Unlocking Explosive Lead Growth: The Simple Strategy for 10x More Leads This Month

Lead generation serves as the lifeblood of every SaaS business, right from the early days.

When lead generation doesn't hold a spot within the top 1-3 priorities of your entire company, you will get in trouble. Soon. Sooner than you think.

Whether you're on the hunt for customers, partners, new team members, or investors, developing your lead generation capabilities is the most rewarding activity for any SaaS founding & sales teams, both in the short and long term.

When discussing lead generation sources, people often cite outbound prospecting, events, content marketing, and advertising.

Yet, curiously, they frequently overlook one of the most powerful sources: word-of-mouth. This omission occurs because many view word-of-mouth as a consequence rather than a cause. They see it, and it’s true, as the result of excelling at generating leads through more the traditional channels we mentioned above, nurturing those leads over time, and having them speak favourably about your product or service. However, it's essential to recognize that cultivating word-of-mouth is not "free marketing"; rather, it's the consequence of extensive, high-quality efforts that involved significant time and financial investments.

In terms of return on investment, word-of-mouth is by far the greatest lead generation source because the efforts and investments made to generate it compound over time. With each passing day, the cost of acquiring a new lead coming from the “word-of-mouth channel” diminishes.

Traditionally, most founding teams and sales professionals regard word-of-mouth as a consequence of their actions, not a driving force (a cause basically). However, if you shift your perspective and consider word-of-mouth as a potential driving force, your lead generation engine can experience a remarkable 10x boost minimum. In this perspective, not only you can, but you must actively generate word-of-mouth.

There is an artificial method for fostering word-of-mouth, and it involves generating referrals. Today, I'll share my proven method for generating leads through referrals, and if you follow it rigorously, you're guaranteed to witness a substantial increase in leads within just a few weeks.

The foundation for obtaining referrals lies within your network. Yet, if I were to ask you to list individuals within your network who could potentially generate 10 qualified leads this week, you might think of a few names, but it's unlikely to encompass the entirety of your network. Your network is probably extensive, and your mind can't readily recall everyone.

Thankfully, for most B2B players, at least 90% of your network has a profile on LinkedIn. By meticulously reviewing your LinkedIn connections one by one, you can ensure that you don't overlook any potential individuals who could become valuable, qualified leads.

So, here's the method: Follow it meticulously. Please don’t question now. Just put it into action, and watch the leads pour in.

Stop your notifications. Close your Slack/Discord. Put your phone in another room.
Open a Google Sheet/Doc/Notion page and create 4 columns:
Column 1: Is my [persona + company] ICP - the person has the title you target and works in a company that fits your company ICP criteria.
Column 2: Is my persona ICP - the person has the title you target
Column 3: Is my company ICP - the person works in a company that fits your company criteria.
Column 4: Can know my ICP - the person might know somebody who is my ICP (persona and/or company).
Open you Linkedin connections list. Go over the list of your connecitons 1 by 1. Really one by one.Open each profiles.Check their current and previous company(ies) and jobs.Classify them in each column. Note that they can fit in several columns,
Column 4 will include a lot of your connections! Maybe 50% at least.Start from names in Column 1 and prospect rigorously everybody one by one, manually.Schedule at least one or two followups per person. Remember: Fortune is in the followup!

In my ten years of experience, in SaaS and Sales, I have yet to come across a more effective lead generation method. As we just entered the last quarter of the year 2023, this represents your last opportunity to secure leads that have the potential to convert before the year's end. Don't hesitate—start implementing this strategy today, and I'm eager to hear about the results you achieve! Let me know, I’ll be more than happy to hear about the results.

Guillaume.