Explaining Leads in Terms of Dating
Understanding the lead lifecycle, lead generation and ‘lead scoring’ is one of the best things you can possibly do for your business if you want to increase your turnover, revenue and profits while also increasing the brand loyalty and trust you get for your business.
The problem is that too many people don’t think about leads and instead focus just on sales. They believe the aim of their website is to convert as many visitors as possible and to maximize their sales. The irony is that this actually ends up driving away a lot of potential customers and actually reducing their profits significantly.
Why is that? Because people don’t like to be sold to. And the best way to understand this is to think about it in terms of dating…
Why Sales Leaves People Cold
When someone visits your website, whether through SEO, AdSense or any other means, they are essentially going to be cold leads. That means that they fall into your demographic and they are potentially going to be interested in your niche but they have at no point demonstrated any particular loyalty to your brand and nor have they given you permission to contact them and/or try to sell to them.
When this happens and you try and sell, this is then going to feel pretty much like cold calling. They don’t know who you are, they have no need to trust you and here you are trying to get them to buy something from you. This is essentially the same thing as approaching a stranger in a bar and asking them to come home with you – there’s no pre-amble and it ends up coming across as rather rude. Ultimately, your chances of getting a positive response are much lower as a result!
How to Warm Them Up First
This is why it’s important to think about your lead lifecycle. Instead of trying to sell to cold leads, you’re trying to impress them with your value proposition, with the quality of information you’re giving away free and with the way your brand aligns with their values.
When you do this, you create warm leads – people who have given you their contact details and invited you to contact them.
In terms of dating, this is the equivalent of meeting someone you like in a bar, chatting to them for a while and demonstrating your good humor and then asking for a number. In the long term, the latter approach is likely to lead to a much better outcome for all parties involved!

