Editor’s Note: This post from 2017 shows the process of building a process start to finish using lead generation as an example. In this instance, we saved the client 44 hours/month. While this post is from 2017, it is still accurate peek into how we work in 2020.
Lead Generation
By: Corey Breier
Invisible promises to do your work, so you can do your real work. But that’s so broad that it can be hard to visualize.
So here’s an example of several lead generation processes we’re running for one of our clients. I hope that it gets you thinking about what parts of your business can be automated.
And if you want these exact processes, they’re ready to go!
Why we’re good at lead generation.
Generating leads is a painful, labor-intensive process. You have to sort through vast amounts of messy, noisy data.
It’s the perfect example of what we’re good at. A process that:
1. Can be turned into a set of instructions;
2. Is so painful that you delegate it;
3. Improves the more we do it;
4. Produces measurable results.
Our client showed us their work.
On a video call, our client spent five minutes sharing their screen, showing us how they were sourcing leads from LinkedIn.
We wrote down their instructions.
After watching them, we wrote down instructions to document their work:
- Use a Chrome extension to scrape Linkedin for profiles matching their criteria.
- Deduplicate the ensuing spreadsheet across their existing database to confirm they didn’t already have those prospects logged.
- Use email sourcer software to source and confirm email addresses for every person in the sheet.
- Go row by row through the sheet and clean the data of typos, unqualified leads, and characters out of place in an email.
- Import the spreadsheet into a mail merge program, and map the columns appropriately.
We built processes for them.
Based on those instructions, we built five processes.
1. Scraping Linkedin for a Keyword
2. Deduplicating a Spreadsheet
3. Sourcing an Email Address
4. Cleaning a Spreadsheet Row, and
5. Mapping a Mail Merge column
We began doing it for them.
After the client confirmed the instructions we had written, we started executing this process for them.
Upgrading the processes.
Within the first few hours, we surfaced edge cases that weren’t addressed in the initial instructions, and upgraded the process from Version 1.0 to Version 1.1.
Later on, we asked the client to clarify which internal dataset to depublicate the data against, and upgraded the processes from Version 1.1 to Version 1.2.
About a week in, the client complained about receiving security notifications when we logged into their LinkedIn account from another IP address, so we improved our VPN system, and upgraded the processes from Version 1.2 to Version 1.3.
Before long, we had the system up and running seamlessly.
Doing it a million times.
The client can now tell their assistant how many new leads they want each day, and our system can adjust accordingly.
“Assistant, I want 500 new leads by tomorrow morning!”
That’s every salesperson’s dream: unlimited qualified leads, on demand, whenever they want!
With these processes, we’ve been sending them 2,000 new prospects that turn into 50 qualified leads every weekday for months now. We take care of every step in the sales funnel up to the first interaction touchpoint, and the client takes it from there.
Just the beginning.
Now that this client trusts us to do their lead generation, they’re asking for help with other aspects of sales.
We’re turning their sales conversations into decision trees and templates. We’re building a knowledge base of client context. And soon we’re going to be sending emails on the client’s behalf.
Land and expand.
This is how we expand. Clients give us their most rote and painful problems, like lead generation, and we solve them by building and running processes. Once the client is happy, they trust us with adjacent processes. Soon, we’re managing entire workflows, and you’re just making decisions and providing creative input — doing your real work.
Bring your custom requirements.
Processes are abstract business flows. You may use different tools. You may have custom requirements. We can handle that, because the abstract business flow is the same — and our process architecture lets us be extremely flexible about these details.
For example, suppose you want us to build a lead generation system on AngelList instead of LinkedIn. No problem. We’ll be able to update the same process to fit your requirements.
Saving 44 hours per month.
These processes alone save our client 2 hours in every workday — that’s 44 hours a month. And they drive revenue.
What would you do with 2 extra hours in every workday?
What would your business look like if you could generate leads on demand?
Delegate today, and find out for yourself.
Originally published at https://medium.com on May 14, 2018.
