The following is a story about a former client who hired me on the vague concept to help them with their marketing.

The lead generation mechanisms I deployed for this client worked so well that they asked me to keep their name and specifics off any case study I publish.

So I’ve adjusted the name of the client, their offer, and other things to protect their identity.

But that should tell you a little something about how powerful lead generation mechanisms are, if clients want to keep their “secret sauce” away from their competitors.

“Can you help me with my marketing?”

Tracy is a consultant. When she came to me with that question, her primary offer was a one-hour consulting call. She’d created a course as well, but she found that the vast majority of the people who took it were other consultants who were interested in her unique process, not people who wanted an hour of her time. Plus, the course was cheaper (but not easier to sell, in Tracy’s experience) than the consultation.

So instead of hiring me to build a sales funnel for her course, she asked me for general marketing help.

This is the kind of engagement I’m EXCELLENT with. The engagement starts with big-picture strategy and brainstorming, then I’m left to my own devices to try to help increase the client’s conversion rate across the board:

• From visitors to leads
• From leads to customers
• From customers to evangelists

First, I redesigned her homepage to maximize the user experience

Tracy’s homepage wasn’t doing her any favors. There were too many things to do, too many ways to get lost, too many blog posts to bury oneself in.

So, I got to work.

Here are the changes that moved the needle for Tracy:

• Copy rewritten from the “what’s in it for me?” perspective of people coming to her website
• One call-to-action in the “above the fold” section of the website in her accent color so it stood out
• Select blog posts for each blog post category, moved way below the fold
• Swapped Tracy’s bio for testimonials

What you can do, when you look at your homepage:

• See if the copy written on the homepage is written in first person. If it is, swap it out. Remember, people don’t commit to taking the next step on something unless they’re convinced it’ll solve a problem for them. Get crystal clear on the problem that someone coming to your site might have, then write about how your product/service/solution solves it.
• Have ONE button in the top part of your homepage. ONE way to connect. Hopefully an opt-in, since people see that button in the first two seconds on your page (well before they’re ready to book a call or pay you for your time).
• Do not give someone the opportunity to read through every single thing you’ve ever written. Hand pick the posts that you already know do well (your best posts, your most popular posts according to the search engines, your most shared posts on social media) and only show a few.
• Take your bio off your homepage, or at least move it down below the bits that are about your prospect. Add testimonials if you have them. They’ll do a much better job selling your services than anything you write will.

Next, I rewrote her sales page

I follow a set format for writing compelling sales copy (use this post to map out your own sales page).

It’s a set format because it works. The exact template I use is part of the Digital Marketing Template Library, a set of over 130 templates and swipe files for all things digital marketing.

It leads with a headline, a pain point, an assurance that the person who is most likely to buy is in the right place (and the person who is least likely to buy doesn’t waste any more time reading a sales page that doesn’t solve their problem).

It talks through the problem, then it reminds them that the problem they have is two things:

• Not their fault, and
• Solvable

Then, it goes onto talk about what happens when someone buys.

Again, testimonials are crucial here.

There are buttons sprinkled throughout a sales page to allow a person to purchase the offer (the consultation, in this case) as soon as they’re convinced they have a problem Tracy can solve.

Conversions went up. But that’s not where the $60,000 in two months came from.

I created a live webinar, but it wasn’t structured correctly, and the people who attended got their questions answered for free

The webinar gave too much away. There are times in business where an “x-step process” style webinar works really well. In fact, another client ran one every month for a year, and it added six figures of revenue to her bottom line.

But if your offer is a one-hour paid call where someone with a specific set of problems can spend that time asking you pointed questions and allowing you to answer them, then do not run a webinar that gives the steps of your process.

I’ve learned that lesson twice now with consultants.

Don’t give away your framework!

If I had it to do again, I would use the “x mistakes many AVATARS make when it comes to PROBLEM CLIENT CAN SOLVE” because that framework piques curiosity, manages to snag even the smartest people who see an ad like that and think, “gosh, I don’t think I’m making six mistakes when it comes to my PROBLEM, but that’s a lot of mistakes, and chances are I might be making one of them, so I’ll sign up.”

Learn from my mistake here. Create a webinar that acts like the appetizer and not the whole steak dinner. Leave them hungry for more.

I created a quiz that monetized people who were not the right fit for Tracy’s coaching. This is the thing that earned her $60,000 in two months.

This doesn’t happen in all industries, where there are easy slam-dunk ways to monetize this well when someone is not a fit, but when the stars align, it’s glorious.

Tracy has her ideal client nailed. And even though her service is a one-off consultation, she can’t help everyone.

But we saw an opportunity to help those people who weren’t the right fit for her consulting services. We applied to several companies, asking to be affiliates with them, then I wrote a quiz that, essentially, was “Which of Tracy’s affiliate offers should you click on first?”

Of course, it wasn’t worded that way.

The quiz itself helped people who took it. It also helped Tracy supplement her consulting income by walking people through a logical quiz that showed them their best options.

How to apply this to your business

Think of companies that all fall under the same category, that appeal to your avatar.

• Software is an easy slam dunk here. Which _____ software is the best bet for you? Fill in the blank for invoicing, CRM, CMS, email service provider, proposal, pitch deck… you name it!
• Meal prep companies and things like that for B2C. Which one is right for your diet?
• Tax prep software for people who aren’t the right fit for your CPA services
• Best apps for _____. There are a million meditation apps out there. Which one is right for you?

Truly, there’s no limit if you start thinking about the things your avatar needs that aren’t the exact thing you’re selling. How can you make it fun to help your people, even if they don’t hire you?

Adding a lead generation mechanism to your website is the absolute best way to start getting more leads to your business

Stop thinking about your website as something your business has, and start thinking about your website as one of the departments of your business.

It’s the difference between shoes and feet.

You have shoes.

You cannot separate yourself from your feet.