You’ve got a problem.
You know that Facebook advertising is key to generating leads for your business.
And you’ve created some ads that have generated leads.
So what’s the problem? The leads are terrible. Just downright awful. They’re not your ideal customer, they can’t pay what you’re worth, and you waste precious time sorting through these terrible leads.
The result is that you feel stuck. You’re forced to constantly hunt for new business because you can’t generate quality leads.
The good news is that there is a solution. Initially, it’s going to sound counterintuitive but trust us on this one. We’ve spent more than $1 million generating leads through Facebook ads and we’ve learned exactly what works and what doesn’t.
To generate more revenue, you need to spend MORE money acquiring leads.
Initially, that sounds crazy, but the reality is that when you spend more per lead, you can qualify them much more thoroughly. In other words, you can be sure you only have the BEST leads coming to you. These are the people who WANT to work with you.
And in terms of the numbers, it’s far better to spend $12 per lead if those leads generate $5,000 each than to spend $1 per lead and have none of those leads work out.
So how do you qualify your leads more effectively? Follow these simple steps.
Target Your Customer
If you’re going to zero in on the people that will take your business to the next level, you’re going to need to get specific.
Very specific.
As in finding the people who already want to buy what your selling. We’re talking about finding your IDEAL customer. The kind of people who want to work with you.
How can you do this?
First, you need to understand who your ideal client truly is. And not just on a macro level either.
You need to know EXACTLY who you want to work with.
We see too many entrepreneurs wasting time and energy are often trying to reach a wide swath of consumers. This is a big mistake.
When working to generate leads, generic ads just don’t cut it. If your business is a lifestyle brand aimed at Millennials, you need to know what they like, the language they speak, the other brands they like, their pain points, and even their hopes and aspirations.
The Facebook advertising platform is incredibly powerful and lets you hyper-target ads directly at your ideal clients.
For example, let’s say you’re a strength coach selling a course specifically geared toward basketball players, runners, and football players. On the surface, this may not seem that distinctive, but with Facebook Ads you can create a highly defined approach that will promote your shoes to the people that are most likely to buy them.
Using Facebook’s platform, not only can you narrow your ad reach by location, gender, and age, you can go even deeper. Income, interests, relationship status, education, and even specific page likes can all be used to create your perfect ad campaign.
With the example above, you can easily target men between the ages of 18-25 who are fans of basketball, running, and athletic shoes, which are all characteristics of your audience. If you know that your ideal client also likes to read articles on ESPN, you can add that into the mix.
The point is that you can get hyper-specific in terms of who sees your ads. Will this increase your cost per lead? Probably, but you’ll be getting the RIGHT leads.
Instead of spending precious dollars on generic ads targeted at the wrong people, you can create a direct appeal to the people that will genuinely benefit from your product or service.
Let Them Know You
Let’s say you’ve connected with your ideal customer through an effective ad, and they’ve clicked through to your landing page.
Good start, but you need to qualify them even more. You still don’t know if these are the people you want to work with.
The second level of lead qualification involves taking your prospect through your marketing funnel. The first stop is your landing page, which serves two purposes.
First, it clearly spells out who you are and how you can solve the problems the potential lead is facing. Your landing page should be so specific that it appeals to the people you want to work with and turns away those who aren’t a good fit.
The second purpose of your page is to move the lead into your marketing funnel. Usually they give you their email address and you give them something free in return.
This allows you to start talking to your leads, ensuring that they know who you are, what you offer, and whether you’ll be a good fit.
Maybe they get to download a free report. Maybe the get access to a webinar. We’re big fans of webinars and have used one for years.
The point is that only SOME people – the people who are genuinely interested – will opt-in here. Those who aren’t quality leads will drop off, which is exactly what you want.
Once they’re in your funnel, it’s time for the final level of qualification, the last step before you can successfully make the sale.
Make Them Commit
Up to this point, you’ve created a Facebook ad that singles out prospects most likely to show interest in your product or service. Then you further sold them on the benefits via a concise landing page and webinar.
Now that you’ve drawn them in, its time for the final level of qualification.
Commitment.
This is the step that will ultimately lead to a direct sale.
After the prospect has viewed your webinar, have them fill out a form or application that seeks to further engage the relationship either by phone, in-person, or some other method.
Back to the health coach example. You can invite them to apply for a free consultation to see if you are a good fit for working together. Only the MOST interested people will want to do this.
This final step ensures that by the time you’re actually talking to a lead, they are super interested in what you have to sell. They aren’t tire kickers or merely curious. You’ve qualified them to the point where you know they’re the type of person you want to work with.
Qualification is Key
Conventional wisdom says that sales are a volume business, where the more leads you have, the more deals you’ll make.
While at the most basic levels of business this may be accurate, the real truth lies in the type of leads you can generate.
The more qualified your leads are up front, the more efficient you’ll be in closing them and the more revenue you’re likely to create. So take time to set up a qualification process that yields more than just window shoppers.
Develop ads that appeal to those that will reap the most benefit in doing business with you and your company.
Draw them in with a pitch that is to the point and details a solution to their need.
Make them commit with a call to action that either closes the sale or further nurtures the relationship.
There’s little argument that closing the deal is about hard work and perseverance. However, with a better understanding of who your client should be and than qualifying that lead into a highly viable prospect, you will place yourself in a position that yields plenty of success.