Did you know it takes 6 to 8 touches on average to generate a quality lead? 

Today, in the Pocket Ninja episode of The Professional Rule Breaker podcast, we will discuss the three simple steps to transform your business. It's all based on a formula that I have called the GNC formula. If you take this formula, make it at the top of your mind, and cycle through it every day or at least several times a week, it will make a big difference in your business. 

The G in the GNC formula stands for GENERATING LEADS. 

Many people think that just doing one thing will generate leads, and those people will be happy. But let me give you this tidbit: Did you know it takes 6 to 8 touches on average to generate leads? If you are inconsistent in your touches, it's almost like you'll have to start over again. I used to call this a connection campaign. It's the same thing: you're constantly touching that potential prospect over and over again. 

But even before you get there, where do you start? 

The first thing you have to do is understand your target audience inside and out. 

Who are they?

What are their needs? 

What are their pain points? 

What do they think about every day? 

What keeps them up late at night?

You have to dig in and know them inside and out. Once you have everything down about this potential prospect of yours, a couple of things will happen. First, it's going to be a little bit easier to generate the lead. Second, once that lead has been generated, it's definitely going to be easier to close them because you're getting really viable sales leads.

What's the next step once you know everything about your target audience? 

Well, you have to cast a wide net and leverage multiple channels to reach them. These could be social media, direct sales, or old-fashioned knocking-on-doors referrals. It's all about anywhere and everywhere they reside. You have to know where they hang out, and then the more diverse your lead generation and strategy are, the more robust your strategy will be and the better your pipeline will be.

So, what do I mean by a pipeline? 

I want you to think about a pipeline as being a sales funnel. Think of a triangle. The top part has a wide mouth, and the bottom has a skinny mouth. So, if you pour water at the very top of the mouth, the smaller portion will only give you a much smaller strain. That's what you need to think about as your sales funnel, as your pipeline. You want to put as much as possible in the top part of your funnel because only a small portion will come out as a lead that will lead to sales. Of course, not all leads will close at the same time. For example, I have sold products that have taken more than 18 months to close. A lot of nurturing goes on within 18 months, but it wasn't only that. I had people or companies that I was closing in 18 months. I also had some in there that would close in a year, then six months in three months in ones that would close immediately. The course is 18 months, which is high ticket sales. In those cases, that was 40 to 60 million in sales. But you always have to keep on filling the funnel up once someone falls out of the funnel or it closes. So you're constantly putting more leads to the very, very top part of the funnel. The average close rate is typically 1% to 5%; if you're really good, it's 10%. If you're really, really good and you have your sales funnel and your pipeline set up correctly, it can go up from there. 

The N in the GNC stands for NURTURE THE LEADS. 

Now you have those leads just rolling in. It's time to really treat them like gold. This is where the know, the like, and the trust come into play. So ‘the know’ is the part where if your prospects get to know you and you nurture them, that'll give you a higher chance to close them. But if you're not nurturing them, they will know you as somebody they don't want to do business with or might even forget about you. Every single lead is a cost in time, effort, and money. You don't want to let those things slide through your fingers. Did you know that 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales? What do you think that's for? It is because of the need for lead nurturing. That's the number one mistake that I see over and over again. Don't let these hard-earned leads slip through the cracks because they are important to your business. It will cost you more if you keep finding new leads repeatedly rather than nurturing your current leads. 

You have to spend time with them and establish a system of consistent follow-up and engagement. It can be things like provide valuable content that addresses their pain points. It also positions you as the expert in the industry, so they'll always be coming back to you more and more, or you could keep them in the loop of important events or changes in their industry. Think of their business as your business - what do they need to know? One of the largest clients I had in the past was the CEO of a company that ended up going public. I knew their business inside and out, and he said to me one day, ‘’You know my business better than I do,’’ and it's because I helped him stay one step ahead. After all, I was all about serving that client. Because of that, he wanted more of what I had to sell. When clients want more, guess what your lead acquisition cost is. It's zero because they will stay in your pipeline and keep buying from you. It gets easier if they see how committed you are to helping them. Continue to nurture them and they will continue to buy your products. By building a rapport that you have and that trust over time, your sales will go up. 

The C in the GNC formula stands for CONVERTING THE LEADS.

Here's where the magic happens, but did you know that 63% of people requesting information from you or your company will not buy for at least three months, and 20% might take 12 months or more to buy? So, do you stop nurturing them at that point? No! Patience is a virtue. Focus on building the relationship rather than pushing for a hard sale. That's something that happened to me today. There was someone that I have been speaking to probably since last fall. I knew at that point, last fall, they weren't ready. Could I have forced them into the sale? Could I have thrown down the hammer and hammered at them to close it? Probably, but I don't believe that's the right way to sell. I always say ‘’sell like you would want to be sold to.’’ Nobody wants to be hammered. Continue to reach out to them, continue to give them value, and most of all, listen to them because when you listen to them, you will understand their needs, and you can tailor your offer to them. And then, of course, when it's time, don't forget to ask for the sale, and sometimes it only takes this little gentle nudge to kind of tip the scales in your favor and when they're ready, and they're in the process of making the decision, just have a moment of silence. 

This is my simple sales formula: generate, nurture, and convert (GNC) - just like the vitamin shop, and I'm all about vitamins. One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Tony Robbins. It is ‘’Success is like a vitamin.’’ So, what can you do today to infuse a vitamin into your life and business? Suppose you think about taking some of the steps I discussed today: being consistent and adding vitamins into your business daily. In that case, you will have this most amazing, remarkable transformation in your business. 

So what is your vitamin that you are going to implement today? 

What simple thing did you learn today that you will implement into your business? 

Go out there, keep on hustling, and keep on implementing the little nuggets you hear, and your sales will soar.

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