I’ve been managing some “big budgets” for businesses in the range of $300,000-$400,000 per week Ad spend…
And have also been getting a-few-month-old brand new businesses off the ground with tiny budgets in the range of $100-$200 per day…
If you’re in the mood for a 2000 word guide, this post will certainly add a lot of value to your business.
I’m about to show you a game-changer in customer acquisition, one that simplifies your process and builds sustainable growth. And even if you’re sticking with cold calling, this method can boost your success tenfold.
Buckle up, because the secret to effortless customer acquisition is about to be revealed.
The 1.2 Million Dollar Problem
My friend’s company, boasting healthy revenue of $10M and selling high-margin, $3k+ products, piqued my consulting interest. Their sales engine hummed – a full room buzzing with activity. The model was straightforward:
- Acquire a massive lead list for a hefty price tag.
- Unleash a cold calling team to snag demos.
- Close the deal with a seasoned sales squad.
While seemingly effective, it had a critical Achilles’ heel: cold calling’s infamous difficulty in reaching ears.
The business development team’s days of relentless cold calling might be numbered. Their current strategy relies heavily on psychological tactics to snag a mere 30 seconds of someone’s time for a pitch.
A cold call is a withdrawal, but if you go to the bank and try to take money out without making a deposit you can’t get anything out.
There’s another cold call trainer out there named Kevin Hopp and he coached me up on having your “targeted list” of prospects that you warm up a bit before making that initial call and then having a “wide net list” where you are tossing 500 potential names into a parallel dialer and just going for some volume.
I’m a firm believer that this is a healthy mix and the right way to go.
Don’t waste your money buying “data”. Just like courses there are many that promise to sell data. Don’t waste your time calling. I would focus on the following instead:
- Be 100% crystal clear on who your ideal customer is. I mean it, 100%.
- Then think about where your customer spends their time or performs their “daily endless social media scroll”.
- Create a value proposition that will make sense and is meaningful to them
- Try running some test ads and see what happens
Why This Isn’t Going To Work
The sales landscape has undergone a dramatic shift. Forget what you know about cold calls and closing pitches – today’s buyers demand a personalized, data-driven approach.A combo of dialing, emailing, and socializing is the secret sauce in my industry. There are a lot of people who still pick up the phone and enjoy being connected.
Basically we have a data pipeline running on a monthly basis that adds startups from crunchbase that have entered our scope, then it refreshes & enriches multiple data points on all startups we track (~40k). Once data processing is done we have developed a statistical approach to scoring companies in order to rank them and surface the best ones
1) Consumers don’t get sold anymore, they do their own research.
In today’s information age, savvy consumers take charge of their choices. Gone are the days of blind leaps into restaurants; online reviews now hold sway.
This meticulous vetting extends beyond dining destinations, influencing everything from purchases to leisure activities.
As you start making the shift to customer-centric, if your team doesn’t “get it,” then you haven’t communicated effectively. Communicating change is always hard, so pay careful attention to the central message, repetition opportunities, and “walking the talk.”
People are quick to make things up to fill a vacuum, and rumors or myths die hard.
2) Consumers HATE being bombarded and are nearly oblivious to hard-sell ads.
I’ve read a lot of articles lately that claim people hate advertising. They hate online displays and video ads. They hate TV and radio commercials.
People hate advertising because it gets in the way of what they really want. A funny video, a TV show, a song or an interesting article. Ads make people wait to have a want or need satisfied.
Advertising has long been accepted – or tolerated – by the general public as an alternative to paying for a service. They can skip certain ads on YouTube. They can use ad blocking technology to limit exposure to ads.
If you deliver something that’s valuable, relevant, interesting or entertaining, people will like it. When you invest in quality, you’ll create more positive perceptions and get better results.
3) Consumers ignore everything.
The published study from Pure360 in the United Kingdom titled, “Confessions of a Shopping Nation” tells the vast majority of consumers, 64%, that social media and the Internet in general have very little influence on their purchasing decisions.
Forget phone calls and slow-burn replies! In today’s attention-grabbing world, reaching millennials (and anyone else, honestly) is like navigating a digital obstacle course.
What’s going on?
Noise.
Noise because most companies have really no idea on how to connect with consumers. We see it everyday. Each Tweet or each Facebook Post has a “sales message” attached to it. There is very little creativity in the message. Zero ability to understand organic marketing. It’s all…noise.
But fear not, fellow outreach warrior! Here’s how to break through the noise and actually connect:
- Ditch the dead zones: Skip the ignored inboxes and endless phone tag. Find where your people hang out online. Think niche communities, relevant forums, or even unexpected platforms like TikTok. Be where they are, not where you think they should be.
- Become a conversation, not a commercial: Forget sales pitches and forced interactions. Spark genuine curiosity, share valuable insights, and add something to the conversation. People crave authenticity, so show them the real you, not just your brand.
- Think micro-moments, not megaphone blasts: Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all campaigns. Tailor your approach to specific moments and needs. Offer a quick tip, respond to a burning question, or simply offer a friendly emoji in the right context. Small connections matter in a big way.
Here’s The Answer:
You don’t advertise to them.
You help them.
Ditch the sales pitch, embrace helpful hands. In today’s digital landscape, people crave solutions, not product pushes.
Enter Inbound Marketing – your ticket to attracting, not chasing, customers.
Forget shouting about your offering. Instead, whisper valuable insights, answer their questions, and become a trusted ally.
This content-driven approach builds relationships, fostering curiosity and trust. Soon, you’ll be seen as an expert, not a salesman, and your solutions will naturally hold tenfold the appeal.
- Stop Selling – Start Engaging: If over 20% of your social media posts are about selling something you are creating noise. Stop it…today. Tell the back-story of your business. Share interesting images, video and stay light;
- Share Information: If consumers are seeking information about a wide range of products and services become a voice of assistance and not a carnival barker. Move your blog to one of helping folks better understand your area of expertise;
- Do It Well: Just because you know everything about “Self-Weasel-Winding Torque Inducers” does not mean that you know how to market them. Get some help for crying out loud. Marketing/Advertising companies do this every day.
Here’s the Hocus-Pocus Unicorn Dust Part
I can see the “quality content” quip coming – but hear me out! It’s not just about churning out endless blog posts. Let’s think smarter, not harder.
Whenever I hear a person in corporate power try to negate my actions by saying “They weren’t very customer-centric”, I interpret that as it’s not very YOU-centric you mean.
Companies don’t put some wild out-of-the-box collaboration practice in place because everything is going well. Things must be bad, and they are desperate to try something new.
We need content that truly resonates, that becomes a beacon in the information fog. Content that speaks directly to our audience’s needs, not just buzzwords and listicles.
That’s the quality we’re chasing.
Inbound marketing shows you how to turn prospects into eager clients, saving you the cold-call cringe.
Here’s the magic:
Content strategy plays a pivotal role within the Marketing Plan. It is essential to ensure that your content aligns with your overarching business objectives. Your content serves as the primary tool for establishing a bond with your target audience, breaking the ice, initiating and sustaining conversations.
To achieve this effectively, your content must consistently reflect your customers’ needs and interests, as well as your brand’s Unique Value Proposition in addressing and solving these needs and interests.
Of course, metrics then let you know what better resonates with your audience, and what better converts.
With the advancements in generative AI, producing quality content has become way easier. Of course, you cannot expect ChatGPT to write it for you but you can definitely look out for the ideas. It saves the time that would have gone into brainstorming and researching and can provide you with the much-needed brief.
How to Get Started – The Easy Way
Forget the megaphone, grab a helping hand. Your blog becomes your haven, offering insights instead of intrusions.
Solve your ideal customer’s pain points, address their burning questions. Craft content like stepping stones, leading them down the path to solutions.
Search engines reward helpfulness, guiding eager seekers to your door. Capture their attention with a strategic opt-in, a friendly pop-up or inviting Hellobar.
Now, nurture the connection with valuable follow-up content, gently guiding them towards a conversation, where their needs finally meet your expertise. It’s a win-win, built on trust and genuine value.
Final Thoughts
Less talking, more listening.
By giving customers a voice, you can learn from their experiences with your product or service and use that information to target their pain points, improve said product or service, and tailor your marketing strategy more precisely.
Thoroughly research your customers. Data analysis, interviews, a SIMPLE conversation – these all are ways to understand on a deeper level what your customers motivations and decision-making processes are, and how you can best approach them to position yourself as not only a solution to their problem, but also a TRUSTED partner in their success.
Author: Jugnu Nagar
SEO Specialist
