The other day, my 16-year old neighbor asked me what I do for a living.
Having failed the previous few times in explaining the B2B Lead Generation process to adolescents, I thought of trying a new and unique way which he could relate to:
“Think of my job as using Tinder for 9 hours at office. The only difference is that I am looking for potential clients instead of potential dates.”
Although I was bombarded with a ton of questions after making this statement, I think it did the trick, for I could see on his face that he understood what I said.
It was at that moment when it hit me, how strikingly similar B2B lead generation process is with using Tinder for online dating.
Establishing Your Identity
Whether it’s Tinder or your Company Website, the first step is to go out in the market and clearly define yourself.
The About Me section in both can help potential visitors understand your identity as well as the products and services you have to offer (on Tinder — that would be your areas of interest).
Since we live in a world of cut-throat competition, it’s also important to do everything in your capacity to stand-out from the crowd.
First impression matters as a lot. Your Tinder Profile picture (Company’s landing page) must be unique enough to grab the visitor’s attention on an immediate basis.
Be careful though. As much as client testimonials can help your company website, it might not be a good idea to put them on your Tinder profile.
“I have dated 15 women in the past 3 years and solved 80% of their personal problems” — is NOT a Good Idea
Choose your Target Audience
Think about it. Your company CRM and Tinder — both contain a database of unique prospect clients.
The only difference being that Tinder won’t have the phone numbers and email IDs readily available. Nonetheless, they both serve as an excellent starting point for the lead generation process.
Once you’ve established your unique identity, you need to have a clear picture of your ideal client (date) inside your head.
Your Product (You) cannot be a good shoe-fit for every type of customer. Segment your database using different metrics — demographics, areas of interest, current incumbent, etc.
“ 25–28 years in age ($1 to $5Bn in revenue) “
“ Females only (CFOs only) ”
“ In my city (In my continent) ”
Sending out Your Campaign
You’ve made yourself market ready! Next step would be to start with the prospecting process. Each right swipe on Tinder is as good as a cold or marketing mailer sent to your chosen target audience.
Your campaign gives a clear indication to them — you’re interested in them. At this point, it’s important to have a little patience and wait for some leads to start flowing in.
One must hold their nerve in the beginning since they might not get a lot of traction if you’re new in the market.
Your prospects check your campaign / swipe. It’s an open and a click.
They swipe left — they want to unsubscribe from future communication.
They swipe right — they want to know more about what you have to offer.
You might even get 10 Swipes(Leads) back.
Consider all of them as the top of the funnel — leads you need to start working on from the word go. Some might interest you more than others depending on where they’re coming from.
Proceed with permission. First impression matters!
“Hi Jane. I’m happy to know you’re interested in what I have to offer. You mentioned you love [insert interest area here]. I have a lot to talk about it :)”
Nurturing and Relationship Building
Slowly, you start filtering out the leads(right swipes) which would actually want to buy from you (date you) v/s the ones which are still kicking tires.
Be cautious though. Follow up, but do not be creepy. Also, do not make it all about you. Listening to them carefully is extremely important and pushiness is a big turnoff.
You start the process of relationship building with them — explore their interests further, talk to them about their problems and how/if you could serve as a panacea. Consistency is the key here.
You tell them a joke, OR help them with a white paper. You invite them to your Insta Live, Or to your company’s next webinar.
You start getting to know them better and understand how you can be of further help to one another.
Remember — A successful relationship takes time and care.
Product POC, Demo and (RFP)
One of the most classic rookie mistakes seen in both online dating and lead generation is not being able to see the hidden — the competition.
If you think they are only talking to you at the moment, you might be mistaken.
Nonetheless, that’s no reason to give up. The end goal is to beat the competition and bring the trophy home.
As your relationship with your prospect(s) matures and the match-ability percentage keeps on increasing, there will come a time when they or you would want it move to the next stage.
They might call you onsite and ask you to provide a proof of concept — showcase a demo of your product and services (a date/sex).
At times, they might even require multiple rounds of demos, just to be absolutely sure if they’ll get what was promised to them.
Give your absolute best in the demo rounds. Show them a service they cannot refuse.
If everything goes well, they’d be expecting a proposal from you soon. You’d have to ensure that your proposal if highly competitive (we start dating), stands out from the rest (we will move in together) and done in the right manner (in person with champagne, maybe?).
Vendor Selection and Contract Negotiations
It all comes down to this stage — Either you’re the preferred vendor of choice or Not. In case you are, congratulations!
It goes without saying, you’ll start seeing more of your prospect now. You can start discussing and planning your future ahead.
The project kicks off and you’ve successfully converted a lead !!!
You might want to set up some project(dating) milestones as well — implementation, delivery, ROI return etc.
Once everything is agreed upon, you sign the contract (exchange a ring / verabaly agree upon) and make your relationship official.
Do not lose heart in case you’re not selected as the vendor of choice though. It’s not always necessary that you’ve lost to a competition.
They might be just waiting for a Green Signal from the Management (Parents).
And there you have it.
That’s how you generate and convert a lead for your Business and on Tinder. The steps are surprisingly and strikingly similar.
But wait a minute.
If you think conversion of the lead(prospect) into a client(date/spouse) was your end goal, you are highly mistaken.
For once the deal is signed, the next chapter in your relationship kicks off — Customer Success Management — for in the world we live in, there’s always a chance your customer might not want to stay with you forever.
So, you need to keep a regular check on them — keep them happy — make sure you’re consistently providing value to them — and being of mutual benefit to each other.
Because if you don’t, your customer might just be want to come back on Tinder; become available in the market again.
