Lead Generation: How To Get More Business Leads (Fast!)

Lead generation is often called the lifeblood of a successful business. Why? Because to win more clients, you need to generate more leads.

Without any new leads, you won’t be able to get any new clients.

It’s as simple as that.

So, the big question is…

What is the best way to generate new business leads each month?

And how can you do this in a way that is predictable, profitable, scalable and automated?

After helping hundreds of business owners successfully generate leads, here are the best lead generation strategies for 2023 and beyond.

Executive Summary

The best and fastest way to get new business leads each month is by using a lead generation strategy that attracts and converts leads into clients on autopilot. This free video training explains how to do this step-by-step in a way that is automated, profitable and scalable.

Lead generation 101

The first step to generating leads is to understand what lead generation is and how it works. Here’s a quick beginners guide to getting started guide to lead generation.

What is lead generation?

Lead generation is defined as the process of getting people to raise their hand because they are interested in learning more about how you or your business can help them. Business owners use lead generation to attract potential customers to their business.

What is a lead?

A lead is a person who fills in a form online because they are interested in learning more about your product or services. This is usually done in the form of a lead magnet, such as an:

eBook
PDF Guide
Webinar
Or video sales letter

A lead is not the same as a qualified sales appointment or new clients, but it is the first step to getting one.

If you want to learn how to get more quality sales appointments each month with your lead generation campaign, be sure to watch my free training here.

Why is lead generation important?

Lead generation allows you to grow your business. Without a lead generation strategy in your business, you will not have a constant supply of new clients. Without any new clients, your business won’t be able to grow.

Because some B2B or B2C lead generation companies have sales cycles that may last many months, it’s often recommended that you always keep your lead pipeline full to ensure your business keeps growing.

How do businesses generate new business leads?

To get new business leads, you need the right strategy.

Without the right strategy, it doesn’t matter what you do to try and get leads, it won’t work very well…

In this video, I explain the best lead generation strategy to get high quality business leads and sales appointments with your ideal clients every single month.

Here’s a quick overview of the process involved:

Step 1: Generate leads with an opt-in page (your lead magnet)
Step 2: Convert leads to appointments with your lead magnet
Step 3: Convert appointments into clients after speaking to them

It sounds simple, but the reality is, there are lots of moving parts at each step of the process. That’s why I recommend watching this video which explains each of these steps in more detail. This will help you avoid making common mistakes and get faster results.

Tip: Don’t have the time to do this yourself? Check out my done-for-you lead generation services.

Here’s a breakdown of each step in the lead generation funnel:

Step 1: Have an opt-in page

An opt-in page is a landing page where you promise to give your potential clients a solution to a problem they have in return for them giving you their name & email.

Here’s an example of one of my most popular opt-in pages:

An opt-in landing page should have:

A title that describes a big problem you solve for your potential clients
A few bullet points with some added value or reasons why this would be a good fit for them
A form where they can enter their name & email to receive the information you promise

Tip: Keep the opt-in landing page simple. Sometimes if you put too much text (e.g. a long sales page) you can accidentally give reasons why you might NOT be a good fit. Long sales pages can also cause your website to load slower which negatively affects the conversion rate.

Step 2: Convert leads into sales calls

After leads have given you their name & email, you now need to give them the information you promised.

The information needs to explain how they can solve a problem they have and how you can help them get even better and quicker results if they decide to work with you rather than do everything by themselves.

When presenting this information, I recommend doing it in a video format, rather than a written guide.

Why use a video as your lead magnet?

A video is:

More engaging (in other words, people will actually WATCH it)
It’s easier to build trust on video vs written information alone

If you’d like to know in more detail what to actually say in this video to get more conversions, then check out ‘Step 2’ of the free Masterclass training I recorded which goes through how to do this in a lot more detail.

If people like what they hear in the video, they need to be able to click on a button below the video to go to the next step in your sales process (e.g. buy a product, service or book a sales appointment).

For most of our clients, the next step in the sales process is to schedule a sales appointment.

Step 3: Convert sales calls into clients

At this stage, your lead has gone from a stranger to someone who has booked an appointment with you to learn more about how you can help them.

To increase the quality of your sales appointment you can:

Get leads to fill out an application form prior to scheduling a call
Explain who you are (or are not) a good fit for
Tell prospects your pricing upfront

At this stage, you now need to speak to them, explain how you can help them and of course answer any other questions they might have.

It’s also worth noting that…

Some leads you generate will convert into appointments and clients straight away.

But most will not (which is totally normal).

That’s why it’s important you have a strong follow-up process to build trust with your leads over time and to maximize your conversions.

You can follow up with leads via:

An automated email follow up sequence
Retargeting ads on social media
Retargeting ads on Adroll

If you want a deeper dive into generating leads, appointments and clients step-by-step I highly recommend watching my free training here.

Now that you know the right strategy in place, the next logical question is…

How do you actually generate leads in the first place?

What are the best lead generation strategies?

Here are some of the best ways to generate leads (rated & reviewed!):

1. Google & YouTube SEO

Best for long-term profitable results

With Google & YouTube SEO you can get new business leads for free when people search for Google or YouTube for keywords related to the services you provide.

Think about it…

Every day there are thousands of people (including your potential clients) who are searching Google and/or YouTube for answers to their questions.

The question you need to ask yourself is… Are they finding YOU or your competitors?

For your website to appear on search results, you need to answer questions (in written or video format) that your potential clients are asking (or searching for).

There are literally thousands of questions you can answer!

By doing this, you can generate a steady stream of new leads & clients every month (for FREE) from both Google & YouTube.

This inbound marketing strategy does require quite a bit of work in the beginning, but it is hands down one of the best ways to generate leads for free.

Once you create and publish the content on your website, that same content can get traffic, leads and clients every month for years into the future.

Tip: The more content you create answering questions your potential clients ask, the faster results you’ll get. See ‘Step 4’ of this video to learn what kind of questions typically get the best results from Google and YouTube.

Additional Google & YouTube SEO resources:

2. TikTok ads

TikTok lead generation ads are another way to generate leads for your business. TikTok ads can work for both b2b and b2c lead generation.

And yes, TikTok ads is NOT just for young people anymore.

The older demographic (people aged 45+ or 55+) is growing rapidly.

And best of all, TikTok ads has fewer advertisers on it right now compared to Facebook ads. This means you can target the same people who are on Facebook & Instagram ads on TikTok for less money.

In our tests, we’ve found 90% of our clients who use Facebook and TikTok ads get better results (in terms of cost per lead, cost per appointment and cost per aquisition) with TikTok ads.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown on why TikTok ads beats Facebook ads:

If you’re interested in using TikTok ads, check out our done-for-you lead gen services.

3. Meta Facebook & Instagram ads

With Meta’s Facebook & Instagram ads, you can generate leads much more quickly compared with free or organic channels such as LinkedIn outreach or Google SEO.

With Facebook ads, you can combine multiple interests to drill down and target someone who is exactly the kind of client you want to win.

For example, imagine you’re an accountant looking for accounting leads and you want to target business owners on Facebook who use Xero or Quickbooks online accounting software.

Facebook ads allow you to get leads and clients on-demand and you’re in full control of how many new leads you get each month. See ‘step 4’ of my free training for more info on how to use Facebook ads to get leads on-demand.

Additional Facebook ad resources:

4. LinkedIn

On LinkedIn, you can generate new business for free by connecting to potential clients and asking them if they want to watch a free video that goes through how they can solve a big problem they have.

You don’t have to spend any money on LinkedIn to do this, but you do need to spend time finding, connecting and messaging people who are your potential clients.

Tip: You can automate most of your LinkedIn lead generation outreach by using LinkedIn automation tools!

The KEY to getting results (new clients) on LinkedIn is to NOT sell to them straight away (which is what most other people are doing).

Instead, ASK leads if they want to see a short video that goes through how you can help them. See ‘step 4’ of this video for more info about how this works.

Additional LinkedIn resources:

5. Google & YouTube ads

If you’re looking to target people who are actively searching for a solution that you provide, Google & YouTube ads is a great way to generate leads.

The advantage to generating leads with Google and YouTube ads are that you can target people searching for different keywords on Google in real-time. Often these people can convert quicker because they are looking for a solution right now.

The downside is that it can be more expensive than other advertising channels due to the higher number of advertisers competing for the same keywords.

6. Buy leads

If you don’t want to get leads yourself, you can also buy leads from lead generation companies.

However, there are pros and cons of buying leads.

The pros are that you don’t have to do any work to get leads.

The cons are that when you buy leads they are often more expensive compared to getting your own exclusive leads at cost.

In my own business, I’ve both sold leads to businesses and helped businesses generate their own leads.

Although both strategies can work, overall, I’ve found most business owners prefer to generate their own leads. How to generate your own leads (and automate most of the process) is explained in this video.

7. Use AI lead generation tools

Another great way to generate leads is to use AI lead generation tools. These tools can help make lead generation in your business easier, quicker and more cost-effective vs doing everything manually by yourself.

AI lead generation is a new concept that is changing quickly. In the future, it will likely be possible to automate almost every aspect of your lead generation campaign using artificial intelligence.

Recommended lead generation software resources:

8. Look for niche specific lead generation services

If you’re looking for faster lead generation results, searching for what lead generation strategies work specifically well for YOUR niche can be helpful.

The fact of the matter is you’ll get much quicker results with your lead generation campaign if you work with someone who already has success in your niche.

For example, although we can help lots of different types of businesses generate leads, here are some of the types of leads we have the most experience generating:

You can see more examples on our clients results page here.

8. Other lead generation strategies

There are many additional types of lead generation strategies including:

Traditional lead generation strategies:

Networking events
Referrals
Seminars
Speaking at events
Sending out flyers
Cold calling
Door knocking
BNI
Word of mouth

Online lead generation strategies:

Cold emailing
Buying leads
Google Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
YouTube search engine optimization
Paid Advertising (Facebook ads, Google ads, TikTok ads, YouTube ads, etc)
LinkedIn outreach
Retargeting ads
Email marketing
Inbound leads
Content marketing
High-converting landing pages
Affiliate marketing
Joint Ventures
And more!

As you can see, there’s no shortage of ways to get leads for your business.

However, you do NOT need to do all of these lead gen strategies.

In fact, you only need one (or a few) high converting lead gen strategies.

Watch ‘Step 4’ of this video to see what the top lead gen channels are right now.

The bottom line

When it comes to marketing your business, there are hundreds of marketing strategies you could use.

But very few actually get real tangible results.

So I recommend you keep your marketing simple and stay focused on the marketing activities that will get the best results.

In fact, all you really need to do is focus on ONE or a few good strategies that will constantly generate new leads for your business each month.

Remember: The more leads you generate, the more appointments and clients you will win each month in your business.

To see my detailed step-by-step strategy on how to get leads & appointments each month on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google & YouTube then watch my free Masterclass training here.

FAQs

Should you buy leads?

Buying leads can get you quicker results because everything is done-for-you. However, the problem with buying online leads is that the quality is often low (because many leads are shared with others) and buying leads is more expensive than getting your own leads.

If you buy leads, it’s a good idea to do this as a temporary strategy to grow your business, while at the same time you focus on developing your own exclusive lead generation system.

We help business owners get their own leads without needing to buy leads. Watch this video to learn how.

How long does it take for leads to convert into clients?

It can take anywhere from a few days to a few years for leads to convert into clients. It often depends on your industry and the length of your sales cycle. In my experience, I’ve found on average, 1-2% of your leads will convert into clients within a 3 month period and more leads will convert into clients after 3 months as the leads continue to get your follow up emails through email marketing.

Can you get leads from your website blog?

Yes, you can get leads from your website blog posts. The best way to do this is by having a lead magnet on your blog posts. For best results, integrate your lead magnet into the blog post and don’t make it look like an advertisement. Make it look like this is the natural next step to take if they want to learn more about how you can help them.

How do you qualify leads?

You can qualify leads before you speak to them by having an application form. It’s also a good idea to help leads pre-qualify themselves by explaining in a short video (before they fill out an application form) who you’re a good fit for.

How much do leads cost?

The cost of generating leads depends on the strategy you are using. For example, lead generation through search engine optimization is mostly free. However, lead generation through paid ads costs money. In general, if you’re paying for leads, the costs can vary from $5 to $50 per lead depending on many variables. For our clients, the average cost per lead is about $10 when running ads.

Ashley Davis

Ashley Davis (or ‘Ash’ for short) is the CEO & Founder of Skyline Social. For over 15 years, he has been helping business owners with lead generation. Ash specializes in helping businesses get high-quality leads, appointments and clients each month in an automated, scalable and profitable way. You can watch his free Masterclass training to learn more.