The bad lead: It’s like a big piece of gunk gumming up the works in your sales funnel. Not only does it stop the flow of better prospects, but it does so seemingly out of nowhere. So would it surprise anyone to learn that these leads are completely in the company’s control?

It’s a hard truth to swallow, but no one can produce a “bad” lead except you. The internet doesn’t make a lead bad. Nor do social media platforms. The problem lies squarely in what you’re saying and how you’re saying it.

In other words, the funnel disruptor would go away if you stopped feeding it with wasted information. Of course, it’s easier to blame lost revenue and wasted rep time on a mythical beast. “It’s not our fault that most of the 2 percent of folks who fill out our web forms aren’t really interested!”

Well, yes — it is.

Here’s the issue: If your lead quality has tanked, look at your website messaging. In fact, 75 percent of customers claim to assess a business’s credibility by looking at its website.

Want a stronger pipeline filled with people who crave your products and services? Reinvigorate your talking points to significantly improve lead quality.

1. Create a “Who We Are Not For” section

Just about every website sings its own praises, but few help you self-select out. At our site, you’re greeted with a page speaking to those who are not a good fit that’s more about being brutally honest than it is about being rude. It’s a part of our core sales process and makes us more attractive to high-quality prospects. They know they’re in the right place. We’ve educated, empowered, and informed them before they even speak to a team member.

As a second tier to this self-selection process, we require all potential clients to read through our 200-page e-book prior to having a conversation with me. Will everyone take this step? No, which is totally OK. Those who do appreciate that the e-book has answered tons of questions upfront appreciate our candor and are ready to have a productive conversation when we do finally speak.

2. Write a “Problems We Solve” section

“I solve problems.” It was a simple response I received from a top sales professional when I asked what made him successful. I expected more than three words to chew on, but his pithy response turned out to be a feast.

Forget about the solutions you offer and focus on the problems you solve. People want to know how you can help them, not read about how amazing your company is. Be sure to state all the problems — and the corresponding copy — exactly as a potential customer would think, search, or state aloud. Your goal? Make your hottest leads realize that you’re a valuable partner because you understand them.

3. Embrace the power of video content

When my swimming pool company decided to dedicate itself fully to content marketing, my team and I took every question we could jot down and built content around answering those queries. And we didn’t just hang our hats on written pieces. We used video to address customers, and it’s a good thing we were an early adopter, because video’s influence on internal marketing strategies is only increasing.

Video is one of the hottest types of content, and it’s just getting started. In a couple of years, four out of five viewed content pieces are likely to be videos. Put together a video that honestly and transparently answers the bulk of questions you receive from prospects. That way, you’ll spend less time teaching and more time closing deals.

Before you buy in to the false idea that “all internet leads are bad,” do an honest business assessment. In most cases, the fix doesn’t lie outside your doors but inside your prospecting technique. Make a few tweaks, and you’ll push that pesky clog through with ease.