You may have noticed, people live on their devices, I know I feel like I’m missing an arm without my cell phone. 82% of buyers research you online before they take action, be it buying your product or service or calling you to schedule a demo. This means your digital presence has to be up to snuff.

There are lots of great ways to help generate leads through your website. Having someone opt in by giving you their “almighty” email address can be very powerful. Previously we posted about subscribe boxes and pop up email collection apps but there are tons of ways to get someone to opt in and make it fun at the same time. One of my favorites is a quiz.

An organically grown email list is key to a strong online presence. However, asking for someone’s email address can be tricky. I had personal experience requesting email addresses in a store and people treating me like I requested exclusive access to their first born child’s naming rights. Anyway, users are reluctant to just give out their email address when they first step foot on your site. They want to be certain they enjoy your content and find value in it. Below I will include a short list of useful lead gen tools to capture emails but first let’s go over a few polite ways to ask for users’ emails.

As most of you know, in a blink of an eye, the carefully curated “good girl” image of one Taylor Swift was destroyed by a series of snapchat videos exposing her to be a liar and destroying her reputation.  For those of you that live under a rock, you can read about it on vox.com.  

“What can we learn from this?” you ask, “How does this have any relevance to my business?” let me elaborate.  

Knowing your audience when presenting your business is essential. In order to succeed at selling your company you need to know when to lay it on thick and when to back off. Different scenarios call for different sales pitches. Speaking to someone in the hallway versus a formal business meeting should not be approached in the same manner. It can be a huge turn off to a prospect when you are trying to over sell them right off the bat.

Wikipedia says it all:

"Compartmentalization is an unconscious psychological defense mechanism used to avoid cognitive dissonance, or the mental discomfort and anxiety caused by a person's having conflicting values, cognitions, emotions, beliefs, etc. within themselves."

Compartmentalization allows these conflicting ideas to co-exist by inhibiting direct or explicit acknowledgement and interaction between separate compartmentalised self states."

I've long been fascinated by psychology and as a woman who never married in her forties, I find it amazing how much I have learned over the years about the opposite sex.

Sometimes I totally get it. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Other times, I literally shake my head and wonder how in hell did that person do that, when they do this normally.

It's like having a very straight, conservative hardworking female employee, who is a stripper at night. It's hard to comprehend that they could or would do both, particularly if they are religious.