How to Sneak Into Your Prospect’s Office Undetected

Using Lead Magnets and Funnels to Launch Your Year Just Might Be Your Best Bet

If you’re following my blog, you know I’ve written several articles over the past few weeks on creating the value proposition, defining your target market, and building your list. These are all necessary steps for a BIG year…

But how do you get new names on your list? That’s today’s topic.

You can buy a list or buy traffic. But what happens when you reach out to that list with cold callers or email? Do leads respond?  And when you introduce yourself from XYZ IT Services Company, does your prospect smile and invite you over for coffee? Probably not….

There has to be something else to get your list warmed up before anyone will want to hear your message. And that’s where lead magnets come in.

GREAT lead magnets are few and far between. That’s good news!!!!

This morning I went searching for great examples of what TO do…do you know I couldn’t find any in our industry? No surprise really, but that means you have an opportunity to race past your competition.

In fact, I just plowed through about 1000 reseller websites, cleaning up a call list I have. I would say that no less that 75% of the websites I hacked (for information purposes only) were down right depressing – Embarrassing. But I will save that for another time…back to lead magnets and list building.

Things You DON’T Want to Offer, If You Want to Attract List

First stop, Google. I figured I would just funnel hack a few IT Services companies. You know, resellers that sell IT Services or MSP solutions.

The first company to pop up on Google’s paid advertising list was a company called Proactive ITI…Next I did a quick search to make sure they were not one of my clients. Nope! Whew.

They actually do have a homepage that attempts to convert. Two problems. First, the offer is below the fold (meaning you don’t see it unless you scroll down). Second, they have the dreaded FREE ASSESSMENT offer (Which they are calling, A Second Look).

Then (checking their URL on SimilarWeb.Com) I noted that their bounce rate is 100% and their traffic numbers are extremely low. They could probably take down their website and sales wouldn’t be affected.

Next, I clicked on CDI, an IT Integrator in the North east.

Their home page offers NOTHING for conversion, but they do have a landing page.

But again, it’s the Free Network Assessment. I have some inside-track as to how their business is going, and my understanding is that their network assessments are few and far between, with little to no conversion.

Free assessments, white papers (such as the one offered on CrowdStrike’s homepage), and a free tour (like on I found on DFT Data Center’s site) generally don’t work well.

No one is going to believe that your free assessment is worth something if you offer it to anyone who finds you online.

White papers are stale and outdated… And a tour? Who wants to go visit an IT provider just to walk around and look at rack space?

Great Lead Magnet Ideas – Something You Can Start Building Today

So, what makes a great lead magnet?

• Your book (even if someone writes it for you).
• Special report on business relevant topics such as The Digital Revolution.
• Free training session (recorded user awareness training for instance).
• An infographic on Security. Perhaps a maturity model.
• Checklist for something relevant.
• Even a quiz

Notice, white papers don’t work, but special reports do. The book has been my number one conversion tool. I get hundreds of leads by offering my book for $1 online.

And since I do require the $1 payment (which of course is a loss-leader), the prospect is more qualified. Not too many high schoolers are going to pull out their credit card for my book, even if it is just one dollar.

The Everwebinar has also been a high conversion program, but requires a little more effort upfront. So in my case, I am offering the book, and then taking buyers to the webinar.  I have another funnel I use that offers the webinar training first. I’m using that funnel with resellers of a specific brand technology, endorsed by their executive management – so a sort of bridge is created to the cold lead.

What Makes a Lead Magnet Great?

In one word, Relevance.

But it must be consumable too. People love books, but getting someone to read is somewhat of a challenge. And so, leading with a book, followed by a video makes perfect sense.

People want the book, but would rather watch the movie, once they know it’s available.

In addition to relevance, it must be written to convert.

Great sales letters are written using a copywriter style of writing. Copywriting is a style of writing that your English teacher would frown upon. However, it is what sells.

Sometimes the most polished writings and prettiest websites offer no conversion. Commercials written for entertainment attract more spectators than they do buyers. So don’t judge the letter, book, or webpage by it’s ascetic appeal or cool-factor. Conversion is the only metric that matters.

Great marketing starts where the buyer is NOW.

So if the buyer is consumed with customer experience and mobility, that’s where you need to begin. If saving money is top of mind, and cloud seems like the obvious answer, start there.

But then take them where you need them to go. Prospects looking at less expensive MSP solutions are not automatically disqualified, when you think this way. Perhaps you can start with a lower MSP price in your dialogue, then transition to the heart of IT Services (which should be keeping data secure). From there you can offer the assessment.

So the basic MSP service is less per workstation, but the necessary security makes your monthly recurring contract actually more expensive. Will they buy it? With the proper justification, the sale is made. I’ve seen it happen more times than you can imagine.

Other Options…

Can you write a book or put together a  training video? You can. If you don’t write well, or don’t have time, you can always get someone else to write or speak for you. You can do it through a short interview (as I did with one of my clients recently), or you can give an online presentation, record it, and have someone transcribe it.  From there, you will want someone with copywriter skills to edit and punch up your copy.

Remember, no one really likes to read business stuff (well, except for a few weird people like myself). So make sure your written work is exciting, entertaining, and full of great (business relevant) content. Write like you speak, not like a textbook.

Getting Magnets In the Hand’s of Prospects and Converting

Getting your lead magnet out isn’t that hard. I’ve used postcards at events, text opt-ins (also at live events), blog posts full of content with links to get more (code for Lead Magnet), my website homepage, and paid traffic ads on Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Subscribe now! and I’ll be filling in the details as we take this journey through 2017…building more funnels and lead magnets to create qualified IT sales appointments!

© 2017, David Stelzl