What is Lead Generation?

Lead Generation is the activity of identifying potential customers. It is an essential business process to consistently acquire long-term, quality clients through the design, production, and placement of media messages through optimal media channels.

How to Generate Leads?

In order to be as successful as possible in your lead generation efforts, it's essential that you understand the strategy that drives a successful lead generation campaign:

The purpose of a good lead generation piece is to get the prospect to take the next step.

Please re-read the last sentence. Unless you understand this critical strategy, the majority of your lead generation efforts are destined for a direct trip to the trash bin.

Because you want to gently prod your prospects to take the next step, and just the next step, it follows that your lead generation piece (whether it's email, snail mail, or a space ad) should be short and to the point. And this is where I see the majority of my clients going wrong in their lead generation efforts.

The temptation is to tell your entire story - what a great deal you have for your prospect, why your company is the leader in your industry, how your cousin Louise loves everything about your product or service, your office hours, your web site address, and pictures of your kids at their most recent soccer game. Hey, why not establish a little rapport that you can cash in on later, right?

Wrong.

Telling too much - even a single sentence too much - in your lead generation piece will only work against you.