Free Leads For Senior Services Providers
What does it cost you to get a new client?
Would you like to attract senior clients with free leads? If you have an unlimited marketing budget and you take the “shot gun approach” to marketing and lead generation, this article is not for you. If, on the other hand, you have a limited marketing budget and need every dollar to hit the bulls eye, keep reading and learn how to be proactive and generate your own free leads.
Do you know how much of your marketing budget you spend to get a new client? If you don’t, you need to. Divide what you have spent on marketing for a specific period of time, say year to date, by the number of new clients. This is your cost per new client, or if you make repeated sales to the same client, your cost per sale. Your goal should be to lower your cost per new client or cost per sale.
If your marketing plan consists of purchasing leads or spending big bucks on advertising, you’re only firing on half the cylinders. I’m not advocating that you stop buying leads or placing well targeted ads, I’m talking about grass roots guerrilla marketing techniques that can generate free leads with very little effort.
Are you alienated by online networking?
Most senior service providers can define their market geographically, but given today’s technology we tend to think of networking as an online activity. If you are a marketing director for an assisted living facility, you will probably have new residents that have lived locally or have family that live locally. If you are a financial services professional, you will probably meet face to face with a senior client. If your focus is on providing yoga for seniors, they probably are not flying in to attend a class. And the examples could continue.
All of the above mentioned businesses could very easily share the same client. Each one of those business owners may have spent marketing dollars to attract that senior client. Why not share the love? I’m talking about a networking group only for those that serve seniors. By only allowing senior service providers into your networking group, you further increase the chance that you can give and receive more referrals. By keeping it local you can develop relationships and hold each other accountable.
One problem with networking organizations is that they allow all business types, and the focus becomes diluted. I recall belonging to a networking group where anyone with a business was allowed to join, while I was focused on insurance products and financial services for seniors, about 25% of the members were promoting multi-level marketing opportunities and their related products. This was not a good match for me.
Start now – don’t wait for it to happen
When I bring this idea up to my clients and associates, the question is always: where do I find this group and how do I join? The short answer is that you probably won’t find a networking group in your town or city that focuses exclusively on referring senior clients. You have to start one.
Here are some simple steps to take to get started.
- Develop a list of others who serve the senior market.
- Determine what constitutes a realistic geographic region.
- Consider allowing only one provider of each service.
- Find a free location. Community hall, church, restaurant, etc. .
- Set a date far enough in the future to allow time to recruit.
- Reach out to your list of potential attendees.
- Develop a list of interested parties and stay in touch.
- Conduct your first meeting and ask everyone to bring a guest.
The goal is to generate free leads, which means utilizing free promotional opportunities and doing some leg work yourself to get people interested. By allowing only one member for each profession to join, you will create more value for each member. Members will be more focused on providing referrals when they know that they will receive all the referrals for their specific industry or business type.
This ideas is so simple, yet it seems to be hiding in plain sight. Don’t wait for an opportunity to network to present itself. If you take the initiative to organize the group yourself, you will have the opportunity to meet many new potential referral partners even if they decide not to become long term members. Each referral that results in a new client will lower your cost per new client and you will be on the way to reaching your goal.
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