How Entrepreneurs Generate Leads and Shut Offers: 17 Ideas
Profitable lead era and deal closing require strategic approaches. We requested {industry} specialists to share one piece of recommendation they’d give to entrepreneurs who’re struggling to make gross sales — and the methods they’ve discovered efficient for producing leads and shutting offers. Uncover actionable suggestions for enhancing your gross sales course of, constructing significant buyer relationships, and selling sustainable enterprise development.
- Supply Worth Earlier than Asking for Gross sales
- Slim Your Focus to Particular Buyer Niches
- Pursue High quality Conversations Over Excessive Quantity
- Construct Belief Earlier than Trying to Shut Offers
- Goal the Proper Viewers with Related Gives
- Promote Transformation As a substitute of Product Options
- Place Your Answer Inside Buyer Tales
- Acknowledge When Your Advertising and marketing Technique Wants Change
- Clear up Actual Issues By way of Genuine Partnerships
- Set up Credibility Earlier than Pursuing Offers
- Cease Promoting and Begin Understanding Buyer Wants
- Focus Regionally for Your First Breakthrough
- Ask for Assist As a substitute of Delivering Pitches
- Diagnose Buyer Issues Earlier than Proposing Options
- Create Real Connections Moderately Than Transactions
- Prioritize Velocity in Your Buyer Response
- Again Your Product with Robust Ensures
Supply Worth Earlier than Asking for Gross sales
Once I was struggling to make gross sales early on, I spotted my greatest mistake was making an attempt to promote too quickly as an alternative of constructing belief first. What actually turned issues round was specializing in relationships by providing free worth by insights, fast audits, or personalised suggestions earlier than pitching something.
For lead era, I leaned closely on LinkedIn and electronic mail outreach with a private contact utilizing actual conversations as an alternative of templates. As soon as I began listening extra and promoting much less, closing offers turned a lot simpler. My recommendation is to cease chasing transactions and begin constructing connections as a result of gross sales will comply with naturally.
Slim Your Focus to Particular Buyer Niches
For those who’re struggling to make gross sales, the one most necessary shift I’d suggest is to cease making an attempt to attraction to everybody and as an alternative go deep into a selected area of interest. Once we first began, we had been making an attempt to be useful to each sort of company below the solar. It made our messaging obscure and our outreach inconsistent. The true momentum got here once we narrowed our focus to inventive, PR, and digital companies and received crystal clear on the kinds of new enterprise issues they confronted. That readability gave us the power to talk on to their ache factors in a manner that felt private reasonably than generic.
As for producing leads, the best technique for us has been constructing tailor-made outreach applications that really feel related and regarded reasonably than templated. We’re not chasing a whole lot of leads with one message. As a substitute, we’re approaching a a lot smaller quantity with one thing that truly reveals we’ve carried out our homework. That features referencing their latest work, understanding the sectors they’re focusing on, or talking to one thing their founder has stated publicly. The goal is to create conversations that really feel like an excellent match on either side reasonably than making an attempt to persuade somebody into a gathering.
Closing offers tends to be much less about persuasion and extra about qualification. We’ve had higher outcomes by not making an attempt to persuade somebody they want us however as an alternative spending extra time determining if we’re really the precise companion for them. That shift in mindset builds belief and normally accelerates the gross sales course of. If I needed to sum it up, I’d say go narrower than feels comfy, do the unscalable issues in your outreach, and spend extra time listening than pitching.
Pursue High quality Conversations Over Excessive Quantity
After virtually 20 years in gross sales and enterprise growth, my greatest piece of recommendation is that this: cease chasing quantity and begin specializing in real conversations.
Too many entrepreneurs fall into the entice of considering extra emails, extra adverts, or extra exercise will robotically result in extra gross sales. In actuality, individuals purchase from individuals who hear, perceive their challenges, and supply one thing related, not simply whoever shouts the loudest.
The simplest technique I’ve discovered for producing leads and shutting offers is constant, human-led outreach. Meaning doing the groundwork, i.e., figuring out your very best buyer profile, crafting a message that resonates, and following up with goal.
I’ve constructed a whole enterprise round this precept. We use structured outreach to open doorways, but it surely’s the standard of the dialog that converts. When your staff approaches each lead as a relationship, not a transaction, that’s when gross sales turn into predictable and sustainable.
Construct Belief Earlier than Trying to Shut Offers
For those who’re struggling to make gross sales, chances are high you’re making an attempt to promote earlier than you’ve constructed belief. Folks don’t purchase from a pitch; they purchase from readability and confidence within the worth you convey. My recommendation: cease specializing in closing offers and begin specializing in fixing issues. Whenever you actually perceive your buyer’s ache factors and may clearly show how your answer makes their life simpler, gross sales comply with naturally.
For lead era, I’ve discovered success with a three-pronged method: constant content material creation so individuals can uncover you, direct outreach so that you’re not passively ready for leads, and showcasing proof of outcomes so prospects see your credibility. Case research, testimonials, and even fast wins shared on LinkedIn all function highly effective belief builders. When you’ve established belief and demonstrated proof, the dialog transforms from convincing to collaborative decision-making. That’s when offers really shut.
Goal the Proper Viewers with Related Gives
If I needed to give one piece of recommendation to entrepreneurs struggling to make gross sales, it will be this: cease making an attempt to promote to everybody, and as an alternative double down on the precise viewers with the precise supply.
1. Slim Your Concentrate on the Proper Viewers
A typical mistake is casting the web too large. Whenever you attempt to attraction to everybody, your messaging finally ends up bland and forgettable. I’ve seen gross sales flip round rapidly when entrepreneurs outline a pointy very best buyer profile (ICP) — who they’re, what drawback retains them up at night time, and the way your answer immediately solves that.
For instance, once I helped a SaaS shopper reposition from “serving to all small companies” to focusing particularly on e-commerce manufacturers scuffling with cart abandonment, their lead-to-close ratio jumped by over 35% as a result of each message all of a sudden felt hyper-relevant.
2. Use Worth-First Lead Era
Folks don’t need to be bought to, however they love being helped. Methods that work:
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Content material with clear ROI: Guides, calculators, or case research exhibiting the way you remedy their precise ache.
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Micro-offers: Low-barrier “entry factors” (free audits, webinars, mini-consults) that construct belief and permit a pure transition to the sale.
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Social proof: Testimonials, before-and-after case research, and data-backed tales that cut back skepticism.
Promote Transformation As a substitute of Product Options
The one most necessary piece of recommendation I might give to entrepreneurs struggling to make gross sales is to right away cease promoting options and begin promoting transformation. Entrepreneurs typically get too near their product — like our camp administration software program — and concentrate on itemizing each function it has. Nevertheless, clients solely care about one factor: fixing their most painful, costly drawback. As a substitute of claiming, “Our software program has on-line types and electronic mail automation,” you could articulate the transformation: “We eradicate 90% of your administrative burden, turning hours of chaotic paperwork into minutes of automated camp registration, permitting you to concentrate on the campers, not the clipboard.”
For producing leads and shutting offers in our particular market, we’ve discovered two methods extremely efficient. First, for lead era, we use problem-centric, academic content material advertising and marketing. We don’t write about our product; we write in regards to the frequent struggles of camp administrators (e.g., “The 5 Greatest Errors in Camp Scheduling,” or “The way to Enhance Early-Chicken Registrations”). This content material attracts the precise leads actively trying to find options. Second, for closing offers, we leverage a high-value, low-risk conversion path tied to our pricing mannequin. Since our camp administration software program is pay-as-you-go, our closing technique is just: “Attempt us free of charge, course of your subsequent 5 camp registrations with zero dedication, and solely pay a transaction payment if it really works.” This technique eliminates the ultimate monetary hurdle, making the choice to modify virtually easy for the client.
Place Your Answer Inside Buyer Tales
One piece of recommendation I’d give to entrepreneurs scuffling with gross sales is to cease promoting and begin connecting. Folks don’t purchase from logos; they purchase from people. Focus much less on pushing your product and extra on understanding your buyer’s ache factors, motivations, and each day frustrations. Whenever you place your answer as a part of their story, gross sales naturally comply with.
In my expertise, efficient lead era and deal-closing come down to a few key methods:
First, leverage storytelling and social proof. Share actual tales by buyer testimonials, behind-the-scenes insights, or your model’s goal. Genuine content material builds belief, and belief converts.
Second, construct a system, not only a gross sales pitch. Mix inbound strategies, resembling content material advertising and marketing and website positioning, with outbound approaches, together with personalised outreach and partnerships. Each interplay ought to information prospects towards a easy subsequent step.
Third, comply with up with goal. Most offers shut throughout follow-up, not preliminary conversations. Be proactive and constant whereas including worth in your communications. Supply insights, not simply reminders.
In the end, gross sales occur when your viewers feels seen, understood, and supported, not bought to.
Acknowledge When Your Advertising and marketing Technique Wants Change
One piece of recommendation I’d give to entrepreneurs struggling to make gross sales is to acknowledge when your go-to-market technique has stopped working. Early on, I grew my firm to $500k ARR virtually solely by chilly outreach. However regardless of that traction, we had been solely seeing about 1,000 distinctive web site visits monthly. The reality was, nobody actually knew we existed. That technique received us off the bottom, but it surely wasn’t going to scale and our income flat-lined.
Final July, we began posting academic content material on LinkedIn, and in January we expanded to Instagram. Since then, our viewers has grown to 175,000 followers on LinkedIn and 100,000 on Instagram. The impression has been dramatic. In September alone, we noticed 21,000 distinctive web site visits, and we’ve constructed a gradual pipeline of inbound leads from employers who already perceive and belief our model earlier than we even communicate.
We’re an AI-powered hiring platform that helps corporations discover and rent vetted early-career expertise who’re able to hit the bottom working. Shifting to an education-first method didn’t simply drive consciousness, it positioned us as thought leaders in early-career hiring and unlocked a brand new degree of development we couldn’t attain by chilly outreach alone.
Clear up Actual Issues By way of Genuine Partnerships
For entrepreneurs struggling to make gross sales, my prime recommendation is to deeply perceive your buyer’s true wants and ache factors — not simply what you suppose they need. Gross sales aren’t about pushing a product however about fixing actual issues with options that resonate. When your message connects authentically to what issues most to your prospects, the gross sales course of turns into much less about persuasion and extra about partnership.
Efficient methods for producing leads begin with constructing belief by useful content material and constant outreach. Share insights that show your experience and assist prospects earlier than they purchase. I’ve discovered that leveraging networks with heat introductions, internet hosting webinars to deal with particular challenges, and lively engagement on platforms like LinkedIn create significant alternatives. Listening actively throughout conversations lets you tailor your pitch exactly to every prospect’s state of affairs, which considerably will increase closing charges.
Above all, persistence mixed with real connection wins the day. Gross sales is usually a numbers sport, however success comes from considerate, respectful follow-up and exhibiting that you just actually care about serving to purchasers obtain their targets. Whenever you method gross sales as a service to others reasonably than a transaction, you unlock leads and shut offers extra naturally and sustainably.
Set up Credibility Earlier than Pursuing Offers
One piece of recommendation I’d give entrepreneurs struggling to make gross sales is to concentrate on constructing belief and credibility earlier than pushing a deal. In my expertise with authorities contracts, speeding the pitch or overpromising typically backfires; relationships, repute, and reliability matter excess of flashy advertising and marketing.
Efficient methods I’ve discovered embrace deeply understanding shopper wants, demonstrating constant experience, and leveraging long-term relationships. This meant completely reviewing bid paperwork, sustaining a flawless compliance document, and constantly delivering on previous commitments. Phrase-of-mouth, repeat contracts, and institutional belief turned our strongest lead mills, typically more practical than promoting or chilly outreach.
One other important component is structured follow-ups and clear communication. Maintaining purchasers knowledgeable, explaining challenges, and providing sensible options builds confidence and positions you as a companion reasonably than only a vendor. In gross sales, endurance and reliability typically convert extra offers than urgency or strain techniques.
Cease Promoting and Begin Understanding Buyer Wants
When entrepreneurs wrestle with gross sales, it’s normally not as a consequence of an absence of effort however an absence of alignment between what they provide and what the client actually values. My greatest recommendation is to cease “promoting” and begin “understanding.” Spend time studying your buyer’s challenges, {industry} language, and decision-making patterns. At Tecknotrove, lots of our greatest leads have come from conversations the place we merely listened. Understanding a shopper’s security challenges or productiveness targets typically opens the door to providing the precise simulation answer.
One other technique that’s been efficient is leveraging proof of idea. Moderately than pitching a full-scale product, we regularly show a small, high-impact simulation that addresses one important drawback. This method builds belief and shortens the gross sales cycle as a result of purchasers can visualize real-world worth earlier than committing.
Lastly, consistency in follow-ups is vital. Folks typically underestimate the ability of persistence mixed with real curiosity, and that’s what turns a lead right into a long-term companion.
Focus Regionally for Your First Breakthrough
As a public relations advisor and enterprise developer, there’s one piece of recommendation I give to entrepreneurs who’re scuffling with gross sales: for some time, focus as regionally as doable. They need to be a part of native enterprise associations and attend their networking occasions, collaborate with different native enterprise house owners, and attend commerce reveals and pitching occasions. Moreover, entrepreneurs ought to introduce themselves to native enterprise journalists. As a rule, startups go nationwide or enter a number of markets immediately. Nevertheless, the primary enterprise alternative is usually from somebody you met in individual and had been in a position to make an actual impression on. From there, entrepreneurs can leverage testimonials and proposals.
Ask for Assist As a substitute of Delivering Pitches
Ask your prospects for assist as an alternative of making an attempt to promote them one thing. Folks love giving recommendation, and having that dialog will allow you to greater than spending days in your gross sales script. Whenever you method with real curiosity reasonably than a pitch, resistance disappears and actual dialogue begins.
I’ve seen this work when asking purchasers for sincere suggestions on what we’re constructing reasonably than launching into our normal pitch. They’ll typically inform you precisely what’s lacking, what really issues to them, and the place rivals fall brief. These conversations flip into gross sales extra typically than polished displays ever did. Folks belief you once you’re keen to hear and be taught from them first, not simply speak at them.
Diagnose Buyer Issues Earlier than Proposing Options
For those who’re struggling to make gross sales, cease promoting and begin fixing.
Most entrepreneurs concentrate on pitching their product, when they need to be diagnosing their buyer’s drawback. The second you shift from, “Right here’s what we do,” to, “Right here’s how we can assist you develop,” conversations flip into conversions.
We’ve discovered education-driven lead era extremely highly effective — sharing insights, case research, and actionable suggestions that place us as companions, not distributors.
As soon as belief is constructed, closing the deal isn’t a push — it’s a pure subsequent step. Folks purchase readability and confidence, not strain.
Create Real Connections Moderately Than Transactions
My key recommendation is: concentrate on constructing relationships, not simply transactions. Gross sales thrive once you create real connections and establish your buyer’s core wants. I’ve discovered that actively listening to clients and positioning your services or products as the precise answer makes an enormous distinction.
To generate leads, I like to recommend focusing on a extra particular viewers and concentrating efforts on high-value prospects. Use platforms like LinkedIn and industry-specific boards to attach personally with potential clients. When you’ve received their consideration, present significant insights to spark curiosity.
On the subject of closing offers, follow-through issues. Common follow-ups, addressing considerations immediately, and guaranteeing you meet expectations will differentiate you. Bear in mind, constructing a relationship doesn’t finish after the sale; protecting the dialog going results in repeat enterprise and referrals.
Prioritize Velocity in Your Buyer Response
One piece of recommendation I’d share, that works extremely properly for us, is SPEED. Get again to individuals as quick as doable, and also you’ll be in entrance of the bulk. Nowadays, individuals aren’t eager to attend for days, they need minutes, so engineer your online business for pace the place doable. Whether or not that’s electronic mail, telephone, no matter, make it REAL and make it FAST.
Methods for leads and offers: we work on each day “content material and connection.” All the time engaged on helpful content material, whether or not that’s written, instruments, or video, after which as a staff we’re connecting with individuals as a lot as we will. In individual, LinkedIn, Fb — no matter — we all know that the extra content material we create, and the extra actual connections we obtain, the extra and higher leads we get.
Again Your Product with Robust Ensures
For those who’re struggling to make gross sales, don’t simply inform individuals your product is sweet. Show it by backing it. We construct our instruments within the USA and supply 90-day returns and a lifetime guarantee. That’s our manner of placing pores and skin within the sport. If we’re asking somebody to wager on us, we ought to be keen to wager on ourselves first.
