How to Build a List of Prospects

Besides “how do I get traffic?,” “how do I build a list of prospects?” is the most common question I get asked. In fact, we did a recent survey of our audience and these were the two most prevalent roadblocks that people said were keeping them from building the business of their dreams.

So, I’ve decided to answer that question once and for all. I want this blog post to be a resource for anyone who has ever scratched their head and asked how to build a list of prospects.  Like anything, there is the simple answer and then there is the full answer. This post will be somewhere in between.

On top of what you will read here, I’m also rolling out a full 1–hour webinar that digs much deeper into the concepts I discuss here. And the IMGP team is also putting together an 8–week course that will give you the opportunity to go step-by-step through the process of building a kick-butt prospecting system

You Don’t Really Want To Build a List of Prospects

Let’s be clear at the outset. The goal is not to build a huge list of prospects, but rather to build a huge list of buyers.   A prospect list is just a step in the process — a means to a profitable end.  After all, a list of prospects that don’t buy anything is not worth a whole lot.

That said, building that prospect list is super critical to your success and here’s why… Most of the visitors who come to your site are not in ‘buying mode.’ They may be highly-qualified. They may have a real need for what you offer, but still, their mind is not in buying mode. So no matter how good your copy is or how great your offer is, you will not get them to respond to a sales offer.

Trying to get someone who is not in buying mode to stop and read your sales message and then take action requires an extraordinary amount of effort and basically amounts to raw manipulation. It can be done, but it is far easier to meet them where they are.

This is why many sales pages only convert at around 3%, even for good offers. What happens with the rest of the 97% who don’t buy? It’s not that the right people aren’t reading the sales page, nor is it that the offer or copy is bad, it’s just that most of the qualified visitors to that page are simply not in buying mode and are, therefore, impervious to sales messages.

You may be wondering what I mean when I say “meet them where they are.”  Here it is in a nutshell.  Don’t try to change the mindset of your visitors; instead, create an offer that matches their mindset.  Many people talk about ‘message to market match’ when teaching Internet marketing. I, of course, agree that your message should match your market. But I think it is far more useful to think in terms of ‘message to mindset match.’ When your offer matches the mindset of your visitor, you will see much higher conversion rates.

So, if you are going to match the mindset of your visitors, it might help to actually understand what their mindset is.  If you are getting reasonably well-targeted traffic, and most people do, then you can assume that most of your visitors are Prospects — with a capital “P” because when I use the term, I mean it in a very specific way as I outlined in my recent All Prospects are Not Created Equal post.

What, Exactly Is a “Prospect?”

A Prospect is someone who has a need for what you offer, is aware of that need, and is seeking information about filling that need.

In terms of mindset, prospects are in ‘information gathering’ mode. So, while they won’t respond to sales offers, they will respond to free information offers.

I mentioned on Twitter that I was writing this post and asked for list-building tips from my followers. @jamesmulvey summed it all up eloquently…

Doing an effective job of building a prospect list is as simple as understanding what your prospects want and then giving it to them. What is really happening is you are making an agreement… “I’ll give you the information you seek if you give me your contact information so I can follow-up with you.”

In other words, you offer an ‘information asset’ to build a prospect list because it will give you the chance to pool qualified visitors into a smaller group and stay in touch with them over time. The end goal is to be there when the mindset of your prospects changes to buying mode.

An Effective System To Build a List of Prospects

As readers of this blog know, I always like to focus on two things for any Internet marketing topic: the why and the system.  In other words, I don’t like to just share tactics. I want you to know why any given tactic works because that means you will be able to use that knowledge even if a specific tactic stops working in the future.  Also, I want you to know the system that you can use to get the result you desire because systems are what do all of the work for us in Internet marketing.

We’ve already covered the why; here is a quick overview of an effective sales system to build a list of prospects.

Purpose: Every good system should start, first, with a purpose. The purpose of a prospecting system is to get qualified Prospects onto an email list so you can follow-up with them over time. But the system also must help you build a trust relationship with those Prospects and, in many cases, educate them to help them get to the point where they can make an informed, confident buying decision (to buy your product of course).

Components: There are five primary components of a system that helps you build a list of prospects:

• LGO: Short for lead-generation offer, this is the information asset you will offer to your prospects in exchange for their contact information. Typically a downloadable ebook or special report.
• Offer Page: This is the actual web page where you make your offer.
• Thank You Page: The page your Prospects land on after they opt-in to receive your LGO.
• Incubator: Most people think of this as an ‘autoresponder’ — I think that terminology isn’t really that helpful and prefer to use a name that describes what it does versus the technology that powers it. In any case, this is a series of emails, automatically delivered at specific intervals, to follow up with your prospects.
• Traffic: The juice that powers the whole system

System Map: The image below shows a map of a typical prospecting system.

Key:

• Traffic = All traffic to LGO Page
• LGO = Lead Generation Offer Page
• P = Prospect Database
• LGOdl = LGO Download Page
• LGOi = Prospect Incubator
• Back End = All Offers Promoted in Incubator

 

Implementation Steps

Step 1: Know WHO You are Targeting

Before you do anything, make sure you take the time to complete an Ideal Prospect Profile so that you are very clear on who you are targeting and what their core traits and needs are.

Step 2: Understand the Information Needs of Your Ideal Prospect

Do some research to find out what kinds of questions your Ideal Prospect is likely to ask. Spend some time on forums, doing keyword research, and if you have a list at all, ask your current prospects using an online survey. You can also poll current visitors to your website. Take the time and effort to get a good understanding of the kind of information your prospects seek.

Step 3: Develop An ‘Information Asset’ That Provides The Information Your Ideal Prospect Seeks

Now that you know what the primary information needs of your Ideal Prospect are, create a short special report that provides that information.  Your report should both provide valuable information and also position you as a trusted advisor. This step is not as hard as it might sound. Even if you are not an expert on the subject, it is easy to do a bit of research in Google and compile the answers into a well-organized special report or guide.

Step 4: Create An Offer Page That Offers Information In Exchange For Contact Information

Your offer page should be focused on one thing — getting the right prospects to opt-in to download your LGO.  Keep it simple — headline, sub-head, short paragraph, bullet points, and an opt-in form. The copy should be focused on the benefits your prospect will receive by reading the report.

Step 5: Deliver The Information Asset

After your prospect opts-in, direct them to a thank-you page where they will be able to download the LGO. If you are using a double opt-in process (confirmed opt-in) then you may choose not to deliver your LGO until the Prospect confirms their email address. The thank-you page is prime real estate. Your prospect has just taken an action and you have their attention. Use this opportunity to direct them to another offer, ask a survey question or two, or deliver some extra value to add value to your relationship.

Step 6: ‘Incubate’ Your Prospects: Follow-Up With Additional Information

When marketers talk about Prospects, we often use ‘temperature’ as a way to gauge how close they are to being ready to buy. A cold prospect is far from ready to buy and a hot prospect is ready right now.  You only have a little bit of influence over the relative temperature of your prospects.  Many marketers think they can turn a cold prospect into a hot one if they try hard enough, and in many cases, they are right — but it takes a lot of work. What you really want to do is be there with top-of-mind awareness when your prospect is ready to take action. That’s what your Incubator, or email follow-up series, should do for you.

In your follow-up email series you first want to help your Prospect get maximum value out of your LGO.  Provide additional tips, give examples, highlight certain key points — The point is to overdeliver on your content. Next, the job of your Incubator is to provide frequent contact with your Prospects to that they keep you on the top of their mind as they are working through the buying process. Also, your Incubator should build trust. There are many ways an Incubator can build trust, but just the regular delivery of additional content is the most basic one.

Step 7: Energize the System With Traffic

This isn’t a post about how to get traffic. There are plenty of those. the main point here is that you need to build a solid system before pouring traffic into it.  Once the system is built, you will find that if you take a step-by-step approach and consistently work on it, you can bring an ever-increasing amount of traffic to your LGO offer page and onto your list.

Step 8: Test, Track, Optimize

This is one step that many people don’t do, but it is probably the most profitable one.  After you get your system up and running, track your results and use the information you gather to continuously improve your conversion rates. At a minimum, you should A/B or split test your LGO offer page. But you should also look to improve conversion and click-through’s in your Incubator. One of the simplest and most effective ways to squeeze more results out of an existing system is to simple add more content and offers to your Incubator.

Ready to Use A Systems Approach To Build a List of Prospects?

I hope this 20,000–foot view of how to approach the topic of how to build a list of prospects has helped you get clear on why a certain approach is needed and also on the basics of the kind of system to use and the components of that system.

If you’d like to take it deeper, you should catch my FREE Mindset Matching Method Webinar.  I’ll spend an entire hour revealing the proven concepts and processes I’ve used to build profitable prospect list-building systems for myself, and my clients.  This is also the exact same process I teach to my Sales System DNA students.