207. Burned by Lead Services? Here's Why Your Leads Won't Convert

If you’ve ever poured money into a lead-gen campaign that delivered nothing but frustration, you’re not alone. In this episode, Brad Powell breaks down why high-volume marketing tactics consistently fail for expert businesses — and what to do instead.

You’ll learn how to shift from traffic marketing to trust marketing, so your best clients find you, believe you, and buy from you — without chasing cold leads.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why high-volume “traffic” campaigns kill trust (and how to fix it)
• The simple spectrum that shows whether your marketing is aligned with your offer
• The difference between quantity leads and quality relationships
• The one content asset that keeps working for you — even when you’re not
• How to close the “trust gap” so buyers come ready to say yes

Mic Drop Truth:

You don’t have a lead problem. You have a trust problem.

Listen next:

👉 Episode #202: The 5 Trust-Building Videos Every Expert Needs
(But No One’s Making)

Resources:

Get my Free Trust Signals Checklist

🎯 Want to create Mic Drop Moment videos that turn strangers into ready-to-buy clients and elevate you as the most sought-after brand in your market - in less than 1 hour per month?
👉 Book your Standout Call here: https://standoutcall.com

Because when you start showing up with clarity, confidence, and the right content—your ideal clients won't just notice you. They'll choose you.

Thanks for tuning in. If you found this episode helpful, share it with another expert entrepreneur who’s ready to stop blending in.

Episode Transcript

Brad Powell (00:00):
If you've ever tried a lead gen campaign where
you're paying for traffic andthe results you got was mostly
about burning a big hole in yourwallet, you're certainly not
alone.
So many of the expertentrepreneurs that I know have
tried out lead gen services thatpromised great results, but
they delivered leads that eitherdidn't convert, or worse, they

(00:22):
just plain ghosted you.
And it makes you wonder, was ityou?
Was your offer wrong?
Or is the whole system justbroken?
Well, here's the thing that noagency will tell you.
Your leads don't convertbecause high-volume marketing
tactics aren't building trust.
And trust, not tactics, is whatactually drives conversions.

(00:44):
I'm Brad Powell, and I've beenhelping expert brands optimize
for trust for the past twodecades by using
relationship-building videos.
And in this video, I want toshow you why your lead campaign
failed and what to do instead.
So let's get into it.
Let's say you just spent moneyon an agency that over-promised

(01:07):
but underdelivered.
Well, there's a deeper reasonwhy those leads never converted.
Lead gen services focus onquantity, like how many names
can we get on a list?
And most of those leads arecold.
There's no context, there's notrust, and there's no authority.
And this is the real problemwith traffic marketing because

(01:29):
you're going for high volume.
And here's what's actuallyhappening: your leads don't
convert because they don't trustyou.
You're just another stranger intheir inbox.
It's like proposing on a firstdate.
And on LinkedIn, they call thispitch slapping.
And nobody likes it.
And when your traffic marketingtactics fail, you start

(01:52):
questioning your offer, yourbrand, and even yourself.
But it's not you, it's theabsence of consistent authority
building.
So let's take a look at what'sreally going on here.
We've got this thing in theworld of marketing that I'm
going to call the marketingspectrum.
And this whole idea comes fromone of my past guests, Michelle
Werner.

(02:13):
If you want to go for a deepdive in what she had to say
about this, go back and listento episode number 144.
And what we're talking about isthat on one end of the
spectrum, you've got trafficmarketing.
And this is where you're tryingto reach as many people as
possible.
Whereas on the other end of thespectrum is relationship

(02:33):
marketing.
And this is where you want tobuild deeper, more intimate
relationships with people one ata time.
On the traffic end, this isserving businesses that mostly
have a low-ticket, low-pricedoffer that are trying to reach a
mass market.
And what happens is that youend up with low quality leads,

(02:53):
which means that you have tohave a high quantity of leads in
order to get any conversions atall.
Whereas over on therelationship end of the
spectrum, now this is for aservice that has high-end,
high-ticket, high-touch kind ofexperience for your clients.
You're going to end up withmuch higher quality leads, which

(03:17):
means that you only need a lowquantity.
And you're not trying to reacheveryone, you are just trying to
reach the right people.
So over here on relationshipmarketing, you have high
conversion rate, whereas in thetraffic marketing end of the
spectrum, you have a lowconversion rate.
And it kind of begs thequestion when you look at the

(03:38):
kind of marketing you're doingnow, which end of the spectrum
are you spending the most time?
Where are you on thiscontinuum?
Are you over in trafficmarketing?
Because this is where mostpeople are being told they need
to spend all their time.
All the marketing gurus, allthe marketing so-called experts
are saying, go find as manypeople as you can.

(04:00):
And how much time are youspending?
Look at what you've been doingin the last quarter and see
whether your efforts haveyielded high conversion or low
conversion.
And this could be the answer.
The principle here is that themarketing activity most aligned
with your high-ticket expertbusiness is relationship

(04:22):
building.
So if you provide a high-ticketservice, you need to invest
more of your time inrelationship marketing.
This happens with me all thetime.
Just last week, I had a callwith a guy I met at a conference
a few months ago.
And when we first met, he saidhe was very interested in making
videos for his business.

(04:43):
But during a follow-up callthat we had a couple weeks
later, he sounded kind ofneutral.
But then, a few months later,out of the blue, he scheduled a
new call with me.
And on this call, he told methat he'd been binging my
videos.
And he said that that gave himthe inspiration to get started.
He was actually referencingspecific things that I said in

(05:06):
my videos.
So on this call, here he wasshowing up super
enthusiastically, and he signedup for his first mic drop
moments campaign with me righton the call.
When you create a body of work,a set of short videos that live
on your website or on LinkedInor on YouTube, anyone who

(05:28):
discovers you, whether you meetthem in person or they hear you
on a podcast or they just seeone of your posts, they'll go
look you up.
And when they find your videos,they'll quickly get this strong
feeling for who you are andyour approach to the work you're
doing.
And they'll build enough trustto reach out to you.
So what works isn't moremarketing, it's creating a body

(05:50):
of work that earns trust, a wayfor people to become familiar
with you and to know thatthey're a good fit for your
offer.
Simply by showing up regularlyon video, you're giving people a
place to go and quickly bingeall your stuff, ultimately
building trust before the salescall ever happens.
That's what closes the trustgap.

(06:12):
That's what makes people say, Ifeel like I already know you.
By the way, if you're wonderingif the kind of content you've
already published is sending theright trust signals, I've
created a free trust signalchecklist that will quickly let
you know whether your content issending the trust signals your
dream clients are alreadylooking for.
You can find the link in thedescription below.

(06:35):
So if your lead gen campaignfailed, it wasn't because you
did something wrong, it'sbecause you weren't seen.
Not as the real you, not as theexpert you already are.
And the fix is to build trustbefore the sale.

(06:55):
And the most powerful way to dothat is to show up as yourself
on video.
If you want help doing that ina way that feels real and
sustainable, well check out thelink down below.
And if you're thinking, I'malready busy enough with my
business, I don't have time formaking content, then you should
watch the next video.

(07:16):
It's made for the expertentrepreneur who's sick and
tired of performative marketingand tired of trying to look the
part instead of just being theexpert you already are.
And I'll see you in the nextvideo.