Lead Generation Trust Velocity
Most lead generation advice is bad advice...
This 3-minute video explains a new approach to lead-gen for the high-trust, expensive sale
If you need to generate leads for expensive services, the table below is critical...
Most advice about generating leads is missing critical information about whether trust is also being builtThat’s why I profiled 46 B2B lead generation techniques based on their trust velocity, the effort required to implement them, and how suitable they are for a freelancer or dev shop just starting out with lead generation and needing fast results.
The results of this research are below in a convenient, sortable table of B2B consulting/freelancing lead generation techniques:
Lead Generation Activity | Trust Potential | Speed to Maximum Trust | Trust Velocity (1-100) | Effort or Difficulty | Prep or Lead Time | Bootstrap Coefficient (Higher number = better leads faster) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Embedded Education (providing educational value in places like Quora, StackOverflow, LinkedIn, etc.) | 4 | 3 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 12.00 | |
| Solo webinar | 8 | 9 | 72 | 4 | 2 | 9.00 | |
| Subscription curated lead service (letsworkshop, letsmakeapps, etc.) | 3 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 9.00 | The trust potential comes 100% from how good your response to the lead is. Not evergreen. |
| Subscription bespoke lead service | 3 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 9.00 | The trust potential comes 100% from how good your response to the lead is. Not evergreen. |
| Guesting on a podcast (combined with great CTA) | 7 | 7 | 49 | 3 | 2 | 8.17 | |
| Referrals | 8 | 8 | 64 | 2 | 5 | 6.40 | Effort is low because all you have to do is ask, lead time is high because you don't control the timing. |
| Short conversation at an event with the right person | 4 | 8 | 32 | 6 | 1 | 5.33 | AKA networking |
| Regularly showing up in prospect's email inbox with relevant content | 7 | 3 | 21 | 3 | 2 | 3.50 | Lead nurture, not lead-gen. Worth including anyway. |
| JV webinar with known, trusted name | 9 | 9 | 81 | 6 | 4 | 3.38 | |
| Minor mention in mainstream press | 5 | 8 | 40 | 3 | 4 | 3.33 | |
| Retargeted ad | 3 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 3.00 | |
| Passive social networking (Twitter lead cards, etc.) | 2 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3.00 | |
| Job aid, calculator | 4 | 4 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 2.67 | |
| Public teardowns | 4 | 5 | 20 | 4 | 2 | 2.50 | |
| Major mention in mainstream press | 7 | 8 | 56 | 6 | 4 | 2.33 | |
| 15 or 30m free micro-consultation | 3 | 8 | 24 | 3 | 4 | 2.00 | |
| Lead magnet on your website | 3 | 4 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 2.00 | |
| Content upgrade | 3 | 4 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 2.00 | |
| Outbound cold call | 2 | 7 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 1.75 | Higher trust potential than email because it's a live voice interaction |
| Lead magnet on trusted 3rd party website | 5 | 5 | 25 | 5 | 3 | 1.67 | |
| Become a vendor on something like CodersClan, do loss leader work, then upsell to a direct, higher price relationship | 7 | 4 | 28 | 7 | 3 | 1.33 | |
| Hosting an online business group (http://thebookedbook.com/) | 4 | 3 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 1.33 | Inconsistent results depending on many execution factors |
| Host in-person educational event | 8 | 9 | 72 | 8 | 7 | 1.29 | |
| Hosting a podcast | 7 | 5 | 35 | 7 | 4 | 1.25 | |
| Resource center/content hub | 7 | 6 | 42 | 7 | 5 | 1.20 | High inital effort, evergreen payback |
| Single guest post on major publication | 6 | 6 | 36 | 6 | 5 | 1.20 | |
| Single guest post on minor publication | 5 | 6 | 30 | 5 | 5 | 1.20 | |
| Newsletter sponsorship | 4 | 3 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 1.20 | Ex: https://www.launchbit.com/ |
| Listing in reputable directory like Clutch, G2Crowd, etc | 3 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1.20 | Effort is high because you don't just submit a listing, you also get reviews, etc. |
| Keynote talk at national or international conference | 10 | 10 | 100 | 10 | 10 | 1.00 | Gold standard in trust, most difficult and time consuming to execute. |
| "Lumpy Envelope" campaign | 4 | 5 | 20 | 5 | 4 | 1.00 | The book "Ultimate Sales Machine" describes how to do this. Trust potential comes from the personalization and persistence of this approach. |
| Active social networking | 5 | 3 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 1.00 | |
| Educational video | 3 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 1.00 | |
| Highly targeted demographic ad | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1.00 | Facebook ad, for example |
| Tests, quizzes, or surveys | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1.00 | |
| Contact form on website | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.00 | |
| Contest | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.00 | |
| Major media interview | 8 | 7 | 56 | 9 | 8 | 0.78 | |
| Publishing original research | 9 | 7 | 63 | 10 | 10 | 0.63 | |
| Secondary talk at big conference | 8 | 7 | 56 | 10 | 10 | 0.56 | |
| Invitation-only executive briefing | 8 | 7 | 56 | 10 | 10 | 0.56 | |
| Email course | 4 | 4 | 16 | 6 | 6 | 0.44 | |
| Few large but regular emails to your list | 3 | 5 | 15 | 6 | 6 | 0.42 | Lead nurture, not lead-gen. Worth including anyway. |
| Many frequent, small but valuable emails to your list | 3 | 4 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 0.40 | Lead nurture, not lead-gen. Worth including anyway. |
| Blog article on your own site | 3 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 0.36 | |
| Search-intent ad | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0.33 | Google PPC, for example |
| Trade show presence | 3 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 0.17 | |
| Outbound prospecting/sales email | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0.13 | |
| Display advertising | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0.10 | |
| Directory listing (clutch.co, etc) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0.50 | |
| Preferred partner status on root authority website | 7 | 5 | 35 | 8 | 5 | 0.88 |
Want your own copy of this table to customize? Help yourself: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m6tBF6xWISJUKNvIfdVeNLPAr0Z1Q1_44adAFIZLvnU/edit?usp=sharing
Lead Generation Resources for Your Custom Software Development Business
The absolute best resource I have to help you build an effective, repeatable lead generation infrastructure for your custom software development shop is my email list. Every weekday you'll get a Vitamin B shot of value for your business.
Signup below to get immediate access: