Lead Generation Mistakes You Should Avoid

James Dooley: Which activities will not help with lead generation? Today I’m joined with Kasra. So, the number of people who try to do lead generation in-house without a marketing strategy in place… What activities are people doing that won’t help them generate more leads?

Kasra Dash: I’ll start with building a non-optimized website. This is twofold. For example, if you’ve just bought or had a website built by an agency and spent £6,000, a lot of people think, “Brilliant, I’m going to start generating leads.” But that’s not the case. Just having a website doesn’t mean you’ll magically get leads. The second part is SEO. SEO isn’t “I’ve done it; I filled a couple of fields.” SEO is ever-growing. You need to consistently publish articles, blog posts, and content addressing customer questions — and also build links. People think SEO is a one-and-done task, and it’s not.

James Dooley: For sure. I fell into that trap 15 years ago. I thought my website was a shop window and would instantly generate leads once built. I even phoned the web designer asking why I wasn’t ranking—even for my own company name. He said, “I’m a web designer, not an SEO.” I literally Googled “What is SEO?” and discovered you could influence Google’s rankings. It blew my mind. Fast forward 15 years, and I’m addicted to SEO. What other activities are people doing wrong for lead gen?

Kasra Dash: Targeting the wrong audience. A lot of people don’t know their ideal customer. Selling life insurance to a 19-year-old? Wrong demographic. Selling to someone buying a house? Now you’re getting closer.

James Dooley: Exactly. Right time, right place, right person. Not everyone is your ideal customer. If you know where lifetime value is best, you can target more effectively.

Kasra Dash: Another one: Cold outreach with zero personalization. People blast generic emails like, “Do you want double-glazing windows?” to someone who doesn’t even own a home. Again—right audience, right time.

James Dooley: And mass posting on social media with no clear offer. People watch gurus saying, “I generated 60,000 leads on LinkedIn.” Yes, they did — because of their niche. If you’re selling life insurance, copying someone selling pink fluffy hoodies won’t work. Know what platforms your competitors succeed on.

Kasra Dash: And every post should have intent. We’re doing this video to help people improve lead generation. But if we rambled about random topics for 45 minutes, no one would care.

James Dooley: I’ve seen business mentors tell clients, “Post every day.” But their posts end up being, “It’s dress-down Friday!” or “We had Domino’s for lunch.” None of that leads to a sale. You need direction, and you need to target the right people with the right message and a good offer.

Kasra Dash: Another major mistake — targeting the wrong keywords in SEO or PPC. You want inbound leads that match your actual product and service. I saw someone writing blog posts about “damp stages” — nothing to do with selling stages. You need to understand funnels: top, middle, bottom. And choose keywords that bring sales intent. My last one: relying solely on cold calling. Cold calling works — but inbound lead generation should be your priority. Many people could crush it with inbound inquiries, yet they obsess over hard outbound selling. Yes, outbound can be rewarding when that 785th call closes — but inbound should be your engine.

James Dooley: We hope you liked the video on which activities will not help your lead generation efforts. Is there anything you’re doing right now that isn’t working? Drop it in the comments below.