mid-range income and higher. Let’s narrow it down a bit. Say you’re selling high-end golf clubs for men. That’s a bit more targeted. Changes are, you’re going to be targeting men and their spouses, top 10-5% income range, over the age of 35, who love golfing. So nailing down your target audience based on who you served before is really going to help. New business owner? No problem! You probably have an idea on who would be interested in your product/service, so start there! Also, never undervalue researching your competition to see who they are serving. It’s not cheating, it’s just smart business strategy.

How Do I Draw Leads In?

The best way to draw in leads is to offer them a reason to shop with you. Do you offer 10% off if they give you your email? Are you locally-sourced and owned? Do you provide extra information on what type of dog sweater is best for different breeds? Do you have an exceptional piece of content that answers all of life’s pressing questions? If so, promote it to potential leads in a clear, concise, and non-invasive way. Think banner ads or a pop-up that can be closed out of. Essentially, you need to draw them in by offering them something else they may be interested in. It helps give you credibility and helps entice them to make the purchase. Just remember to keep it simple: you don’t want to overwhelm anyone with choices.

How Do I Nurture Qualified Leads?

Chances are, most people won’t find your website and be ready to buy your product or service the moment they click on it. If you want to turn those potential leads into customers, then you need to do a few things first. First, look at your website and determine if you have anything that interacts with potential leads in a way that lets you lead them down the sales funnel. Second: learn what a sales funnel is (if you don’t already). Third, read this blog on lead nurturing. Too long, didn’t read? That’s fine. We’ll give you a quick summary here.Most businesses lose around 50% of their leads. Some lose as much as 90%, if not more. This is normal and often points to one shortfall: your business is good at bringing in leads, but not good at nurturing them into clients. Lead nurturing is key to turning an interested client into a paying one. Every person who comes onto your website should be treated like a future customer. Give them the same level of support and care as you would to a current client. Offer them something, like a newsletter, eBook, or coupon, to entice them into buying.

Qualified Leads Are Everywhere

At the end of the day, qualified leads can be found nearly anywhere. If you’re unsure on how to take the first step, we can help. At Helix House, generating qualified leads for your business through SEO, social and paid ads, link building, content creation, and more is our bread and butter. We’ll work with you every step of the way to refine target demographics so you’re consistently bringing in the right kind of clients who are interested or ready to make a purchase. Give us a call today to feel the difference.