Local business hero & dad Peter Mols, named the nationwide Networker of the Year and champion of small businesses, answers some questions to help locals in his community

Q. Hi Mastermind9, I’m struggling to generate new leads for my business. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not out of business and I have some very loyal customers. But with the current rate of inflation, and cost of living, my current clients can’t sustain me. And if things carry on this way, I might have no choice but to completely shut down, or find paid employment to subsidise my income.

I’m working hard; I’m active on social media, I have a newsletter and I’m attending networking events, but I haven’t had a single new client in the last 3 months. My pipeline is dry, and I don’t know what to do. Have you got any advice? Sincerely, AE.

A: Hi AE,

Lack of leads is a really common problem affecting most small business owners. You have to keep feeding the pipeline, and you have to find ways to do this constantly. We think one of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is to have only a couple of ways to generate leads. That’s just not enough.

“You have to keep feeding the pipeline”

We would take a closer look at your social media, how often you’re posting, what’s the quality of your content. Are you adding real value to your audience? The same goes for your newsletter. What quality are you offering your readers, and how relevant is your content to them? Are you collecting feedback? These are a few questions you need to ask yourself.

And secondly, if you want to keep your pipeline running, don’t just rely on organic social media posts. Success in 2023 will come down to proactivity.

We’d consider the following:

• Get really clear on your customer avatar (here’s how)
• Creating a top 30 (a list of the 30 companies you’d like to work with)
• Getting a Google business profile and working hard to get lots of testimonials.
• Sending prospects in the post
• Creating downloadable content that speaks to your avatars pains or desires
• Create blog posts with Calls to Action
• Asking for referrals from your best customers
• Advertising in places that your avatar hangs out (ahem… such as Round & About)
• Attending trade shows or business expos.
• Doing more networking

We’re sure that by mixing up the different approaches to lead generation, you’re bound to start attracting some new customers.

We hope that this answers your question and gives you some new ideas or inspiration. Onwards and upwards my friend!