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Alex Alvarez
Foreign.
Courtney Johnson
Welcome to Slay the Gatekeeper. I'm your host, Courtney Johnson and I am here to un gatekeep the gatekeep. Thank you so much for being here. Enjoy all great. Hello. Welcome Alex. Super excited that you're here. We actually had a one on one recently where you talked about lead generation and it really interested me and I'm like, damn, I gotta have you gotta have you on the pod. So welcome Alex. Do you want to give a little bit of background about who you are, what you're working on?
Alex Alvarez
I'm Alex, super happy and excited to be on the pod. And yeah, I stumbled into Legion because I was doing the traditional marketing agency model and what I found was that I was actually better at getting people on the phone than I was actually fulfilling for them. And I have been doing lead gen now for the past four or five years. And rather than focusing on the classic marketing agency model and fulfilling those services, I have been helping others with lead gen and learning how to book as many sales appointments as possible on the calendars for whatever type of B2B agency, marketing agency, any type of B2B business that they're running.
Courtney Johnson
So how are you actually getting these leads? How are you. I know it's kind of a lot of questions, but how are you getting the leads and how are you making sure that they're qualified? Are you running ads? Are you like scraping data and working with that? What's your process of getting these leads?
Alex Alvarez
Yeah, so I've experimented with so many different data scraping tools over the years, and the key to building a solid list is just going wherever your audience lives. So I'll give you an example. When I was doing paid ads and doing email marketing for beauty business owners, specifically within the Lash business space, what I would do is I would just stalk my ideal clients on Instagram, look at who they're following and who they consider as thought leaders in their industry, and then use that tool to scrape the follower lists of those thought leaders. Because the people that follow these coaches or these influencers in that industry are already expressing interest and showing that they want to get more information to grow their business, etc. So it shows that they're qualified. It shows that they're qualified just by the fact that they're following closely with those accounts.
Courtney Johnson
Okay, so let's say that you were working for like an agency that did permit personal brand stuff. You could go to my account, find the people that follow me, because if they follow me, they're probably interested in getting personal brand help and scrape their Data. So it would be their username, their email, their phone, all of that.
Alex Alvarez
Exactly, exactly. And so you do that on Instagram, you could do it on LinkedIn. A lot of these thought leaders in these industries are posting lead magnets as well. And so the comment section on those lead magnets are also a gold mine. And so these tools just scrape everyone that's interacted with that post or with that account. You just tell it where to scrape and it will spit out phone numbers, email addresses, etc.
Courtney Johnson
Okay, very smart. So if I'm posting a lead Magnet of a LinkedIn profile optimization guide and people are commenting, guide, guide, guide. You could pull everyone that's commented guide because clearly they desire to optimize their LinkedIn profile and they already have that intent.
Alex Alvarez
Exactly, exactly.
Courtney Johnson
That is so sneaky. I love it. So let's say we got it. Like you've scraped the data. You scrape the data of my followers as well as people that are like downloading specific lead magnets that I'm putting out. Because you have this agency that does personal brand work. Like now. Now what? Now what do you do now? How do you follow up with them in a way that actually converts rather than just them being annoyed? You know that feeling when nobody really gets what you're going through, when you're surrounded by all of these people, but you somehow still feel alone? I lived that reality for years until I discovered the power of healing and community. Reinvigorate and Restore is a luxury six day retreat in Cape Town designed specifically for women who are ready to move beyond survival mode to begin living your best life truly and authentically. Imagine six days in Cape Town, April 14th through 19th, by the way, in a luxurious villa where everything is designed for your restoration. Morning yoga, overlooking the mountain, sound healing sessions. Authentic connection with people who understand your journey without explanation. Imagine six days with people who truly get it, who see you, hear you, and walk alongside you in your healing journey. Time is limited, so book your spot for April. Again, the retreat is April 14th through 19th, and you can visit survivors riseretreat.com to book a call with Paula to learn more. Your people are waiting for you.
Alex Alvarez
Totally.
Courtney Johnson
Totally.
Alex Alvarez
So I, I think that this is a little bit of a hot take that I have when it comes to cold outreach. I don't believe in opening up your cold outreach conversation, trying to build rapport, which I know is. I've posted about that on my own platform and I've gotten a lot of disagreements on that. But I think that as long as you're Sending an initial offer that speaks to exactly what your client's pain points are, it's pretty easy to get them on the phone. So the way that I do that is I tell them exactly what it is that I'm offering, the results that I can get them, how long it would take me, and a high level overview of how I'm doing that. And then the very end of the message is, are you open to chatting? So then I feed that into my automation tool and then that tool sends that message to all of those leads that I scraped. And pretty quickly people will just respond, yes, I'm interested in hopping on the phone. And then that is where you can go in and build rapport through some of your content or case studies that you've generated. I just, I say that always shoot with the offer right away, build rapport after, before they got onto the phone, and then close the deal once you've gotten onto, once you've gotten them onto call.
Courtney Johnson
Okay, interesting, because that is a very controversial take. I feel like most people would probably say build rapport first, but you're like, no, if we're pitching, let's just go straight to the pitch. And then if they're like, when they're in that curious space between the pitch and the call, that's when you're nurturing them, that's when you're sending them content and doing the nurture. The, the nurture strategy. That's super interesting.
Alex Alvarez
Yeah, that's the strategy that's worked well for me because I think, I mean, I'm not saying obviously that building rapport before pitching, obviously that works for so many people and it's is a surefire way eventually to close the deal once you have that rapport. But I think that when you're pumping out such large volume, you don't necessarily always have the time to be building that rapport with every single individual lead. And you would be surprised with how much interest you can get from that initial outreach message.
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And that's really, really smart. So you, they book the call or they, you're sending them the offer, then they're building rapport and you get them on the call, then you just have a salesperson go through and take them through the call. Is that right?
Alex Alvarez
So I, at this point, I'm the one that's hopping on all of the calls. And so yeah, I have that conversation with them in the DM and they express that they're wanting to learn more and typically that, that turnaround between them Saying yes to wanting to learn more and actually hopping onto the call. I try to minimize that to keep the lead as warm as you can. So sometimes I'll even make my call to action, like are you free to chat in 10 minutes or are you free to jump on a call today? Tomorrow try to do it within that 24 hour window. And rather than sending a booking link, I will just book them myself because you run the risk for them to not click that link and to book a call with you, especially when it comes to cold outreach. So then prior to actually jumping onto the call with them, I have the nurture sequence set up where they're getting a certain amount of case studies sent to them and just learning a little bit more about what it is that I have to offer. Then I jump on the call.
Courtney Johnson
Okay, super interesting. So how are like what are some of the things or cheat codes that you're doing to nurture them so they. So you are building this trust?
Alex Alvarez
Yeah, so like I said, sending any type of social proof or case studies with other clients that I've worked with and just showing some of the results that we have generated for them, I'll typically send them that there as soon as they've agreed to a call. I will ask sometimes ask a few questions directly in the DM so that I know exactly I have a little bit more of a picture before I jump onto the call with them. And that is I know that some people like to do an intake form but for me I tend typically am pretty conversational about it once they've already expressed their interest and it's pretty casual conversation of just oh yeah, totally, that's something that we can help with, that's something that we see often and then pretty seamless pipeline then to increasing the show up rate as well once that rapport has been built.
Courtney Johnson
Do you feel like there's a certain like level or revenue you have to be at to run this play? Like do you, you know, do you need to be established? Is this just for companies or what? If you're like a personal brand that's like a CPA or like a graphic designer or something, can they be running this play too? Nexus Point is a best in class outsourcing company that helps business owners and entrepreneurs scale efficiently and profitably by leveraging the global talent pool. Founded by entrepreneurs like yourselves, Nexus Point uses its vast infrastructure to find, hire and train best in class talent from around the globe at just 20% of the cost of hiring locally. Nexus Point will provide you with pre vetted talent with college degrees and at least three years of work experience, often with US based business owners. From executive assistants to social media managers, customer service reps, data entry and research analyst and other back office functions, Nexus Point can help take you and your business to the next most profitable level yet. Use the special link or mention slay the gatekeeper and have the $500 search fee completely waived. Delegation is so important, but it can be so hard to find the right talent. So I highly recommend checking out Nexus Point again. You can book a call at go nexus pt IO CourtneyJohnson or visit the link in the Show Notes.
Alex Alvarez
Oh absolutely. That's something that I also preach is that especially when it comes to Instagram outreach and SMS outreach, it often works better when you don't do your outreach from a super businessy professional looking account. I get way higher responses when I'm reaching out for my just normal everyday Instagram account because a lot of these business owners are used to getting pitched and receiving a million DMS in a day and oftentimes they all look the same. So when you look like someone who could potentially be inquiring about that business owner services, your DM is most likely it's more likely to get opened. So I actually encourage doing outreach from a pretty standard account, especially when it comes to Instagram. So yeah, to answer your question, there really isn't any barrier for someone to do cold outreach. And like I mentioned with SMS because you have all these phone numbers, I know that technically cold SMS is illegal, but when you're doing SMS from imessage, it's not technically SMS because it's a separate platform. So the app that I use is the Reach app and you just have that initial outreach message, you send it to that list that you scraped and that especially like even if you are an established business owner and you're doing outreach over text, they're not seeing right away that you're an established owner. So it doesn't really affect your response rate as much because people aren't going to be doing a lot of digging. They just read either ignore it or they choose to respond right on the spot.
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, I think that this is really important to call out that like anybody can be doing this and it works better from a personal account. This is so true. Like oh my gosh, the amount of annoying cold outreach I get from brands that just like whatever is not helpful. But if it's a human, immediately my guard is down. Immediately I'm like okay, like I'll entertain this, I'll talk to this person for sure. Is there a way, like, how are you making this custom? Because I find that like, if you can be a little customized in your outreach messages, like the conversion's a lot higher or does it not matter because the people that you're pulling have the same goal. So it's custom in the fact that you like know the transformation they're desiring to make.
Alex Alvarez
Yeah, totally. So I something that I encourage is relevancy and greater segmentation over customization. So I'll give you an example and I'll bring it back to when I was doing this for the marketing agency model that I was running. I knew that when I was doing outreach to Lash artists that followed higher end suppliers, I could position my offer as more of a white glove service. Done for you deal. And as opposed to those lush artists that were following some of those more affordable suppliers, those offers were more done with you. They didn't, they were more, how do I say this? Those offers were positioned in a way that felt more approachable to people who might not be generating as much revenue within that specific industry. So I would say that that's one way too customize. But I typically don't customize based on hey, I saw this on your profile. I think that's interesting. I think if anything, what you can do and what I have One of my VAs do is I give them the list of people who the automation went out to and then they'll go and comment on that person's content and I just tell them to comment anything personal that they think is interesting. And then it's just a quick like, hey, love this, sent you a message, hope you can take a look. Something like that.
Courtney Johnson
Yeah. That's really cool. This is so, so sneaky. I love it. Today's episode is sponsored by my Sunrise Content Club. I created Sunrise Content Club because I really desired accountability in my content creation. How it works is we meet on Zoom every single weekday from 8 to 9am we get on the Zoom, we play some fun music, we have a little mindful moment and then I give you a content promotion prompt and we spend about 45 minutes working on this prompt together. In this time, you can ask questions, get feedback on your content, and at the end we all share our wins and we also share our content that we have created during that time so we all get an initial boost because we are liking and commenting on each other's posts. There's also a really fun and supportive group chat where you can ask questions, share your content, get accountability. The Sunrise Content Club is an incredible way to stay consistent in your content creation and have community support. It is especially helpful with folks with ADHD who find value in body doubling. For a very limited time, you can join the Sunrise Content club for just $99 a month. This is a very special limited time founders rate and I am so excited to see you guys there. Join the Sunrise Content Club today. Yeah, I haven't done any cold outreach, which is really crazy cause I know I'm definitely missing out on a lot of money and impact and customers, but. But that's why I wanted to talk to you. That's really, really cool. So you're so mainly on Instagram. Are you doing any cold outreach on LinkedIn?
Alex Alvarez
Yeah. So I'm experimenting with cold outreach on LinkedIn more manually before I'm introducing automation tools because I find that LinkedIn is a little bit more sensitive when it comes to introducing automation. I also think that because oftentimes when you are connecting with people in your icp, they will message you right when they accept that connection request. It's pretty easy just to respond back with that offer. And I would say that I still consider that cold outreach even though the other person accepted and sent that initial message. I've found that that has been Most effective on LinkedIn. But I typically, from what I've experimented with, I don't advise sending a message with the connection request. I always just send that message once we've already gotten connected.
Courtney Johnson
I'm glad you said that because I tell people this all the time, especially in my level up on LinkedIn cohort is do not like, don't, don't pitch in your connection request or they're immediately going to decline it. Just wait until they accept you. And you're right, LinkedIn is way more strict. They're way more strict about automation. And that could get hairy, especially if you're trying things out where you have an established LinkedIn profile that's really important for your personal brand and getting your clients. I wouldn't get too crazy with the automations, but you could use something like Sales Navigator. You could wait till people message you, then message them, wait till somebody accepts your request, then do a cold outreach. Like those are all really solid ways. But I agree, like I find that on X or Instagram or Facebook you can go a little harder with testing out kind of crazy shit. But LinkedIn, I just want to get too crazy on LinkedIn, especially if your income is dependent on it.
Alex Alvarez
Totally, totally. And I think that a loophole. I think that LinkedIn is a great place to scrape leads because similarly, like I mentioned with Instagram, it's another place where you can tell what people's exact buyer's intent is. So if anything, I have used my lead scraping tools on LinkedIn to get those contacts and then I reach out to them via imessage.
Courtney Johnson
Okay, that's really interesting. Is there any time where you like can't find people's stuff and you're like, fuck, Like I like, I can't find anything about you?
Alex Alvarez
Well, with the tool because it's all. The lead scraping part is all automated. It just won't return back an email or a phone number if it's not available. But it doesn't ever return the name. It's usually one or the other.
Courtney Johnson
Well, like how, what are you offering right now? Like if somebody's listening to this and they're like, oh, Alex, I want to start implementing this for me. Like, how are you working with clients on this?
Alex Alvarez
Yeah, so what I'm doing is I'm setting up first off, I bring them onto a one time setup call. I don't lock any of my clients into a, a long term contract. It's just one time call where I learn more about what it is that you're offering or we get more solid on what it is that you're offering and write those offers together. I have a ton of different frameworks that I run my clients through and then I just probe a little bit more about where their audience hangs out online, which drives where we'll be doing the outreach, where we'll be scraping the leads. Then I set up all of those individual automation tools, just have my client literally share their screen and I walk them through it. And then we do, we'll just run some campaigns together and I check back in on a weekly basis individually for the first month. And then after the first month they can just join my office hours, ask any questions they want and my team will scrape a certain amount of leads for them for however much for an unlimited amount of time.
Courtney Johnson
Okay, cool. That's super cool. What's like a price range of working with you on this? Like I'd love for people to start thinking of. Yeah. To see what, what budget you fit in. I know, I guess it's like done with you and done for you or just done with you.
Alex Alvarez
It's done with you. The only thing that's truly done for you is offer X amount of leads that will scrape for you, like I said. And that's lifetime access to that. So yeah, starting price is 1500 for the one time setup and then you get all time forever access.
Courtney Johnson
Wow, that is a really great deal.
Alex Alvarez
Yeah.
Courtney Johnson
Damn. Okay. Y'all gotta work with Alex. That's really cool. Yeah, I think this is great. Like, again, it's like, it's such a marketing cheat code that I feel like not a lot of people are using, but it seems so obvious we have the information. I think it's great. Like, again, this is something I definitely want to try. Yeah. Okay, great. Is there any other cheat codes or any other tips or ideas that you want to leave with the audience?
Alex Alvarez
Yeah, a tip that I would give is just outreach is such a numbers game. And it's so easy to get hung up on the nos, but oftentimes getting no from people is a sign that one. The quality of your lead list is pretty good if you're getting responses in the first place. At that point, it's just switching up your messaging. So with that, I would say don't get hung up on the nose. Continue to pump out the numbers and experiment what type of messaging is landing with your list. And just be very, very open to experimentation and trying out new offers. Because every offer eventually burns out. The more that people are used to hearing especially specific offer, the less effective it becomes. So don't be afraid to make your messaging a little bit unconventional. Sounds like a human, like we talked about earlier. And truly just write these messages the way that you would text a friend, which is something that I think that a lot of people don't think of. Especially when you're trying to get people to buy your services. People are under the impression that you need to come off as this super established, super buttoned up business owner. But people want to connect with other humans. So I think that that is the main mindset shift that everyone should make prior to even starting outreach.
Courtney Johnson
Yeah, I love that. Yeah, talk like, talk like a friend. Write like a friend. I could not agree more. Well, Alex, if people, if listeners want to work with you, where can they find you? How can they sign up for your program?
Alex Alvarez
Yeah, so y'all can find me on LinkedIn. Eventually I will be starting up on YouTube and Instagram, but for now it's LinkedIn. Alex Alvarez. I'll send Courtney a link and you can just connect with me there and would love to work with everyone.
Courtney Johnson
Beautiful. Thank you, Alex. Okay, y'all, if you like this episode, you would love, love my Patreon. Okay? You get exclusive access to me, exclusive content, tons of other resources, and a lot of juicy shit.
Alex Alvarez
Okay?
Courtney Johnson
So I hope to see you on my Patreon.
Slay The Gatekeeper: Episode Summary – Un-Gatekeeping Lead Generation with Alex Alvarez
In this enlightening episode of Slay The Gatekeeper, host Courtney Johnson sits down with lead generation expert Alex Alvarez to dissect innovative strategies that dismantle traditional barriers in marketing. Alex brings his extensive experience in transforming cold outreach into a highly effective, scalable process tailored for B2B businesses. Throughout their conversation, they explore cutting-edge techniques, mindset shifts, and actionable insights that listeners can implement to supercharge their lead generation efforts.
The episode kicks off with Courtney welcoming Alex Alvarez, who shares his professional journey and the rationale behind his pivot from a conventional marketing agency to specializing in lead generation.
Alex Alvarez [00:34]: “I was actually better at getting people on the phone than I was actually fulfilling for them.”
Alex explains that over the past four to five years, he has honed his expertise in lead generation, focusing on booking sales appointments for various B2B sectors, including marketing agencies and other business services. This shift underscores the importance of leveraging one's strengths to deliver maximum value to clients.
Courtney delves into the heart of lead generation, prompting Alex to elaborate on his methods for acquiring and qualifying leads effectively.
Courtney Johnson [01:37]: “How are you getting the leads and how are you making sure that they're qualified?”
Alex demystifies his approach by emphasizing the use of data scraping tools to gather contact information from platforms where the target audience is most active. He highlights the strategy of targeting followers of industry thought leaders to ensure the leads are already interested and engaged.
Alex Alvarez [02:37]: “The key to building a solid list is just going wherever your audience lives.”
Using Instagram as a prime example, Alex describes how he identifies and scrapes the follower lists of influencers and thought leaders within specific niches, such as beauty business owners in the Lash industry. This method ensures that the leads are pre-qualified based on their demonstrated interest in relevant content and services.
One of the most compelling parts of the discussion revolves around Alex’s unconventional approach to cold outreach. Contrary to the traditional method of building rapport before pitching, Alex advocates for presenting the offer upfront.
Alex Alvarez [05:15]: “I don't believe in opening up your cold outreach conversation, trying to build rapport... I think that as long as you're sending an initial offer that speaks to exactly what your client's pain points are, it's pretty easy to get them on the phone.”
Courtney acknowledges the controversial nature of this tactic but finds merit in its effectiveness, especially when dealing with large volumes of leads.
Courtney Johnson [06:38]: “...if we're pitching, let's just go straight to the pitch. And then if they're like, when they're in that curious space between the pitch and the call, that's when you're nurturing them, that's when you're sending them content and doing the nurture strategy.”
Alex explains that by directly addressing the client’s pain points and presenting a clear, compelling offer, he can swiftly engage prospects. The follow-up nurturing happens post-initial contact, ensuring that the lead remains warm and informed through case studies and social proof.
The conversation shifts to the nuances of different social platforms, with Alex sharing tailored strategies for each.
Alex Alvarez [11:24]: “I get way higher responses when I'm reaching out from a normal everyday Instagram account because a lot of these business owners are used to getting pitched and receiving a million DMs in a day.”
Alex advises using a personal, non-business-centric account on Instagram to increase the likelihood of responses. This approach humanizes the outreach, making it stand out amidst the plethora of generic business messages.
When discussing LinkedIn, Alex highlights the platform’s sensitivity to automation and recommends a more manual, personalized approach.
Alex Alvarez [16:58]: “I don't advise sending a message with the connection request. I always just send that message once we've already gotten connected.”
Courtney reinforces this by stressing the importance of maintaining a professional and authentic presence on LinkedIn to preserve one’s personal brand and avoid the pitfalls of over-automation.
A critical aspect of effective outreach is the balance between customization and segmentation. Alex advocates for segmented messaging based on the audience's characteristics rather than individualized customization.
Alex Alvarez [14:13]: “I encourage doing outreach from a pretty standard account, especially when it comes to Instagram.”
He explains that by segmenting leads based on their following and engagement patterns, businesses can tailor their offers to align with the specific needs and revenue potential of different groups. This method maintains scalability while ensuring relevance and resonance with each segment.
Alex outlines his collaborative working model, designed to empower clients through a done-with-you approach rather than a fully outsourced service.
Alex Alvarez [19:54]: “...I have a ton of different frameworks that I run my clients through and then I just probe a little bit more about where their audience hangs out online.”
Clients undergo a one-time setup call to refine their offers and identify optimal outreach platforms. Alex assists in setting up automation tools and running initial campaigns, offering ongoing support through weekly check-ins and office hours.
Alex Alvarez [21:10]: “Starting price is $1,500 for the one-time setup and then you get all-time forever access.”
This pricing model provides clients with lifetime access to the established systems and continuous support, presenting significant value for businesses looking to scale their lead generation efforts.
As the episode draws to a close, Alex imparts essential advice on maintaining resilience and adaptability in lead generation.
Alex Alvarez [22:02]: “Outreach is such a numbers game. And it's so easy to get hung up on the nos... You should continue to pump out the numbers and experiment with what type of messaging is landing with your list.”
He emphasizes the importance of persistence, experimentation, and staying open to new approaches. Alex also highlights the need to humanize communication, encouraging outreach messages to mimic friendly conversations rather than sterile business pitches.
Alex Alvarez [22:02]: “Write these messages the way that you would text a friend.”
This mindset shift is crucial for fostering genuine connections and enhancing engagement rates, ultimately leading to more successful conversions.
Courtney and Alex wrap up the episode by reiterating the value of innovative lead generation strategies and the importance of adapting traditional methods to modern platforms. Alex’s insights provide listeners with a fresh perspective on cold outreach, emphasizing efficiency, relevance, and human-centric communication.
For those interested in implementing these strategies, Alex invites listeners to connect with him on LinkedIn, where he shares further insights and offers collaboration opportunities.
Key Takeaways:
Notable Quotes:
This episode serves as a comprehensive guide for marketers and business owners seeking to enhance their lead generation strategies, offering practical advice and innovative techniques to navigate and succeed in the competitive landscape of B2B marketing.