👍 How to Build a Predictable Lead Gen Machine

Hey hey—welcome to Day 2 of your $10M FounderIV Indoc. Everything in business is downstream from lead generation. Without a consistent stream of qualified leads, your growth stalls. Or worse, your business dies. Game over. 😭 If you can't consistently grab people's attention and let them signal interest in your company, it doesn't matter how great your product or service is.   But, if you can demonstrate an influx of leads, investors will give you money, talented people will come work for you, customers will grow your revenue, and bigger companies will want to buy you. Building a "predictable lead generation machine" involves FIVE key elements: Traffic (Organic & Paid) Killer Offer Landing Page Messaging & Design Opt-in Experience Onboarding Experience   1. Traffic (Organic & Paid) Your lead gen machine starts with traffic—the lifeblood of your business.  Traffic = humans who see your landing page. Traffic can come from organic (i.e. SEO, organic social media, word of mouth), and paid (i.e. Meta, Google, LinkedIn, X, TikTok ads). Why It Matters: You can't generate leads without traffic. We've grown businesses with traffic from just organic sources or just paid sources. But it's magical when you get BOTH working in lockstep together.   Organic traffic is sustainable and long-term, while paid traffic allows you to scale quickly. Having both creates an exponential growth multiplier inside your business. A consistent, steady flow of traffic to your business reduces risk and gives founders confidence to test into new traffic channels. Question to Ask Yourself: What are three small, immediate actions you can take to improve the performance of your highest-converting traffic source?   2. Offer Your offer is the value you give your customer in return for their time and money. Want an offer that pulls? Aim to give 10x or more perceived value than what your customer pays. We like to think of offers as the hook that grabs people's attention. Your offer needs to be compelling, valuable, relevant, and truly irresistible to your ideal customer.  Make your offer so irresistible, have it provide so much value in a new and unique way, that people feel stupid saying no. Why It Matters: One of our marketing mentors, Dan Kennedy, once told us, "If you're having trouble growing revenue, it's because of your offer, dummy." Don't overlook how important your offer is. Take a hard look at it. How can you improve it? How can you give 10x or more value in exchange for the price or time commitment? How can you truly make your offer IRRESISTIBLE to your ideal customer? When you figure this out, watch your conversion rates explode, your revenue grow, and your retention skyrocket.   This offer slayed it for SnackNation new member acquisition: It's packed with value (free snack box and up to a $200 Amazon gift card), a clear CTA, a called-out audience (ASAP Members), and a deadline.   3. Landing Page Messaging & Design Man, we've seen some gawd-awful landing pages out there... Unclear messaging, unclear offers, too many steps to get started, too many distractions, no clear calls-to-action, poor optimization for conversions…   The list of landing page messaging & design mistakes is LONG.   Why It Matters: Your landing page is what turns your traffic into leads. Optimization and conversion rate increases on this page put more money in your pocket. That's right, a well-designed landing page with strong, clear messaging, simple yet elegant design, and minimal distractions is one of your lead gen superpowers. This is where your lead generation machine really starts to convert.   A good landing page is simple in design, has compelling copy, a big promise, and an easy way to opt-in. Also, notice on the right, the CTA button is above the fold (on mobile).   Question to Ask Yourself: If someone unfamiliar with your business visited your landing page, would they know exactly what action to take within 5 seconds, and without scrolling?   4. Opt-in Experience How many times have you been on a website looking for info or to take the next step with a company and you're met with a lonnnnng ass form with 8, or 10, or even 15 fields you need to fill out before you can even take a peek at the next step? People hate friction in the sign-up process. The days of gated, multi-field forms are over. They kill conversion and are too big of a hurdle for users to get past.   You know what works gangbusters, though?   Quizzes. People actually enjoy the experience of going through a quiz and you can get the same (and oftentimes more) info in a quiz as you do in a form. Why It Matters: A smooth and seamless opt-in experience via a quiz is crucial to reducing friction. Quizzes are a compilation of questions that become micro-commitments along the journey of opting in. To the user, the friction hurdle feels lower, and the experience is more enjoyable. Keep your quizzes simple, reduce the friction wherever you can, and you'll increase your opt-in rates. Question to Ask Yourself: What's one piece of information you're asking for during opt-in that you could eliminate without affecting your outcomes?   5. Onboarding Experience Don't sleep on this last step of building a predictable lead generation machine!   You've done all the hard work of generating the traffic, presenting an irresistible offer, having an elegantly simple landing page, and creating an enjoyable opt-in experience. Now it's time to deliver a delightful onboarding experience for your new prospect who has just entered into your world. Think of a well-executed onboarding experience as a "value bomb" for your ideal prospect. How can you overdeliver in those first few days? How can you make it enjoyable for your prospect to get to know your business while also educating them and providing value, regardless of whether they buy or not? Effective onboarding usually includes a well-crafted email sequence and other multi-channel follow-ups (sales rep outreach, social media retargeting, and even direct mail). It's your chance to nurture that lead, build trust, and ultimately convert them into a customer. Why It Matters: Most leads aren't ready to buy the instant they opt-in for your stuff.   People need to like, know, and trust you before they want to buy.   A strong onboarding process becomes an asset for your business and dramatically improves the overarching conversion rate of your hard-earned leads. Don't leave money on the table by half-assing your onboarding process. You want to effortlessly turn cold leads into warm, ready-to-buy customers, right?   A great way to start your new user onboarding is with a compelling, exciting welcome email. The Assist welcome email helps the reader get excited about what's to come and lays out what to expect. P.S. You're currently in the FIV onboarding experience by reading this email 😀.   Question to Ask Yourself: What can you do in the first 48 hours of onboarding to build trust and establish a strong relationship with your new lead? What's Next? Founder Longevity & Optimization. In tomorrow's email, we'll show you how to optimize your performance through our favorite health & longevity protocols. If you don't want to wait, you can read it here. With a background in biomedical engineering, I (Sean) have been obsessed with health & feeling at my best since the age of 12. I'm now 41 but have a biological age of 27. I attribute my resilience and continual high energy levels—even through the darkest valleys of business and life—to my non-negotiable performance protocols. My mission is to help founders optimize their health so they can be as impactful as possible, and actually enjoy the journey of entrepreneurship along the way. Excited to dive-in here with you. See you tomorrow! To your success, Andy & Sean     FOUNDERIV, LOS ANGELES, CA UNITED STATES You are receiving this email because you recently signed up for the FounderIV newsletter. If you aren't digging our emails, reply directly to this email and let us know why. Or you can unsubscribe from all daily updates by clicking here. 🤔 Want to advertise with us? Reply directly to this email.