Your Excuses Are More Expensive Than Your Leads

This week we did the math on what cold leads really cost you. Then we built a ladder to take those hours back, starting with a fence around your dial time and working up to Intentional Gives, introductions, and collaborations. And my favorite part: we kept it SIMPLE and at nearly zero budget spend. 

So here’s my Friday question: Did you climb a single rung?

If not, I get it, I’ve heard every reason in the book, and three of them come up more than all the others. Let’s talk about them honestly, I know Friday is meant as an action day if you have been following the blog, but today let's talk about your inaction. 

“But bought leads are guaranteed volume.”

The number one lie we are told in sales. You pay, you get names, and you get closings. You definitely get names, that part is real, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise...in fact I encourage you to not give up cold leads all at once, but to have a plan for a better life. 

Third-party cold lead generators guarantee names, but not conversations, certainly not appointments and no such thing as long-term clients. Volume of names was never the goal; it just feels like progress because the spreadsheet keeps growing. Meanwhile, Monday’s second bill (time - remember?) keeps growing right along with it.

“I don’t have a network.”

Yes, you do, they are all around, you just need to see and hear them. 

Every past client, every vendor you’ve worked with, the lender you text on weekends. The guy who fixed your HVAC and actually called you back. If you’re an insurance agent, a contractor, or a real estate agent who’s been in business longer than a year, you know more people than you think. And I have not even started naming local businesses that you frequent and already support with your purchases.

On Wednesday I asked for five names, but if you couldn’t come up with five, that’s not proof you have no network, that’s your first assignment to stop and actually look around you.

“Relationships take too long.”

Which is usually coming from someone who calls a cold lead 5 times before setting up a meeting, then gets ghosted, setting up the second, third meeting until finally getting the sales process started. 

How long have you been buying leads? If that were working the way you hoped, you wouldn’t be tired right now. Relationships are slow to start and fast once they’re moving, but cold leads start fast and never pick up speed. Every Give you send this month is working for you next spring. Every lead you buy this month is gone by next Friday and then you have to start all over again.

Here’s the truth about all three of these: none of them is an information problem, you have the ladder, you read the blogs this week. You know what an Intentional Give looks like. What’s missing is someone holding you to it.

So pick one thing before Monday. Fence your cold lead time, or send one Give. Just one.

And if you want someone in your corner making sure it actually happens, I’ll happily be that person. To have a quick chat about how your marketing plan is working, here is my calendar: https://calendly.com/livelocalteam/15-minute-marketing-analysis

Now be honest with me in the comments: which of these three excuses is yours?