Quality vs Quantity in Your Lead Generation:

Could Fewer Leads Mean More Business?

If you're a business owner or a marketing professional, you've likely heard the old adage: "Quantity over quality." 

The thinking is that if you throw enough leads into your funnel, chances are some of them will stick. 

Snag a thousand, you'll lead one hundred down to the bottom. Or pay for 10,000 leads a month, and surely you'll get a thousand sales. Right?

This idea has become so ingrained in marketing practices that it's easy to overlook the obvious flaw: quantity does not always mean quality. Sure, you can have as many people signing up for your newsletter, becoming social media followers, or attending webinars as you'd like - but if they don't stay engaged, what's the point?

Business owners have limited time when it comes to connecting and following up with potential leads. And of 100 new leads that found you through an ad or social media post, 75 may forget you as soon as they hit the "submit" button. That leaves a pool of 25 that may be interested in what you have to offer - but how do you separate the wheat from the chaff?

The answer lies in intention-based marketing. Rather than fishing for leads all over the web, use data you already have about your ideal customers to target them more directly. Focus on providing content and offers tailored to that particular audience and build relationships with them. It's the true key to doing business that is focused on working with genuine, paying customers.

The Problem With More & More (& More) Leads

Here's the reality - it's getting competitive out there. Finding and engaging with leads is getting harder as more and more businesses enter the market. And if you're trying to compete solely on quantity, you'll be out-priced by your competition faster than you can say "SurveyMonkey".

In our Dallas-based real estate agency, we used to focus our marketing efforts on the methods that tried-and-true gurus preached. We'd plaster our local area with ads and set up a massive email list. We'd create social media campaigns and run paid digital ads - all hoping to find more leads.

And it worked - but not in a good way. Imagine getting a hundred new leads a month but having no clue how committed or serious they were. We'd spend hours vetting leads, only to find out that half of them had zero intention of ever making a purchase. And that time we spent trying to massage leads from the top of the funnel down was almost always a waste.

Think of the cost - if it takes you $10,000 in leads to generate enough business to make $9,000 in profit, is it really worth it? A better approach would be to focus on creating meaningful content and relationships with the few leads that actually stick - meaning fewer leads but higher conversions.

Turning Quantity into Quality with Intention-Based Marketing

Fortunately, we eventually realized that the answer was to stop trying to pull in leads from everywhere and start targeting only those who were interested in what we offered. We started using intention-based marketing, which allowed us to focus our efforts on the people who were actually ready to move forward with a purchasing conversation.

But how did we identify these leads? They identified US as THEIR prime candidate for their dollar.

Just imagine working only with leads that were at the bottom of your funnel rather than wasting time chasing after those at the top that had no real intention of buying. Not only did this save us a lot of time, but our quality lead rate increased dramatically as well - and we were able to fill our pipeline with customers who were actually interested in what we offered.

As part of our transition to intention-based marketing, we began to curate content focused on what true potential customers wanted, as well as crafting offers that allowed us to build relationships with them. Posting YouTube videos that offered insights and techniques allowed us to capture their attention - while delivering helpful information upfront made them more likely to trust us.

The result was that they did the work of moving down the funnel to us. Through our content, they became familiar with who we were, what we offered, and why we were the right fit for them. We were able to save time, increase quality leads (and sales!), and focus on those that mattered most - the customers who intended to buy from us. Rather than working in "pursuit mode," we engaged with customers who had already identified us as the right fit for their needs.

You CAN Control Your Lead Flow

Generating leads is part of the game - there's no way around it. But if you offer a valuable service or product and position yourself as the best solution for your potential customers, you can take control of your lead flow.

Instead of fighting for every top-of-the-funnel lead (which generally won’t convert), focus on crafting offers and content that will capture the attention of those with an intention to buy - and let THEM do the work of moving down the funnel. And you'll soon find yourself working with fewer clients for more money - reducing the total amount of time you spend on marketing and increasing profits.

That's what intention-based marketing is all about - and it can change the way you do business. And YouTube continues to offer one of the best channels to get started. So if you're ready to take control of your lead flow, start creating content that reaches the right people - with the right message.