Welcome to episode 189 of the Grow Your Independent Consulting Business podcast. This is Melisa Liberman, and today we're talking about how to bridge a contact into a consulting lead. This is What I like to call micro skill. And I find that so many consultants struggle with this. So I want to help you today, whether you're struggling with this concept of bridging a contact into a lead.
And we'll talk more about what that means here in a second, you might be struggling with it and noticing that this is one of the kind of sticking points in your business, or you might be okay at it and want to optimize it. Either way, this is the episode for you today because this micro skill is one of those that I find unlocks the ability for you to have so much more control over your pipeline. And ultimately your revenue and even the quality of the clients and engagements you're landing.
So this is super important. And I have to tell you some of the inspiration that brought this episode to light today is I had maybe out of all the clients that I work with on a weekly basis, I think around 30%, a third of them, maybe even a half of them were having this exact struggle week. So I thought it'd be really valuable , to record this episode as a resource that they can listen to.
I love creating episodes specifically for my clients to help them with another tool that they can leverage and also for you as you are working on growing your own consulting business. So, That's what we're here for today. Let's start off with the agenda and then we'll dive into the episode.
So first we're going to start off in terms of the agenda, we're going to start off with definitions just to make sure we're on the same page about what the terminology that I'll be using today, then we'll talk about why this matters. You could probably guess why it matters. You probably know why it matters in your business, but it's always so important to take a step back and think about what difference could this particular tool , and skill make in your business.
And then we'll talk about why consultants commonly get stuck at this step. There's four root causes I'll share with you. And then I will share with you the tool, which I call the BLCS tool that you can use to start building this framework for yourself to bridge a contact into a lead in your business. And then we'll wrap it up here with, , the three next steps to put this episode into action. So that is what I have for you here today.
And let's start off with the companion resource that goes with this episode, and then we'll move on to those definitions. And the companion resource is chapter nine. I was actually reading a little bit of chapter nine earlier today, and that's what kind of finalized this episode or brought it all together. In chapter nine, I talk more detail around this BLCS tool I'm about to share with you. And so you can go download the book.
I know I've told you this podcast before that I'm going to take away the full book as a PDF and just put the first three or four chapters in. I haven't done it yet. I will be doing it. I just have other priorities at the moment, mostly supporting clients. And so I haven't done it. So you still have a chance to go download the whole book or you can go grab it on Amazon. But if you want to download it, it's at consultingbusinessbook.
com and, you can find chapter nine, just do control F. You'll find this B L C S tool right there for you. Okay. So that's what the resource I want to share with you here today, the free resource that I want to share with you here today. Now let's talk about and get you started. with this concept of getting better at the skill of bridging a contact into a lead. Let's start off with those definitions I promised you.
So first of all, the context with which we're talking today about lead generation is this is for more of an outbound type lead generation, where you're not sure what type of help the company or person you're talking to could need, if any. It's Less applicable to the scenario where you have an inbound lead, for example, where someone comes to you and says, Hey, I've got this problem. Can you help me with it? Or can we talk about how you could help me with it?
That scenario, we don't really need to bridge them into a lead because they already coming to you as a lead.
So right now we're talking about the scenario where it's more of an outbound situation where you're networking, for example, maybe you're networking with your warm, , Network and refreshing and maintaining those relationships, or maybe you're reaching out and you've been introduced to someone who could be an ideal client for you, or works at a company that would be an ideal target company for you. Or perhaps you've done a cold reach out of some sort and have scheduled a meeting with someone.
, these are the scenarios that we're talking about here today. How to take those. conversations that you're having with those individuals and bridge them into a lead. So for the purposes of this episode, let's talk about the words that I'm going to use here. The first is a contact. A contact is someone you know personally, or someone you've been introduced to, or someone you reach out to, just like I described. That's a contact.
Or they may have reached out to you to say, Hey, would love to hear no more about what you do, or we met at this particular event. I'd love to talk with you more, or I heard you speak and I would love to hear more about what you do as a consultant, but they aren't giving you some specifics around what it is that they need from you. Those are all scenarios where we've got a contact.
Then the next set of step of the process is that you talk to a contact and they have indicated some interest in hearing more about how you and your services might help them. That's a lead. That's where you've got a contact who's told you that they have an interest in hearing more about what you do, or exploring more about what you do, or digging into more about what you do in the context of their own business problems. That would be a lead. And then finally, we have an opportunity.
An opportunity is a qualified lead , where you know exactly what it is that they're interested in. needing from you at least at a high level , and you believe that you can help them. So it's a qualified lead and you can move into more of a discovery process. So today we're going to be focusing mostly on the process or the technique or the mechanism you can use to turn a contact into a lead. All right, so now that we've got that context in place, let's talk about why this matters.
Why does the ability to bridge a lead, contact, into a lead matter? Why does the ability to bridge a contact into a lead matter? Now, it might seem obvious to you, but let's just make sure that we're on the same page. When you're able to bridge a contact into a lead, It means that you're no longer dependent on inbound leads. You're no longer dependent on word of mouth. You're no longer dependent on marketplaces or recruiters or people finding you somehow.
When you're able to bridge a contact into a lead, you start to have the freedom and the flexibility to land your ideal clients. You're able to take more control over your pipeline. For example, you might get to the spot where you know that having five conversations a week creates one lead for you. And then one out of every two leads, creates a client. When you have that kind of formulaic visibility and formulaic understanding of unpredictability of your business, you have so much more control.
You have so much more peace of mind when you know that that's, generally speaking, what your own business development formula is. So that's why it's really important to build this skill set for you to bridge a contact into a lead. And to have that tool in your tool belt as a business owner. Now let's talk about where consultants commonly get stuck in this bridging process. You might know where you're getting stuck or you might not realize where you're getting stuck is not a problem.
It's actually self explanatory. induced situation. It's a self induced situation. And by that, I mean, you've got full control over it. You don't need to rely on having better contacts. You don't need to rely on external factors being in place for you to be successful at this.
So let me tell you more about , what I mean here, where most consultants that I talk to get stuck in this bridging process of moving someone from a contact and a conversation into a lead starts with, they're not sure what to say. So they don't say anything other than let's keep in touch or let's talk again you know three or four months or they're worried about being salesy and so they don't make any kind of meaningful offer or next step offer or valuable offer to the person they're talking to.
Or they're worried that the other person might think they have an ulterior motive. And so they want to make sure that that doesn't happen. So they don't make, any recommendation of a next step. Or they think they haven't earned the right yet to ask for anything. Or to recommend a next step. For example, maybe you haven't talked to someone in your network for a long time, and you're just getting back up to speed with them, and so you feel like your relationship isn't strong enough.
Or maybe you even just met them, and you feel like, I better build a stronger relationship here in order, before I recommend a next step or ask for anything. Another scenario where consultants often get stuck in this bridging process is they don't want to appear unsuccessful. They don't want to appear needy or desperate, and so then they don't recommend a next step as a result. And so these might sound familiar to you where you're having conversations and you're networking.
It might be one on one over Zoom. It might be one on one for a coffee. It might be an event of some sort. And you're talking with potential, you may even have had someone introduce someone to you and you're talking to these individuals that you know could be ideal clients or could introduce you to ideal clients or may even be great collaborators of some sort or channels of some sort and you notice yourself getting stuck in this process where you've met them but then it doesn't go anywhere.
That's what we're talking about here today, where you've met them and it's a great conversation and you know, there could be an ideal client or could introduce you to an ideal client, but then it doesn't go anywhere. I was talking with a client last week and we were talking about and how it feels like getting into the friend zone.
You know that you could help them in some form or fashion, but then you end up putting yourself in the friend zone because you don't even recommend or offer a next step to them because you're worried about how they might think of you and you're worried that you're going to be too salesy. Or they'll question your motives , or you feel like you need to create more relationship capital before you're able to offer something to this person as a next step. And so that's what creates this friend zone.
It creates a situation where you're not bridging that contact into a lead. So let's talk then about what the root causes of you doing this are. And if you've listened to this podcast for any length of time, , you probably aren't going to be surprised that I'm going to tell you that a good chunk , of the root cause of you doing this are your thoughts. is your mindset. So let me tell you more about what I mean by that.
The root causes of you not being able to bridge your contacts into leads come down to these four things. And three of them are mindset. The fourth one isn't. I'm going to share them with you in this order of priority on purpose. This is the order that I typically see kind of from the most impactful, The first one I'm going to share is usually the most impactful. And that is your own thoughts about your ability, about yourself.
The first root cause of your inability right now your underdeveloped let's call it that, not inability, your underdeveloped skill of bridging a contact into a lead comes down to first and foremost, your thoughts about that ability. You might be thinking something like, I'm not good at selling myself. or I don't want to come across as salesy.
And when you think that way, when you go into this call, it creates hesitation, especially when you get toward the end of the call and you're thinking about, you know, what might be the next step here. And therefore, when you're thinking about this, as I'm not good at this, I'm not good at selling, I don't want to come across as salesy, You end up in your mind, typically justifying, not offering a valuable next step. And so your result is that you don't end up moving this forward.
You don't offer them something of value. You think about this as you taking something from them or them doing you a favor. When in fact, when you're, When you get to the place where you've got this skill developed and this mindset developed, where you feel really confident and valuable when you recommend a next step to someone when they're a contact that might turn them into a lead, that you're thinking about it as a lead. You're not taking anything from them.
You're not selling anything to them that you're actually offering something valuable to them that would contribute greatly to them and to their success. That valuable next step is something they would want. That you're doing neither of you any good , hiding from them or not offering to them because you think somehow that that you're not good at it or the relationship isn't at the place where it should be in order for you to have earned the right to offer this.
When you Readjust your thought process about yourself and your ability and shift from even the thought process that you're selling yourself in any way to thinking about what you're offering to them is valuable to them, and they would be lucky and excited to hear what you have to offer to them. Then you unlock that ability to start bridging the contact into a lead. I'll give you some examples here in a minute about what some of those things are you could offer to the person.
But first, let's keep going with these four root causes of this underdeveloped bridging skill. The second is your thoughts about the contact themselves. So I mentioned this a minute ago. You might be thinking, well, they'll think I had an motive when I reached out to them, if I offer them something at the end of the call or anywhere in the midst of the call, or they'll think I'm selling them something and you don't want.
And so then you don't offer them anything when in fact you are thinking you're doing some harm to them by offering them a next step. But if you create a valuable next step, well, again, we'll talk about what that could be here in a moment. Then you've got the ability to offer something valuable to them. Why would you protect them from that? Why would you worry whether you had an ulterior motive or not? We all have ulterior motives in some form or fashion.
They had an ulterior motive getting on the call with you. Whether it was just because they wanted to be nice. Some of us are still people pleasers, even at the C level CEOs, believe me, I co do executive coaching. I know that there are still CEOs out there, CTOs who are people pleasers. They got on the call for a reason. Now, whether they're a people pleaser or not, they probably had an ulterior motive as well. There's nothing wrong with having an emotive.
Why else would you both be on the call? You both had a motive. If you can shift your thought process around how you're thinking about them and how you're thinking about the next step, then you can start addressing this root cause of having thoughts about that contact that are not serving either one of you. The third root cause of you having an underdeveloped bridging skill is that come down to your thoughts about selling itself, the process of selling.
I've touched on this example a few times, but let's think about this in a more explicit way. One of your thoughts about the process of selling might be, I just met them. I haven't earned the right to ask for anything. And so it makes you feel tentative. It puts you in that friend zone. When again, if you look at this in a different way from a different vantage point, And build out that next step in a really valuable way. Then you can shift your mindset around the process of selling.
Isn't taking something from them. Isn't asking them for something. Isn't hoping they'll do you a favor by having another conversation with you. It's more of, I want to provide value to this particular person I just met. I don't know if they'll become a client or not. Or if their company will be open to engaging , an independent consultant.
But what I do know is that I've heard on this call, they've got challenges in their business that I can help them to start getting more clarity around, to help them uncover blind spots, to help them create a strategy, a high level strategy or a roadmap against that challenge. And so of course offering them a next step or recommending a next step or suggesting a next step. Would be incredibly valuable.
Do you see the difference when you've got the root cause of your, thoughts around selling , are low quality thoughts. You're not going to offer or recommend a next step to them. You're going to justify not offering or recommending a next step to them. And then you don't build that skill of bridging a contact into a lead and you don't help them.
With creating more clarity, with creating a roadmap, with creating, uncovering a strategy, you don't help them by recommending a next step that could be very valuable to them. So those are the first three root causes of an underdeveloped Skill set of bridging a contact to a lead. The fourth is truly your skills themselves. Sometimes we think, well, I will build the skills and that will create more confidence, but it's actually the reverse. You want to be building your mindset.
in order to fuel the skill set development. It's going to require some testing. It's going to require being awkward at it, or clunky at it, or not good at it. And, but you want to be fueling it by really high quality thoughts about yourself, about the contact that you're talking with, about the process in general, so that you set yourself up to build those skills so much more. Effectively and in an accelerated way.
So now that we've talked about what those root causes are of you not having right now, a strong skillset of bridging a contact into a lead. That's why you're listening to this episode. Let's talk about the tool you can leverage that pull that addresses those root causes and helps you to start building that skill set of bridging a contact into a lead or if you've got some success at it into strengthening that connection.
bridge a contact into a lead so that ultimately it requires you talking to fewer people order to fill your pipeline, in order to close work. And so that it takes fewer conversations to generate really high quality clients through your business development process. , that's what, Thinking about and implementing this tool I'm about to share with you will help you to achieve. So let's talk about what is this BLCS tool. It's very simple.
It's the acronym for what I call the Bridging Lead Cheat Sheet. That's it. Bridging Lead Cheat Sheet for your business. So think about a grid and the way you want to build out this cheat sheet for yourself, And the reason why we're building out this cheat sheet is because when you're on a call with a contact, you want to make sure that you've got something to cheat with, right? That it's not a skill set that you've got right now that you've built up yet. Or that you've really strengthened yet.
And so you want to have yourself a little cheat sheet so that when it gets to the point in the call, whether it could be in the middle, it could be at the ends. When it gets to the point in the call where you would recommend a next step to that client, that you've got something to lean on. So here's how you build that cheat sheet. First of all, you just list out all the situations where you might encounter contacts that are potential leads.
It could be that you've scheduled one on one conversations. It could be that you are going to industry association meetings. It could be that you met someone in the chat in a webinar. It could be that you're attending an executive roundtable. It could be that you're speaking for a group of some sort, whatever it is, think about all the ways that you've met potential contacts.
And then from there, you want to be thinking about when you're in those conversations based on where you met them and how you invited them to the conversation. That context does matter. If they are on a call , Because it's just a let's get to know each other versus you met them at executive roundtable and maybe there's a little bit more context around what it is and why you're on the call. Just list out all of those different scenarios of how they came to get on a call with you, or a Zoom.
I'm using the word call, but typically it would be a Zoom these days, right? And so then, once you know what all those situations are, then you just go one by one, thinking about this as a grid, one by one, what are the possible next steps that I would propose in each of those situations? Knowing the context of how they came to the call. might I recommend to the person on the call that would then convert them from a contact to a lead? It could sound like would be a possible next step?
I'll give you a few examples here in a moment, but , in the meantime, let me just give you one example, which is, hey, , I know we just met and we've been talking about this business problem that you've been having. I noticed this, this is a common challenge in the industry and I've created short process that I , walk people through to help them build out a stronger strategy in this area. Is that something you would be interested in having a separate call about to go through that process?
Something as simple as that. Do you see the value in what I just described? They hear, wow, I'm not the only one facing this type of challenge in the industry, they hear you saying that you've got insights into how other companies handle this type of challenge. They just shared with you, which is incredibly valuable.
That's one of the things you have as a consultant is these external , perspectives that you bring in and these other unique scenarios that you bring in from an industry viewpoint rather than them. They're. In their own silo, working in their own company, they don't have access to see these other scenarios that you do. Look how incredibly valuable that could be to them. And it's as simple as that in terms of as an example to recommend a next step and bridge them from a contact into a lead.
Now, we don't know if the lead will become an opportunity, but what we're doing right now is just these micro steps of moving someone from a contact into the next step, which is a lead. Now we talked in the very beginning of this episode, a lead, , we haven't yet qualified. We don't know if there's a true possible engagement there, but now we have the ability to go talk with them to figure out if there is a qualified opportunity there. by simply offering something of value to them.
So the BLCS tool, let's come back to it. We've got our grid, we've got a list of situations met or are meeting these contacts. Then based on those scenarios, we write out one or two possible next steps that we might recommend to the person based on the context of how we've met them and how we've set up the call. And then thirdly, we write out what our mindset will be as we're recommending those possible next steps to them.
This is incredibly important and it goes back to address those root causes we talked about earlier. You want to be thinking about, how do you want to be thinking about I would suggest that the way you would want to be thinking about yourself when you think about bridging a contact into a lead, you want to be thinking about yourself as this is what you do as a consultant. You find people with challenges and you help them. You're not selling anything at this moment.
Sometimes it makes it easier just to take that word out of the process, to take the pressure off of yourself, and to think about, okay, I'm just figuring this out step by step for myself, for my business, and , for that contact who may become a client or not.
You want to make sure that the mindset is aligned back to how you want to be offering something of value and thinking about yourself that in a way that is valuable and thinking that they are open and receptive to this value in order to then be the fuel of how you make that recommendation or offer to them to have another call to have a next step.
That's the third component of this BLCS checklist, is really you understanding a given situation, what might then be the possible next steps you would recommend on a call for that particular situation that the person is facing, whether it's the context they came in on, or the set of challenges that they're having, or both. And then how would your mindset align to you making that recommendation? That's what this grid looks like for you.
And it ultimately becomes your bridging lead checklist, the BLCS. So I highly recommend that you sit down and jot this out and then just keep iterating it as you have more and more conversations so that you start to feel more and more comfortable and more and more valuable as you're talking with people, however, they came onto your calendar. and ultimately uncovering opportunities to help them, which then means that you've got leads in your pipeline.
All right, with that, I said I would share a couple of examples. So when you're thinking about what you would be recommending or offering to that contact in order to then advance it to the next step, which is a lead, which means you're having another call with them. What might be some things that you offer to them in order to create that value, in order for them to feel that it's valuable, in order for them to say, yes, I would love to talk with you more about that. Let's schedule some time.
That's what we're looking for, right? So let's just go back to our example here for a moment. Let's say that you're on a call with someone you were introduced to, and by someone in your networks. You've been introduced to them. You have never met them before. You get on a call with them. You may even set the context of that call. Hey, I'm so excited to meet with you today. I'm so glad that John introduced us.
I would love to use this time to get to know you better and to hear more about what types of challenges you're experiencing in your company. This is what I do and I'm passionate about as a consultant. I would love to, identify anything that I might be able to do to help you. And similarly, if there's , anything that pops out that might be valuable. I'll mention it to you as well. Something like that, where you're just casually setting the tone and the expectation of the call.
You may even say to them, why did you get on the call? I'm curious , what prompted you or what inspired you to set aside 30 minutes for us to get to know each other here today? What is on their mind? They may have looked at your LinkedIn profile and really want to hear more. It just opens the door for you to have more permission, self permission, usually, to then be able to recommend a next step.
So then you go through the call, you're getting to know them, you're understanding what their challenges are, what their perspective of the industry is that you're working in, or the, subject matter that you're working in. And then you may at some point say to them, listen, this wasn't really the purpose of the call, but what you've been describing to me is something that I do work with clients, , on a regular basis. And I see this problem happening.
So. Frequently with organizations that are the size of yours or that look like yours or that are in the same life cycle as yours, whatever the case may be, I would love to schedule some more time with you to go through an assessment that I've built that can help , for you to really quantify what the challenges are. and help you to set a roadmap and a set of priorities. Is that something you'd be open to scheduling another 45 minutes to go through?
by the end of it create a report for you so you've got that executive summary and then you know , it helps you to uncover blind spots that you might be missing. Is that something that would be of interest? No charge, just something that will help us to further what we've already been talking about today. Something like that, right? We're just doing it casually. We're doing it not because we're taking something from them or we're hoping that, they, will say yes.
We're doing it from the perspective of, I have something really valuable to offer to them. And I'm excited to see if it would be in a good fit for what they might be looking for. If it might be , I'm excited to see if it would be a good fit for them helping to unravel the challenge that they're facing. Not because we're leaping ahead to wondering about what we might ultimately propose to them as an engagement, but more so driven from a mindset of this next step is incredibly valuable.
I'm offering value to them and they're receptive to wanting the value that I'm offering to them. That's the mindset that you're coming at this from. Not from a, I'm worried they're going to think I have an ulterior motive or I'm being too salesy of a perspective. We have no idea if this will turn into an opportunity. But what we do know is if we can get really good at bridging from a contact to a lead, then we fill our pipeline.
And then we have a greater chance of moving some of those further down into an engagement. Right now we're working on building this skillset of bridging a contact into a lead, a contact into a lead. All right. I don't think I ever told you the examples. I gave you an example of what you might say, but some other examples of what you might offer. To bridge the contact into a lead in that conversation might be a another short call to talk more about one of the problems they described.
It doesn't have to be super formal, but it could be, you know, listen, I hear this so often, let's have another call and talk about that thing in particular, because I have a couple of ideas about how you might tackle it. Simple, right? Or you might offer them an assessment of some sort related to a problem area they shared with you. you may have built up an assessment already.
If you haven't, I would suggest sitting down and thinking about what might an assessment look like for the types of problems you solve for the types of clients you work with.
Or you might say to them, listen, I heard what you were describing, and this is something that I do , with people in your industry frequently is, set aside time for a strategy meeting where we go through and talk through this situation in more detail, and I can help you to build out a high level strategy or a high level roadmap around that, , based on what mechanism that I've created.
And again, you may not have a fully formulated mechanism yet, but I guarantee this is what you do with your clients. If you and I sat down and I asked you, what would you do with that particular client? If they said, yes, you would be able to tell me, Oh, first I would do this. Then I would do that. Then I would do that. This happens so often where I work with. Consultants and they say, well, I don't have an assessment or I don't have a strategy process. And so I say, great, no problem.
Let's talk about what you would do. And then they tell me what they would do. And then we make that into the strategy process, for example. So just think about what would you do if someone said, yeah, I've got X, Y, or Z problem. What would you do to help them create a strategy to address it and overcome it and to reach the goal around that particular area? And then write that down and then make that into your process. And then keep refining it as you go.
So those are some examples of what you might offer to someone in your BLCS tool, your Bridging Lead Cheat Sheet. Think about what might be one or two things you would offer based on the context or based on the problem the person was, , coming to you with, so that then you've got that to lean on, both , the actual offer itself and the mindset to lean on, so that you get better at bridging a lead into a contact. All right.
So that is the BLCS tool that can be so powerful for you in your business. And as we wrap up here today, I want to help you put this episode into action. The first thing is remember to go download the book, Grow Your Consulting Business, The 14 Step Roadmap to Make Your Independent Consulting Goals a Reality. You're You can find it at consultingbusinessbook. com or on Amazon, if you like the hard copy. And then that's the first step.
The second step is to take the tool that I gave you today and start making your version of it. The BLCS, the Bridging Lead Cheat Sheet. And then finally, if you want help implementing this, it can be so easy to hear these words I'm sharing with you, but so often it can be challenging to apply them to yourself and your own business because you get in your own way. I have my own coach for this exact reason.
So if you would like help building out your BLCS checklist and Ultimately bridging more contacts into leads and ultimately filling your pipeline with high quality clients that you can't wait to work with. Reach out, apply for a coaching exploratory call. You can find that at consultMelisa. com and I look forward to meeting you there. Take care. I'll see you again next week.