One of the most skipped tasks is lead generation. Face it, you are busy and the LAST thing you want to do is put people on a list. So 99% of the google searches about Instagram focus on three things: 1. Going viral , 2. Getting more followers, 3. Going viral to get more followers. You don’t need more followers to make more money.It can be as simple as organizing your current followers.

What actually is the numbers game

Scarcity – the mindset that keeps you broke + keeps you in the numbers game. Right now – you feel like there are not enough people to buy your offer. There are currently over 1.3 Billion people on instagram. It’s not a matter of running out of people, it’s the idea that you are reaching enough people in time. Insert going viral + more followers.

Here is the biggest problem with going viral – if you don’t sell, you won’t make money.

What to actually focus on in your lead generation process

Before you craft the next reel to go viral, you want to focus on the three core pieces of lead generation: 

1. Clear ICA + Identifiers
2. Messaging that when you find the lead the tune in
3. Sales process that builds trust + get more clients saying yes

Clear Ideal Client

Speaking to everyone is speaking to no one. That more is better with the ideal client is actually what keeps more people broke. This is where someone gets stuck in the lead process, instead of finding viable leads. – you are looking at how to fit everyone in the box. 

To me, that is overwhelming. It’s like when you buy a new car, you notice you own a car everywhere. By being aware that it is your car because now you have to look for it in the parking lot, you can see it more. 

This is the same when you are clear and specific in your Ideal Client. 

Things to get clear on when it comes to your Ideal Client 

1. Their pains, fears, challenges, and solutions. Knowing the pains that they are having provides them a unique solution. When you know their problems while speaking to them, you provide a solution that they maybe haven’t thought of. If you don’t know this – it’s time to do some market research with your ideal client.

2. Knowing their buying habits because buying habitat can determine the difference between a Walmart ICA + Target ICA. Buying habits helps you meet them when they are starting the process, which helps you.
    
3. Using Messaging that makes sense to them, avoiding jargon to appear more like an expert. Rule #1 of marketing — Never assume that your ideal client knows more than you think. It is better to over explain and educate, then to assume that they already know. No one will admit when they don’t know something. 

Which leads us to viral marketing + the biggest consideration of lead generation

Why virality isn’t actually the solution to making more money

While there is a time and place for going viral, where you want to pack your numbers is in your pipeline. In this case, a pipeline is ideal for clients who are close to buying or are close to buying. This idea keeps you in motion + seeing the process you want. Lead generation relies heavily on the flywheel effect. The flywheel once was a wheel that as you turn it, the wheel itself would gain speed and spin faster. When you enter this idea into lead generation, once you get in the habit of seeking others – you will soon stare at a google sheet full of names of QUALIFIED buyers who want to buy your products. 

Further Reading: Lead Generation Systems, Creating a Product Suite that Scales

Basic Considerations of Lead Generations 

1. Not all leads are viable leads. What they focus on on the online space – big launches, sold out programs, not being able to launch. What they do not talk about – that maybe 100’s if not thousands of people were not considered viable leads for their program. One of the biggest myth I see in lead generation is that EVERYONE needs to be qualified for your services. Not all leads are viable leads because not everyone is a good fit for your programs. In fact, the average conversion is 20-30%
   
2. Engagement occurs in the lead generation process. There is a vast confusion over engagement and the touch points. When you are engaging a lead, you are connecting with them. However, engagement alone is not the lead generation process. You cannot just talk to someone over and over and they buy your products.  Your ideal client’s brain has to create awareness around the problem and then seek a solution to it. Just talking to you doesn’t create an idea of a solution.
   
3. If you master content, then you will not have to seek leads. Content is a marketing process, so yes, you can be able to find leads with it. However, content marketing alone is not a lead generation process. There is so much principle in being able to show Ideal clients how to solve their problems and your experience. Content marketing is a KEY piece in your marketing and sales process, but it will never be a replacement for a sales + marketing process.
   
4. Passive lead generation > Active Lead Generation. That you can set up a Facebook ad and have 100’s of people opting in to your services over night is actually the product of good marketing. There is no version of lead generation that is better than the other. It just comes down to what process works for you and using active lead generation to refine your Ideal client for passive lead generation. 

For lead generation, we can refine your process. You have a system in your brain that is set up to find clear, specific things. Use this to find the right clients + help scale your business. 

The key to finding leads all the time – is to have a system set up like your RAS to always be looking for the right people + building that system to help you. What that looks like in your business, a clear ICA, a message that resonates with them and allows them to see the future, a way to pre-qualify (honestly) who this is for and who it isn’t for.

Lead generation takes two forms: the active form and the passive form.

Passive Lead Generation

Passive lead generation is like passive courses, it really isn’t as passive as you think it is. We see this through setting up Facebook ads that lead to an opt in, Pinterest pins that lead to an opt in – basically it is anything that you are not actually promoting that could capture an email list and help you grow your email list. This is something that eventually, through testing, will have landed the foundational work to allow it to run on its own. That you just collect the leads and then convert them into something else.

Before you Facebook Ad your way to a lead generation process 

Therefore, it feels so exclusive and elite to others. It’s the idea that you can sit back and have endless leads coming to you is the picture you want. 

To create passive lead generation, you must start with active lead generation. It has truly replaced the idea of prospecting in our online space.Prospecting is not the idea that you are seeking people who don’t want help and don’t want your products. We root the idea of prospecting in human nature that is to solve problems. That I can help you, I want to help you and to help you. Sometimes I have to find you first. This idea of active lead generation/ prospecting comes from the idea that you know people want to pay you in a way that is uncompromised no matter how many times you hear the word no, or you feel it is something that maybe someone doesn’t need 

Active Lead Generation

Active lead generation on Instagram and other forms of social media allow you to get you to your ICA sooner. It allows you to say that you see value in their problems and provide a solution to help them. At the core of what you do, this is to love/help and serve others. That comes with this can only be shown by believing in your solution so much that you are seeking others out. While this is the path less taken in the online space, the ideal client finds values in you seeking them out. What this is not – sending 100’s of cold dm’s saying “Hey I can help you!!!!” As humans, that feels like you aren’t actually looking at the idea to help us and more of the idea of how can you help yourself and what does that look like for you 

Why you struggle with active lead generation your business

If you struggle to include active lead generation in your business, the first place to start is always the time you are spending on Instagram. Most of the time, you are looking, scrolling and watching. This idea that you are engaging your ICA is more about the ego boost you get when you see they liked your comment or someone shares your content. The focus is finding people/ serving those people and understanding that if you truly believe in your products that you will take the time to find people to help with it. 

Without having a lead generation strategy that is rooted because you can find anyone anytime, then you are lost on the idea that your product can help someone. The root of your belief of your products is the key to a strong lead generation strategy. It is the idea that you can/ will help more and more people. That you will see someone who is struggling and say “I can help you with that.” and then actually be able to help them with that 

It only takes Five people a day

If you are struggling with lead generation, just start with finding and talking to five people each day. You can keep adding them to your list and watch how fast your list grows by just working with 5 people. It will surprise you how fast your sales grow because of lead generation.

Further Reading: Why You Aren’t Signing High Ticket Clients