MP081 - Solopreneurs: Boost Lead Gen with these Powerful Automations
Teaser
Are you tired of the endless grind of prospecting and lead generation? What if I told you that a streamlined tech setup could do most of the heavy lifting for you? Stay tuned until the end as I'll be revealing some game changing web services. that are not only time savers, but could potentially transform how you generate leads, especially if you sell online.
I'll unpack all of this after the intro.
Welcome
If this is the first episode that you're listening to, welcome to the Macpreneur tribe. And if you're a longtime Macpreneur listener, thank you for tuning back in. As a fellow solopreneur, I appreciate that you dedicate these 15-ish minutes with me every week. Over the past few months, I've had the chance to interact with other Macpreneurs, and some of you expressed interest in being able to connect and discuss with other solopreneurs who run their businesses on their Mac.
Now, before launching a Macpreneur Community, I would like to be sure that enough of you actually want that.
So, if this idea sounds interesting, then head on to macpreneur.com/community, where you'll be able to join the waitlist.
Just enter your name, email address, and pick all the online platforms that you prefer using.
To get a chance to become one of the founding members of the Macpreneur community, visit macpreneur.com/community.
Problem: repetitive tasks when prospecting
As a solopreneur, your time is precious. Juggling client work, prospecting, and personal commitments can be overwhelming, especially repetitive tasks in lead generation. They can eat up hours that could be better spent somewhere else.
Solution: Automation
And the key lies in automation. By leveraging specific Mac applications and web services, you can automate the monotonous parts of lead generation.
And the good news is that you are in the right place, my Macpreneur friend. In this episode, I will explore in more detail specific solutions that are related to the three ways we can acquire new leads.
Three ways to acquire leads
The first one is outreach, so we contact people who fit the description of our ideal customer avatar.
The second one is referrals, so someone who knows, likes, and trusts us can send a potential client our way.
And the third one is organic, so it's the potential customers who contact us directly.
Outreach automation
So let's start with a solution that can help us automate repetitive tasks when it comes to outreach activities.
The first one is email templates. Rather than reinventing the wheel, it's best to create one or more messages with standard text and placeholders for personalization for each lead.
This could include their name, their role, and how you found them.
In my opinion, it's better than using email marketing tools like ConvertKit, especially at the beginning, so you can further tune the message and the copy.
So the question is, how do you do that? How do you create email templates?
Templates in Apple Mail
In the native mail application on your Mac, the process is quite simple.
So, you create a message, you close it, you don't send it, and you save it.
It will be saved in the drafts folder. Now the trick is to create another folder, a templates folder for instance.
It can be under any email account that has been configured on your Mac. It could be iCloud, Gmail, or an IMAP email account.
And so, you will move the draft message from the drafts folder to your templates folder.
Then, whenever you need to reuse that draft email, you will right-click on the message and then choose 'Send again.'
Now, you can't do that when the email is in the drafts folder. That's why you need to move that message from the drafts folder into another folder.
Templates in Gmail (on the web)
If you use Gmail, it is built-in, as long as you have activated the feature.
To do that, you open Gmail and then in the top right corner, you click on the Settings button. You go to Advanced, and then you will look for Templates.
And there you just make sure that the enable feature is ticked.
And once you have activated that feature, to create a new template, what you simply do is you create a draft email with a subject line and the body of the email.
And then once you are done, you click in the bottom right corner where you have the toolbar with the font and attachments, and so on.
You click on three dots, one on top of each other. And there in the menu, you will see templates. Then you will look at the section that says "Save draft as template."
What it will do is use the subject line of your email as the name for the template.
What is really nice is that you can fully configure the email. If you want to have attachments, those will be saved as well.
Then to reuse a template, you just click on "new message." So you will have a blank Gmail email, and the same thing, three dots in the bottom right corner.
You select templates, and then in the list of the templates that you will see, there will be an insert template section. You just click on the one that you want.
Now, if you want to go deeper on this topic, I would recommend checking out episode 62. You can find a video and a transcript at macpreneur.com/episode62.
Text replacement
Another way to automate outreach activities is by using text replacement. So it's the same idea as an email template, except that you can reuse that template in many more places like on social media, in WhatsApp, in Messages, so you're not constrained by email.
The first option, and I would say the one that you should start with if you have never done that, is the built-in text replacement capability of macOS.
So if your Mac is running macOS 12 Monterey or earlier, you just open System Preferences, then you visit Keyboard, and then Text.
And if your Mac is running macOS 13 Ventura or later, you open System Settings, you also visit the keyboard section, and there will be a button that says Text Replacements.
In both cases, you will see there is a plus button in the bottom left corner of that window, where you will be able to define two things, a trigger and a snippet of text.
So the trigger is something that you will type, and that will then be replaced by the snippet of text. What I recommend is to use a special character because the trigger shouldn't be something that you write, a normal word.
So my convention is to use the comma and then a few letters.
So I've defined comma ds, and that gets replaced by my name, Damien Schreurs.
I've also defined comma em, and it gets replaced by my EasyTECH email address.
What's even better is that those text replacements are synchronized across all your devices, which means also your iPhone and your iPad. And this is done through iCloud.
Now again, if you want to go deeper on this topic, I would recommend checking out episode 61 of the podcast.
So the video and the transcripts are available at macpreneur.com/episode61. And in that episode, I also explore a more advanced tool called Text Expander.
Email reminders
Third way to automate outreach activities is to use reminders.
It's one thing to efficiently contact people, but it's an entirely different thing to follow up with them if they don't respond.
And, according to Fit Small Business, sending up to three follow-up emails can increase your success rate by over 80%, and it takes an average of five to eight follow-up touches to generate a conversion or a meeting.
So having a way to remind you to follow up if the lead doesn't respond can be super helpful.
Apple Mail Follow Up suggestions
Now, you can do that natively with the Apple Mail app on your Mac, but this feature is only available since macOS 13 Ventura.
To double-check that it's activated, you launch Mail in the top left corner, click on Mail Settings. Then click on General and make sure that the follow-up suggestions option is ticked.
Now, the way it works is that it's using machine learning, and it will resurface emails that you have sent for which you don't have any reply, but you can configure how quickly and you can say every time I send an email to that person, I want a follow-up suggestion.
So the feature exists, but we don't have a lot of control.
Gmail Follow Up Suggestions
Gmail also has a built-in follow-up reminders, and I'm using that, and it's pretty good.
To double-check that it's activated, you visit the Gmail settings.
In the general section, you go down, and you look for an area that says Nudges and make sure that the "Suggest emails to follow up on" has been ticked on.
SaneBox @SaneReminders
Now another way, and it's a third-party tool that works with any kind of email service provider, is called SaneBox.
And they offer what they call Sane Reminders email addresses.
So, you send an email to a prospect, and in the CC or the BCC field, what you would do is you would add a special email address from SaneBox.
So it could be tomorrow at sanebox.com or 3D for 3 days @sanebox.com.
And it could be relative or it could be absolute, so you could say 7 pm at sanebox.com.
What happens is that with this special email address put in the BCC field, if the person you send the email to does not respond at the set time or date, SaneBox will resurface the email that you sent in your inbox so that it's visible and you will not forget to follow up.
And you can put a reminder that would work even if the recipient responds. And for that, you just need to add a dot keep before the @ sign.
So for instance, if you want to remind yourself to follow up with someone on the next day, you will say tomorrow dot keep at sanebox.com.
Regardless of the method, all the reminder emails will be accessible inside the @SaneReminders folder for a week. So, SaneBox automatically creates a folder for you, and all those Reminder emails are there.
And for ease of use, it's possible to import the most common SaneReminders email addresses directly into the address book.
SaneBox can do much more than remind us to follow up. There are two other features that I use a lot called At Sane Later and At Sane News.
Using Artificial Intelligence, it can filter out the inbox and move the less important messages into one of those two folders.
I've been using that for a while, it's not perfect, but the good news is that you can train the artificial intelligence by moving emails around.
So if you have an email in your inbox but you consider it not important, you just drag it and move it to the at SaneLater folder, for instance.
And then from that point on, it will have learned that email addresses with this kind of subject line and this kind of sender will then be in the @SaneLater folder rather than go to the inbox.
Vice versa. So if you visit the @SaneNews folder and you see an important email there, you can drag it back into the inbox and the next time SaneBox will make sure that the email will land in your inbox and will not be put in the @SaneNews folder.
I've been using SaneBox since 2017 and I really love it.
You can try it for free for 14 days with my affiliate link, just visit macpreneur.com/SaneBox. S A N E B O X, so macpreneur.com/Sanebox.
Streak for Gmail Automatic Follw Ups
Finally, if you want the follow-up emails to be sent automatically if the recipient does not respond, then there is another tool called Streak for Gmail.
And what's nice is that it even works with Mail Merge, so you could send a bunch of outreach messages.
And you would then personalize the first name and maybe the name of the company and so on.
But then automatically, Streak will track whether the recipients respond or not. And if they don't respond within your specified amount of time, then it will automatically send follow-up emails that you will have defined in advance.
It's a little bit like email marketing, so a little bit like a ConvertKit email sequence, but the big difference is that with ConvertKit, the next email of the sequence will always fire, whereas here with Streak, the follow-up emails will only be sent if the person does not respond.
Now, to be totally clear and honest, I have not tested this feature yet because I'm not a paying customer for Streak. But I wanted to put that on the radar for you.
Automating referrals
Okay, now let's explore how to get referrals on autopilot. Everything that I've covered before applies to referrals too.
So the templates, the text replacements, automated reminders - we can reuse those as well for referrals.
Email PS
But there is another technique that I learned from Chris Ducker. He is one of my business mentors, and it simply involves including a PS in the email signature.
So, after delivering a service or selling a product to your customers, at the bottom of the next email, just add a PS asking them if they know someone who might need your product and services.
And, you don't even need to think about it. You just prepare the email signature once and voila!
Affiliate programs
If you sell online products, subscriptions, or software, you can also incentivize your customers to refer you by setting up an affiliate program.
Now, again, I have never done that before.
However, if I were to offer one in the future, and I'm sure that at one point I will, I would use either LemonSqueezy or Gumroad.
Both of them offer affiliate management platforms with built-in request forms and full dashboards.
And why did I choose them? Why did I select those among many that I found online?
Just because they act as the Merchant of Record.
And it means that I am not the person who needs to collect taxes.
Because as the Merchant of Record, Gumroad and LemonSqueezy will be the entity that actually sells the thing.
And so they have to take care of the tax stuff, and I don't need to take care of the tax stuff.
Organic leads automation
Now let's have a look at how to reduce friction when a lead finds you organically. Social proof has a huge influence when someone who doesn't know you much needs to decide whether to contact you or not.
Testimonials
Which means that having testimonials is very important.
Now, collecting those testimonials can be tricky and time-consuming, but it doesn't have to be that way.
To help your clients with their testimonials, I suggest creating an online form with predefined prompts.
Now, for EasyTECH, I'm using Wufoo, and once a customer has filled the form, there is a thank-you email that is sent automatically.
In parallel, I have configured a web automation with Zapier, Z-A-P-I-E-R, that transfers the form fields into Podio, which is my CRM or Customer Relationship Management.
This is a great start, but it's only in written form, and I still need to manually add those testimonials to the website.
And so when it comes to testimonials, videos are definitely much more impactful. So the question is, how could we automate that?
So for Macpreneur, I'm evaluating a tool called Bonjoro, B-O-N-J-O-R-O, which allows to easily collect both text and video testimonials, but it goes beyond that because it's possible to easily embed the testimonials of our choosing directly onto our website with a single click. So there's no copy-paste needed.
Automating contact form data copy
The next step is that they decide to inquire about our products and services. Now, like most solopreneurs, I assume that you have a contact form on your website. And the $100 question is, what happens when they click on the submit button?
So let me guess, the content of the form is sent to you by email, and then you have to manually copy-paste the data into your CRM and your digital address book, and then you may want to create a reminder to follow up on that, and you have to do that manually as well.
With a web service like Zapier, which I talked about earlier, you can fully automate that.
And best of all, you don't need to be a programmer at all.
So first, when you create an account with Zapier, you will need to give it access to the online tools that you use.
But then, after that, Zapier has an AI assistant, and you just tell it what you want to automate, and it will create the workflow automatically for you.
And it will even tell you whether it's possible or not, whether the action or the trigger is available. Now, for EasyTECH, whenever a lead clicks the submit button on the website, all the contact information is copied to Podio, my CRM, and to Google Contacts, so that if they call me by phone, I will see, I will know it's them, I will have caller ID, and if I want to call them, I don't need to do anything special, I open my iPhone, and their phone number will be in the contacts list already.
After that, Zapier will create a new task in Todoist, my task manager, to remind me to follow up if needed. And on the form, there is a checkbox asking the lead if they want to get the Apple security alerts. If they tick that box, Zapier will automatically add the contact to ConvertKit and will give it the tag for the Apple Security Alert.
Automating discovery meeting scheduling
The final step of the client acquisition process is usually a discovery discussion, which means booking a video conference call or an on-site visit.
And tools like Calendly or Acuity Scheduling can automate the process, including the generation of Zoom links, Teams links, Google Meet, and various other video conferencing platforms.
What is great is that you can connect your calendar to those appointment booking tools so that they know when you are free and when you are not free.
It's also possible to define parameters like how much buffer time you want between meetings, the maximum number of appointments that it can accept in a single day, and how soon in the future the lead can book an appointment. In my case, it's usually at least seven days.
I'm using Calendly because it's very affordable. You can configure questions in the form, and the time is displayed in the time zone of the person visiting the site. It also offers automated appointment reminders and automated follow-up emails, and it integrates very well with Zapier for additional automation.
Recap
So, to recap, I have explored different ways to save time when it comes to acquiring new leads.
First, I've discussed how email templates, text replacement, and automated reminders can help us with outreach activities.
Then, I've explored how to get referrals on autopilot by leveraging a simple yet powerful PS at the bottom of your emails and also through specialized Affiliate Management platforms.
After that, we have looked at tools to collect testimonials efficiently, and finally, I have shared with you how automation can reduce friction when a prospect finally decides to inquire about our products and services, including organizing a discovery call or an on-site visit.
I hope this episode has helped you discover tools and strategies to further streamline your lead generation process.
If that's the case, I suggest picking one task and start implementing one strategy before the next episode.
360° Tech diagnostic service
And if you feel you need help doing so, I have good news for you. I'm opening up a few private coaching spots.
Now, to be eligible, just sign up for my 360-degree tech diagnostic service. This will clarify where to work on in priority.
And if you decide to work with me one-on-one for a longer period of time, I will deduct the diagnostic fees from the first coaching pack that you will purchase.
To learn more about this diagnostic session, just visit macpreneur.com/diagnostic.
Next and outro
So that's it for today.
In the next episode, I will give you some tips to streamline the onboarding of new clients, including any paperwork that might be involved.
And until next time, I'm Damien Schreurs, wishing you a great day.
Thank you for listening to the Macpreneur Podcast. If you've enjoyed the show, please leave a review and share it with a friend right now.