Because I can write one service I love offering to many brick and mortar businesses is a lead generating report.
First let me explain what a lead generating report is.
Basically you write a short report that is filled with useful information targeted to a particular kind of prospect in a particular niche. And you give it a sexy title that will appeal heavily to that prospect.
An example you might use for a real estate agent trying to get more listings might be a report titled…
“7 Secrets To Getting The Maximum Price
When You Sell Your Home In Austin”
You fill that report with highly useful tips.
And here’s the important part. You want that report to lead the most qualified prospects to the conclusion that they should list their home with your agent.
That’s tricky.
If you just put on the first page “list your home with xxxx agent” then although that may actually get some listings it’s not likely to be highly effective.
What you want to do is lead your prospect step by step by sharing high quality information and gradually introduce more and more information that gets them to see that your agent is the best logical choice for them.
In some industries where competition is fierce you can come right out of the gate firing with a report titled something like…
“7 Keys To Choosing The Best Tax Specialist
For Your Business”
A report like that sent to new business owners might be effective.
But you’ll usually build a whole lot more credibility and good will by sharing valuable information first.
So in that case a report like: “7 Insider Secrets To Slashing Your Tax Bill” is likely to enter the conversation your prospect is having in his head.
Yes he’s wanting hire someone to do his taxes but what he REALLY wants is to pay less tax or get a huge tax refund at the end of the financial year.
How Can You Make Money Out Of This…?
Businesses need high quality customers and clients and you can use a lead generating report in multiple ways to bring in customers.
Here are a few powerful methods:
# As a referral system. A lead generating report can be printed out or it can be delivered as a pdf online or as an email attachment.
The happy clients of a business will often be very happy to give away a report that is filled with useful information to the people they know who could benefit from it.
Add the offer of an initial gift consultation or any other enticing offer) and with a few different people giving these reports away you can create a steady stream of new business.
# As a way to pre-educate prospects. Many services are complicated and prospects have difficulty understanding who they should hire, what service they actually need and the benefits to them of one service or service provider over another.
A report that helps to educate them is a powerful way to become the first business they think of when they choose to hire someone.
It also saves time by weeding out prospects who really aren’t any good for the business and by saving staff or the business owner time having to answer the same questions over and over.
Do this well and a business can have high quality, pre-qualified prospects coming from these reports. That’s a huge time saver and a huge money maker.
# Use the report as a way to get prospects onto an email list.
A report that is highly targeted with a sexy title has real value to the best prospects of a business. Many will be happy to give their email address to get the report (especially if you also offer a related email course like “21 Different Ways To Save On Tax”).
That way your prospects will be looking forward to receiving email from you instead of thinking “I’ve given them my email address now here comes the spam!”
# Use the information in the report in multiple ways.
Each tip in the report can be turned into a video for a website and/or submitted to online video sites like youtube. The tips can be turned into articles and submitted on article sites. The tips can be turned into blog posts etc etc.
If you’re smart you can give away one or two tips then use that as an incentive for prospects to sign up for the full report.
# Promote the report in different ways.
Creating a lead generating, tell all report is a great excuse to get exposure from local media like local radio stations, newspapers and television news.
It’s a huge credibility boost for your client getting into local media as an expert in his niche and doing that for them is going to make you look pretty fantastic too.
You could also create online press releases promoting the report, get your client to put the title of the report and a link in his email signature and his signature on any forum where he’s active.
He can also put the title of the report on the back of his business card with a link to download it and on any appropriate business literature.
If You Can Write A Report You Can
Charge Businesses To Help Them ImplementThese Strategies
How much can you charge?
First you want to know how much a new highly qualified client is worth to them. In many cases that might be multiple thousands of dollars.
Executed well strategies involving a lead generating report can be amazingly effective at bringing in paying clients.
So if you’re helping a business make tens of thousands of dollars or more in a year you can charge accordingly.
The main thing is to focus not just on the writing of the report but on creating strategies that can help bring in real paying clients for the business. That’s what they’re paying you for.
I’ll come back to this topic of what you can charge and give you some ball park figures in a minute but first…
Where Do You Get YOUR Clients From?
Many business owners will be open to the idea of strategies involving a report like this that you create.
But how do you contact those businesses?
First it helps if you create a lead generating report for YOURSELF.
Yes a lead generating report selling the value of lead generating reports (if that gives you a headache I’m not surprised).
From there you can be contacting your best prospects in a variety of ways.
If you’re using the Offline Gold Army system that’s really simple. You can have a link to your report in every newsletter you send. You can also put one of your tips from the report in each newsletter you send.
There are multiple ways you contact prospects in the report 25 Different Ways To Get Paying Clients and most will work to sell this service.
Following tip # 22 from that report “the incredible power of repeating” you can use your lead generating report or tips from your lead generating report to follow up with prospects you’ve already had contact with.
Remember also that you can use your lead generating report
as a tool your happy clients can use
to give to referrals.
This can make strategy # 1: The Out Of The Box Referral Strategy from the report 25 Different Ways To Get Paying Clients much more powerful.
Anything you do to make it easy for your referral sources to send you referrals and to make them look good is going to make your referral systems more effective.
Having a lead generating report your referral sources can give away makes THEM look good (they’re giving away a valuable gift) and it helps enormously in converting prospects into eager paying clients.
How Much Can You Charge?
Personally I’ve charged in the $1,000 to $7,000 range for a report like this along with strategies to go with it.
You could also provide ongoing services.
For example you create the lead generating report, an email course and an optin page and then you also sell an ongoing SEO or pay per click or online classified ad service to get their best prospects to the report.
If that’s bringing in real paying clients the amount you could charge for the service is VERY flexible.
Anything from $250 to $5,000+ a month is possible depending on what new clients are worth to the business.
I’ve laid out a full strategy here for you. Now all you need to do is run with it.