We have moved past the stage of “yawning in movies to put your arm around the girl”. No more subtle cheesy moves that make everyone cringe… We like to be direct and skip the bad lines and moves.
These days networking should be in your blood, it’s what will get you the right lead. But what separates a good lead from a great lead. And how do we find a gap in the crowd in such a dense digital world of suites, proposals and “can I have a minute of your time?”. The answer is simple – you don’t. You do the research and find the value-link that brings the client and the brand together.
We could go on step-by-step instructions of how to start the conversation to generate a good lead, but we don’t like to lecture… this is not one of those WikiHow articles.
So how did I manage to get brands like Dior, G-Star, Timberland, Cartier, Lacoste, Stella Macartney and more for a CGI company, called INDG?
You are looking in the wrong places
You might be looking in the wrong places, you might be on the hunt for influencers on social media to show off your products or to collaborate with you on campaigns, but how many Instagram influencers have a senior seat in the business?
“61 million LinkedIn users are senior-level influencers and 40 million are in decision-making positions.” – LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
That’s a lot of leads, isn’t it? However, you have to segment them, it’s like playing matchmaker for your client and trust me, they are picky. INDG is a CGI company that digitizes complete portfolios for big brands like Coca Cola, L’Oréal, Heineken and more. This type of digitization can be set in a way for consumers to customise their products. They allow brands to take the next step in the digital world to give consumers that extra personal touch.
Don’t try to do matchmaking from the start.
I started by focusing on what INDG has to offer, doing the research and writing a piece for them to show off my understanding. This piece showed off why fashion brands should have a configurator. If you want to get in on the loop you can read about it here.
Not only did I understand his client, but I connected the dots and laid out the information to take on a new pool of leads, the fashionistas!
For the next 6 months, I put in the work to create leads in the fashion industry.
If you have keys to the Prada penthouse, i.e. If you are making use of the paid LinkedIn services, you have access to the lovely and glorious LinkedIn Sales Navigator for various sales and customer relationship management solutions.
This allowed me to find exactly the right person on the team and start the conversation. When the time came to pursue these leads, I made sure to provide them with not only the idea, but the research to support it, including the articles he wrote to support the idea. A bonus was posting this research and the articles. Such as an article that explains luxury shopping in the digital age, pretty useful if you are trying to talk to Gucci, check it out.
Why did it work?
The reason this worked, is because I provided them with information on a trend/change in the industry and information on how to compete with it. The one article focused on the importance of CGI in the fashion industry so I just needed to connect them with the right people and there you have it, the value-link.
You need to make sure that you can find that thing that compels people. At the end of the day, generating a lead is a game of information and adaptability. You need to provide both, and you need to understand the market you are playing in. Generating a lead is a value to the right person at the right time. I came in as a provider, not a business flirt in a suit. Chanel clearly liked that.
Stay in touch
Whether you’re an established company or a brand new start-up. We’d love to help you take your company to the next level.
Feel free to reach out to us at info@projectvstudios.com