We all want to sign up new distributors into our downlines. We know we need to get the message out there about what we have to offer. So understanding where people are within your marketing pipeline of advertising, traffic, leads and prospects is critical to marketing to them effectively.
You can think of advertising, traffic, leads and prospects as distinct areas of the marketing pipeline, and they remain in play whether you are working your business online or offline. Each person who comes in contact with you or your message will be in one of these areas of your pipeline.
Advertising
The purpose of advertising is to make people AWARE of YOU and your OPPORTUNITY, though it does NOT need to do BOTH at the SAME TIME.
A certain portion of your advertising, but not all of it, will generate traffic to you. It’s important to realize that advertising should NOT try to SELL. That’s not its job! Its job is only to drive traffic.
If you are building your business online, then your advertising might consist of the traditional methods such as pay-per-click ads or banner ads. These might promote you, or they might promote your opportunity directly.
If you are using social media, your advertising will include articles, videos, and participation in sites like Twitter and Facebook. Advertising through social media is not about buying ad space and sticking a message in there about your business opportunity.
It’s about giving value first.
It’s about being a PERSON first.
Once people find you through social media sites, or through the more traditional online ads and they start checking out your blog and your Facebook page, you now have traffic.
In the offline world, your advertisements might be flyers, drop-cards, business cards, or just talking to someone about THEIR interests to see if they relate to your business. Again, these advertisements, sometimes direct and sometimes more subtle, bring you traffic. That is, they get people interested in learning more about you and what you have to offer.
Traffic
Advertising generates traffic.
Traffic is not necessarily leads.
You might have people who are interested in learning more about you, or who follow you online and read your blog. You might have people who become friends or casual acquaintances in the offline world. It does not mean that they are interested in your business opportunity.
Traffic can turn into leads. A lead is someone who is interested in potentially doing business with you or becoming a retail customer.
Traffic can often result in more traffic and leads.
For example, you meet someone and become casual acquaintances. The person knows you and likes you, but they have never expressed an interest in joining your business or using the products. However, they are talking to one of their friends and realize that their friend might be interested in what you have to offer. They direct them to you.
That friend, who is interested in your products or opportunity, is very likely a lead.
Traffic is good, even if everyone is not a lead!
Leads
It should be fairly obvious that a lead is someone who is interested in what you have to offer.
In the previous example, your casual acquaintance became your advertisement. They told their friend about you. When they contacted you, that friend became traffic. Once it was established that, yes, you have what they are looking for, they became a lead.
Don’t sign them up though, because they are not a prospect yet.
Prospects
What is a prospect, then?
Very simply, a prospect is someone who has QUALIFIED to become a business partner or customer.
In other words, not every lead is a potential business partner or customer!
They might not have the time to build the business. They might not have the money to become a customer. Or, it might be that they are just exploring new ideas and are not ready to commit. Or what they are looking for does not fit your particular opportunity.
It is your job to take each lead, and to qualify them to see if they are a prospect.
This is GOOD for you. It means you will not waste a whole lot of time talking to leads who will never join your opportunity.
Once they are qualified and you know that they are a prospect, then you can get into talking about your opportunity and products.
The Pipeline
It takes time for people to move through this process, but you should always have people at each place in the pipeline.
One day, you might have twenty people who see your ad. The next day, five of those become traffic, and twenty more people see your ad. The third day, two of the traffic people become leads, five of the people from the second day advertisements become traffic, and twenty new people see your ad.
This is your pipeline, and you want to fill it with people. Some will leak out of the pipe, and some will make it through and come out the other end as a new business partner or customer.
Can you see how it takes time to get people from the advertisement to the point of prospect, but that you always have people in each stage of the relationship process?
In other words, when you start marketing, BE PATIENT! It will take some time to see the results of your efforts.
This also explains why you can stop advertising, and you will still generate prospects for a little while after. How long exactly depends on how many people are in your pipeline.
You will have very good success if you market to people based on where they are within your pipeline. You will save yourself time and energy. And people will appreciate you more as well, since you won’t be thrusting your business opportunity in front of people who aren’t be interested.
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Talk to Me! Have you been marketing to people based on their place in your marketing pipeline? Did you realize you HAD a marketing pipeline? Let me know what your experiences have been!
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Jason, I truly appreciate this. Especially that I’m barely learning about traffic. I am growing patient with prospects. I think that no matter what this is a journey and knowing what your prospects want and always thinking from their point of view helps. And Thank you for outlining, “It’s about giving value first” because it truly is…
Keep up the GREAT work here on your Blog!
I can’t wait to read more…
Love Light & BLessings to You =)
From Therese Miu´s blog… A Special Tribute to Jim Rohn His Life a Masterpiece (September 17, 1930 – December 5, 2009)
Very good point about being patient with prospects! The process isn’t over once someone gets to the point of a prospect within the pipeline. It can take quite a while for them to convert to a sale. Just keep giving value.