Sovereign #3: How Lead Magnets Transformed My NBD Success

Welcome to Issue #3 of The Sovereign Seller. Each Sunday, I share what the most advanced sales organizations are doing to win new clients and keep the ones they’ve got. Expect tested acquisition and retention strategies you can put to work immediately.

Sunday September 21, 2025

7:11 am

How to Use Lead Magnets to Attract Prospective Clients

The most important thing I’ve learned about B2B marketing is, if you want to attract clients – rather than chase them – you need good bait.

It’s no different than fishing. You need bait to catch fish, and different kinds of bait attract different kinds of fish.

If you want to catch bluegill, use live worms. If you want to catch muskie, cast a large, fake, bedazzled lure – and have patience.

And if you want to attract quality B2B leads, you’ll need something called a lead magnet.

A personal note: This concept of lead magnets is probably the most powerful lesson I’ve learned about new business development. Every one of the most advanced sales organizations employs some version of a lead magnet in their selling efforts. Using them empowers you to become a marketer of your product/service which magnifies your selling efforts.

Successful examples include:

• Research reports
• White papers
• Books
• Interactive games
• Quizzes
• Webinars
• Seminars
• Live demonstrations
• Audio content
• Video content
• Events

Most old-school sales organizations offer just one way for prospects to learn about their product or service: A meeting or phone call with a salesperson.

But to many potential buyers, that’s not a bridge … it’s a toll booth.

Why? Because people who are not ready to buy don’t want to joust with a salesperson.

On any given day, only a small percentage of your market is ready to buy. That’s your TAM or …

Total Addressable Market.

On average, just 1-3% of the market is ready to buy today, or ready to speak with a salesperson.

So when you make 100 cold calls, you’ll likely convert just 1-3% into appointments.

But what about the other 97%?

Most company’s offer them nothing.

That’s where your lead magnet comes in.

Rather than relying just on cold calling and cold emailing, you can also “market” your lead magnet to those not yet ready to buy.

Your educational tool provides value without the pressure of interacting with a salesperson. It removes the fear of being sold something. By offering this resource, you participate in the entire buying journey, not just the final stages.

This approach also transforms how prospects see you. Rather than appearing as an aggressive salesperson, you become a trusted resource.

The fundamental exchange is simple: prospects share their contact information to access your lead magnet. This process—called opting-in—grants you permission for follow-up communication.

The effectiveness of your lead magnet depends directly on how valuable prospects find your content or experience.

Here is a real world example:

How a Software Startup (Pattern 89) Used Lead Magnets

I live in Indianapolis, there was a software start-up called Pattern 89 who helped marketers choose the highest performing images for digital publishing and advertising.

Their software used artificial intelligence to analyze millions of data points in a variety of online settings. For example, the right picture can boost readership for an article or sales of a product.

Software is competitive, and startups can’t afford to waste time having their salespeople cold call. They hire salespeople to close.

Pattern 89 used a variety of lead magnets; my favorite was their quiz - The Robot Slayer.

It tested your ability to choose the highest performing images against their AI-powered robots.

Now, here are the hidden benefit to using lead magnets as part of your strategy.

1. I took the quiz several times - It was a fun way to learn more about the power of artificial intelligence.
2. Using this lead magnet, Pattern 89 demonstrated the power of their software in a low-threshold way - without requiring me to talk to a salesperson as the first and only step. This helped attract a larger number of prospects into their sales funnel.
3. After I took the quiz, I was added to their email list, then began receiving additional helpful emails and invitations to webinars.
4. Eventually, a salesperson emailed me, but I didn’t respond. Since I didn’t engage with their follow-up efforts, I was removed from their prospect list.

All of this was done without labor or cold outreach, using technology and marketing to position themselves to prospective clients and to efficiently qualify them.

Pattern 89’s sales strategy worked, because in 2021 they sold to Shutterstock for $35M in cash.

My First Experience Using Lead Magnets

In 2017 I was hired to oversee corporate sponsorship sales for Ball State Athletics.

This position required a constant effort to find new sponsors.

So I immediately defaulted to the only way I knew how to find new business.

Cold calls. Cold emails. Cold walk-ins.

I really had no plan, just make as many calls as possible. This kept my employer happy, but it was burning me out. AND … I knew this type of haphazard cold outreach wasn’t working like it used to.

Then, during the pandemic I lost half of my sponsors, half of my revenue, my entire team quit, and I was all alone working remotely and needing a way to magnify my selling efforts.

So I studied how the best tech companies generate leads, they were all using some form of a lead magnet, so I applied this to my sponsorship selling role.

The #1 objection I kept hearing: “There’s no way to track a return on sponsorship.”

I disagreed, but I had no proof.

So I created my first lead magnet, it was a guide titled:

“How Your Business Can Profit from an NCAA Sponsorship”

It was a simple 10-page PowerPoint filled with real examples of local sponsors generating measurable ROI. You can view the latest edition here: BallStateSports.com/Profit​

And here’s what changed:

Instead of asking for a meeting, I offered to educate. I promoted the lead magnet across cold outreach, our website, during game broadcasts, and even on event signage.

Results: Not only did I get more appointments, I started generating actual leads. More people were contacting me wanting to learn more about sponsorship.

Encouraged, I created a second lead magnet: a short quiz to help business owners assess if Ball State was a fit for their brand. This doubled as a qualification tool, guiding prospects to realize they were, in fact, a fit for sponsorship — on their own terms.

Here is a link to that quiz: https://bit.ly/3wWJ2HnBallStateBizQuiz

In my first 3 years selling corporate sponsorships for Ball State Athletics without lead magnets:

• I averaged 1–2 leads per year.
• Appointments were not easy to get because very few people care about Ball State Athletics.
• I discovered most business owners didn’t understand the value of sports sponsorship compared other local marketing like local radio, print and direct mail.

Over the past 4 years using lead magnets as part of my strategy I generated:

• Over 100 leads and 70 new clients
• 1,000+ downloads of the PowerPoint report
• 3,000+ completions of the quiz
• I hit all of my sales goals and won awards from my employer

And the best part? Using this strategy freed me up to deliver more value to my existing clients. The real growth wasn’t all of the new business - although that did help immensely. The real growth came from serving our existing customers better. Finding new ways for them to spend more.

How to Create Your Own Lead Magnet

Again, think of it like fishing. Your lead magnet is the bait. Good bait attracts better fish.

Here are 5 simple ideas to create one:

1. Use AI (like ChatGPT)
   • Find relevant research
   • Draft your report or checklist
   • Summarize articles or case studies into branded content
   • Pro tip: Ask AI to find existing research you can repackage for your industry.
   • It’s worth subscribing to an advanced version for a few months, this effort will more than pay for itself.
2. Tackle objections directly
   • Think of the most common objection you hear.
   • That’s how I built my first lead magnet …. my 10-page PowerPoint addressing the belief that sponsorship had no ROI.
3. Repackage internal research
   • Your company may have paid for studies or presentations.
   • Repackage the best parts into a 5-10 page report.
   • Credit the source, add your spin, own the curation.
4. Create a quiz or self-assessment
   • People love quizzes.
   • Use quiz software that collects contact info, scores responses, and notifies you of completions. I used Lead Quizzes (https://app.leadquizzes.com/dashboard)
5. Set up a landing page
   • A lead magnet works best when a prospect doesn’t have to talk to you to access it.
   • Tools like Kit make this easy to create your own: https://kit.com/
   • Use a vanity URL (like BallStateSports.com/Profit) for easy recall. Most URL’s can be purchased for $10 or less.
6. Outsource it
   • You can outsource this entire effort by hiring a free-lance writer or an agency. There will be cost, but what you will create is an evergreen asset you can continue to use that pays for itself.

The Bottom Line

Cold outreach will always have its place, but it’s getting harder every year. Lead magnets are how you bridge the gap — they meet buyers where they are, provide value before you ask for anything, and position you as the guide instead of the pushy seller.

That shift — from chasing to attracting — is what creates sovereignty. It’s what gives you more control, more leverage, and ultimately, more freedom.

I’m still refining my own lead magnets, experimenting, testing, and learning. But I know this: the sellers and organizations that embrace this approach now will dominate the ones who don’t.

That’s the game. The only question is whether you’ll play it before your competitors do.

Thank you for reading Sovereign #3.

To your success,

Shane

P.S. When you’re ready, here are two simple next steps:

• Grab a free copy of my book → WhiteCollarProspecting.com​
• Test your sales organization’s readiness for the future → TheFutureofNewBizDev.com​