Last week I talked about how most people struggle when it comes to generating leads for their business.

But there's a “secret” source of new leads that almost everyone overlooks.

Perhaps the best source of new leads is old leads.

Many years ago Brian Carroll made the important observation that something like 95% of visitors to your website aren't ready to buy when they visit. But up to 70% of them will buy at some time in the next couple of years. It's just that they might well not buy from you.

That's what I mean by your best new leads being old leads.

Unfortunately, what most of us do when our leads turn out not to be ready to buy (as most of them aren't) is we move on to other “hot leads” and we stop communicating with those “tire kickers” who weren't ready right away.

Of course, 99% of those people not ready to buy aren't tire kickers. They're just not ready to buy yet, or you haven't done enough to convince them you're the right person to work with them.

In 3 months, 9 months, a year, maybe two years they will be ready to buy.

And who will they buy from?

The person who's basically ignored them for 2 years? Or has sent the odd nagging email to check if they're ready to do something yet?

Or the person who's nurtured a relationship with them over that period?

Someone who's sent them valuable information. Who's asked and answered questions. Who's kept in touch in a friendly and useful way.

Those old leads can be your very best new leads – if you treat them right