Hold A Contest

In the mid-1980s, the California Closet Company launched a national campaign to get leads. With masterful execution, the company held a series of contests to find the messiest closets in America. With the promise of a free closet design for all of the winners, homeowners were encouraged to send in pictures of their closets and storage spaces.

The contest was a massive success and generated tremendous publicity for California Closets. But that’s not even the best part of the story. Even more valuable than the publicity were the hundreds of leads that streamed in from coast to coast. The company ended up with an instant mailing list of qualified homeowners who had self-identified themselves as being unhappy with their current storage arrangements. Talk about a great way to get semi-qualified leads!

The beauty of this approach is that the respondents have not only identified themselves as having a particular problem, they have also indicated a desire to fix it. This inherent needs qualification is half the battle. The other half, of course, is making sure they can afford to do something about it.

Although it works best in business-to-consumer environments, this approach can be harnessed effectively by a wide variety of businesses. The key lies in the offer: it has to be perceived to be valuable enough to warrant submitting an entry.