Today, I’m going to take a break from the heavier topics and just write about business.

Think of it like a palate cleanser.

Who wants to talk about Lead Generation?

“I need to generate more leads”

This phrase typically means that they want more opportunities that could convert into revenue.

  • If you’re a Marketing Agency, you mean people who need help with Marketing.
  • If you’re a coffee roaster, you might mean coffee shops or distributors looking for a new coffee to purchase and offer.
  • If you’re a real estate agent, you probably mean people looking to buy or sell a home.

You get the picture. Lead Generation is about creating more opportunities with people who could buy what you sell. However, underneath that very simple idea are several important considerations.

Let’s start by getting more clarity about this important facet of business.

The World of Lead Generation

In my 2023 post, Beyond Know Like and Trust, I explain that:

You’ve probably heard this before:

“People do business with those they know, like, and trust.”

Sure, it’s good advice. But, it’s incomplete. It’s actually leaving out two vital components.

People do business with those they know, like, trust, need, and remember.

  • Even if I know, like, and trust you, if I don’t need what you’re selling, I’m not buying.
  • Similarly, even if I know, like, and trust you, AND I need what you’re selling, if I don’t need it now or in the near future, I’m not buying. But, when the time comes, you better hope that I remember you.

All lead generation and sales activities rest on a the unavoidable facts that people must know you exist, have few, if any, objections to working with you, and have a need (or even a strong want) to buy what you sell.

There are a lot of the ways you can address one or more of these to drive more leads.

Your first important decision, is whether you intend to prioritize Marketing-Based Lead Generation or Sales-Based Lead Generation.

Lead Generation: Marketing -vs- Sales

The line between marketing and sales is notoriously blurry. For decades, organizations have debated which drives revenue more and, by extension, deserves more resources. This debate often fosters competition instead of collaboration.

Here’s a practical distinction:

  • Sales-based lead generation is direct, individual-focused, and fast.
  • Marketing-based lead generation is often indirect, group-focused, and takes time.

Example:

  • A sales campaign might involve emailing or calling 20 people in your target audience and directly asking if they have a need or know someone who does.
  • A marketing campaign might involve creating a guide or webinar, sharing it on social media, and using ads to drive traffic to it.

Key question:

How quickly do you need results?

If you need leads fast, sales-based activities are the way to go.

With that decision in mind, here’s a quick overview of lead generation strategies for both approaches.

Marketing-Based Lead Generation

1. Awareness-Based Lead Generation

Build awareness by consistently sharing messages that communicate what you do, who it’s for, and why you’re unique. This differentiation helps you stand out and reduces the risk of being easily replaceable. Over time, those who need your services will remember you and reach out.

2. Conversation-Based Lead Generation

Start conversations where people discuss their needs. For example, a real estate agent might post:

“If you were moving tomorrow, which neighborhood would you choose: Queen Village, Society Hill, or Washington Sq.? Why?”

The responses can reveal people interested in moving, providing an opening for deeper conversations. Keep that discussion going and you might find someone is interested in moving to those locations.

3. Value-Based Lead Generation

The “lead magnet” approach involves offering guides, webinars, or other valuable content in exchange for contact information. While it’s a common tactic, people recognize it as a sales funnel.

Still, it identifies potential leads who might be open to a sales conversation.

4. Offer-Based Lead Generation

This strategy overlaps with sales and involves making direct offers:

While effective with an established audience, this shotgun, one-to-many approach often fails without prior trust or presence.

An Overview of Sales-Based Lead Generation

1. Inbound Leads

If you have a big enough network and you are good at what you do, or have a history of doing great work with your clients, at some point, you will get people reaching out to you asking to do work together, or work together again.

This is not predictable and it is not fast to generate leads this way, but these are the absolute best leads in the world. These are referrals, repeat business, or people who have a high degree of trust in you.

In order to generate any inbound leads, you’ll probably need to do some outbound activity.

2. Outbound Leads

Outbound lead generation campaigns include cold calling, warm emailing, asking for referrals, and reconnecting with past clients. This approach is the fastest way to generate revenue because it leads directly to sales conversations.

After everything I’ve talked about in this post today, this is the number one and only thing I recommend to people who need to generate revenue.

What people get wrong is treating this approach like the Marketing-based Lead Generation approaches outlined above.

This is not that.

This is not one-to-many.

This is one-to-one, at scale.

What I would do next

I’ve outlined most of the options for you to select from. If it were me, here’s what I would do:

  1. Get clear on what you offer and how much it costs
  2. Make a giant list of all the people who know, like, and trust you
  3. Reach out to each person individually, by email or phone

In an email, I would tell them the following pieces of information (I’ve covered this before, here):

  1. A Contextualized Greeting
  2. An Explanation of what you’re doing and who it is for
  3. An ask (in this case, with or without a deadline)

The ask would be for one of the following:

  • If they are interested/have the need: Set a meeting
  • If they are not interested/have the need: A Referral

For the people I know best, I would be candid with them about how dire my situation is instead of pretending. I might just say:

“Hey, I am struggling right now and I really need to generate some business. If you can think of anyone that either needs this or might be a good referral partner, I’d really appreciate it.”

Remember that all sales are based in relationships. So if you’re going to study anything to generate more leads, I’d recommend studying how to grow your network of people who love, trust, and respect you.

Good luck out there!

Here are some more resources for you.

Get my book, it’s really good: The Lovable Leader

Book List

Some of my previous posts on Sales

I hope you enjoyed this post!

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You might know Jeff from Linkedin as "the World’s Most Handsome Strategist and Professional Speaker." You might also know him by his other title: Superhero

Jeff Gibbard is the author of The Lovable Leader, a book about building great teams with trust, respect and kindness. He's also strategist, consultant, coach, speaker, podcaster, blogger, and more.

Jeff is on a mission to make the world kinder, safer and more equitable. He's committed to living a purpose-driven life, helping people to unlock their full potential, being a heroic and lovable leader, and becoming an unstoppable catalyst for change.

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ByJeff Gibbard Reading Time: 2 minutes

Discover the freedom of stepping away from the social media popularity game. Find depth, clarity, and genuine connection by focusing on ideas and meaningful communication over numbers and validation.