There are many reasons to hate social media for business...there really are. But for me, the one thing that winds me up more than anything in the present online day is the almost omnipresence of Lead Gen ‘experts’.
I have thoughts and questions about it all, so here are my Top 7 things that annoy me at best - or just plain confuse me at worst:
1. Lead Generation is a process - and a skill - but is it a career in its own right? Really?? I don’t think it is, but feel free to discuss!
2. What were these people doing before lockdown, because I swear there weren’t this many of them prior to the pandemic…
3. There’s a massive chance that if you’ve taken the Lead Gen mantle it’s because you’ve done well to get leads through LinkedIn yourself at some point, but there’s also every chance that it’s nothing to do with your skill, focus or hard work, but instead down to the fact that you were in the right place at the right time given the current climate. Perhaps you just made really great soap. Or gin.
4. Having done well to secure your own leads on LinkedIn is one thing – but to claim you can guarantee them for someone who isn’t you, working in a business that isn’t yours, seems a little bit optimistic/deluded.
5. Why is there nothing in these people’s content that makes me want to get in touch with them?
6. Why is there everything in these people’s content that makes me want to get away from them?
7. If you’re so good at generating ‘inbound’ leads, why the hell are you always pitching directly to me about it?
You could argue that everything that everyone is doing to promote and market their business is Lead Generation. Isn’t that the whole point of why we do it? I really am confused.
Seeing as Lead Gen specialists currently outnumber every other profession on LinkedIn at 350 to 1, I imagine I’ll get some comeback on this post, but that’s fine, because I’m lead gen-uninely keen to find out more, hence my many questions.
Lead generation is only the beginning
I think what really gets to me is the fact that Lead Generation isn’t really the biggest stumbling block in getting people to buy. Once you have the leads, that’s where the real hard work starts, in my opinion.
I know that leads help because you can’t sell to someone who isn’t there, but if you’ve thrown all your time, efforts and money into Lead Gen, it’ll make no difference if what you’re selling or serving just isn’t that great and doesn’t do anywhere near enough to convert the situation from lead to need. All a Lead Gen expert is doing in this instance is dangling a carrot before jogging on to someone else’s farm.
Lead Gen, in my opinion, is purely subjective. You do what you need to do to get people looking your way, taking an active interest, and not being completely put off the idea of ever buying from you. We all have skillsets and strengths, I know, but if you’re not comfortable in generating your leads yourself, are you really comfortable in your business at all?
Oh, and Number 8 – Why are they always called James?