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Roast My Idea - Lead Generation Business

SmoothFranko

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Hey Guys,

So I've had the idea for a lead generation business for the PC service industry as a way of connecting IT professionals to clients and although I would be hoping to sell leads to businesses (B2B) the main traffic I would want would be people needing their PC fixed or tuned up (B2C). I have spent the better half of today reading any and all threads with the tag (lead generation) and am only about 10 pages out of 44 and I feel like I'm still not any closer to have the RIGHT questions to ask. So help me Fastlane Forums, Your my only hope.

What I understand I need so far:
  • A Good Landing page
  • Knowledge of SEO, advertising, direct marketing ect...
  • Webpage (obviously)
  • Information on the site to offer value (such as how to basic computer processes yourself)
What I'm not clear on:
  • Lead generation as a business model
  • Everything else
*EDIT I have been revueing other lead generation sites as the basis especially limos.com
 
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SmoothFranko

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Thanks to @Andy Black I now have a great understanding of generating leads using AdWords. So now I know what the question is that I need to ask.

My Goal: Create a business model were by using Andy's advice funnel people to a landing page who seek PC repairs / maintenance then get them to leave their details:
  • Name
  • Contact number
  • Email address
  • Nature of the fault
Then once I have that information I then wish to sell these leads onto local IT businesses there by generating new customers for them and creating value?

I under stand the marketing side now (thanks to Andy's most excellent advice) but the part I'm stuck on is once I have the clients details how would I then go about selling the information onto prospective businesses?
 

SmoothFranko

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So I'm not sure if no one has any advice because my post is in the wrong place or because I'm talking out of my a$$ and have screwed up lead generation completely, SO I created this model to hopefully explain how I think the business would operate.

fuFGHNi.jpg

As you can see here Step 3 is what I am struggling with, as of yet I have not come up with a means of managing and distributing the leads to prospective businesses. Has anyone on this forum had experiance with SELLING leads? I'm not talking about making leads for a specific client I'm talking about a "Hey I have customers who need service! Who wants em? first is first served kinda thing?
 

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So I'm not sure if no one has any advice because my post is in the wrong place or because I'm talking out of my a$$ and have screwed up lead generation completely, SO I created this model to hopefully explain how I think the business would operate.

fuFGHNi.jpg

As you can see here Step 3 is what I am struggling with, as of yet I have not come up with a means of managing and distributing the leads to prospective businesses. Has anyone on this forum had experiance with SELLING leads? I'm not talking about making leads for a specific client I'm talking about a "Hey I have customers who need service! Who wants em? first is first served kinda thing?

I would love to help you buddy, but I have no knowledge about lead generation!

Hopefully somebody with more knowledge and experience will give you some advice!

Keep up the good work! :)
 
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Andy Black

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Generate a lead.

Contact businesses who can fulfil the lead and ask them if they can deal with it.

Start a relationship with that business and see where it goes.
 

SmoothFranko

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Generate a lead.

Contact businesses who can fulfil the lead and ask them if they can deal with it.

Start a relationship with that business and see where it goes.
I had thought that it could possibly be as simple as that but I guess I was thinking of a more long term solution when I have many leads to give a way. I have decided to start this simple with the idea of helping a struggling mate with this mobile IT business. So I get some experience with using marketing and landing pages to generate leads for him to start with. So as to get a better handle on the lead process before attempting to sell them to already well establish businesses.
 

Andy Black

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I had thought that it could possibly be as simple as that but I guess I was thinking of a more long term solution when I have many leads to give a way. I have decided to start this simple with the idea of helping a struggling mate with this mobile IT business to get some experience with using marketing and landing pages to generate leads for him to start with to get a better handle on the lead process before attempting to sell them to already well establish businesses.
Perfect. That's exactly how I started too.

See the quote from Mother Teresa in my signature.

Also read the third link in my signature if you haven't already.


EDIT: Actually, both quotes in my signature are relevant.
 
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SmoothFranko

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Perfect. That's exactly how I started too.

See the quote from Mother Teresa in my signature.

Also read the third link in my signature if you haven't already.
Cheers Andy, Yeah I read the crap out of the Local leads page the other night. An excellent read and I'd recommend it to anyone thinking about how to do Lead Generation.

***EDIT I have contacted my mate i'm helping out and he is going to host my website for free as a favor in turn for a favor.
 
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SmoothFranko

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So I was thinking about what @Andy Black black said in his lead generation post about having a phone contact number on the page and thought to myself "I'd like to have a contact number but it could be impractical if i'm the only one answering the phone" So I thought about a service were it prompts them to leave a voicemail message and then have that message emailed to me,. and found this service https://www.voxbox.com.au/. Has anyone else tried this?
 

DaRK9

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Use Zoho, they have web forms.
https://www.zoho.com/crm/web-forms.html
https://www.zoho.com/crm/help/web-forms/set-up-web-forms.html#Generating_Web_Forms

But if you are going to sell them in bulk just add them to a database using your forms, then just export a batch when you go to sell.

I have one local lead gen site. I started with the latter, then tested the former out.
 
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theag

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You will have a very hard time making it profitable in that niche. Low value transactions, so low CPL.

Also, the lead gen part is easy. Selling the leads is the bottleneck. Lots of trouble for low margins.
 

SmoothFranko

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You will have a very hard time making it profitable in that niche. Low value transactions, so low CPL.

Also, the lead gen part is easy. Selling the leads is the bottleneck. Lots of trouble for low margins.
Thanks Thaeg I always find your posts helpful. Would you lend me some of your vast knowledge in how I might avoid said problem? As I mentioned to Andy I plan on just helping out a friend for the moment to gain experiance (this is the first idea i've had that I've had the balls to action). Too my knowledge you are somewhat of a marketing wizard, would you be able to offer any suggestions as to how I might avoid this problem? and do you think that I could escape said low margins by expanding to a larger audience E.g going national?
 

SmoothFranko

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If anyone else has any idea hows I might avoid the issues that @theag mentioned I'd be greatful.
 
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DaRK9

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If anyone else has any idea hows I might avoid the issues that @theag mentioned I'd be greatful.
For that niche, not many ideas. I mean the average PC repair is like $100 or so? You only get the big bucks when you are certified in a specific area.

So I was thinking about what @Andy Black black said in his lead generation post about having a phone contact number on the page and thought to myself "I'd like to have a contact number but it could be impractical if i'm the only one answering the phone" So I thought about a service were it prompts them to leave a voicemail message and then have that message emailed to me,. and found this service https://www.voxbox.com.au/. Has anyone else tried this?
Just use Google Voice.
 

SmoothFranko

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For that niche, not many ideas. I mean the average PC repair is like $100 or so? You only get the big bucks when you are certified in a specific area.
Most computer service (general cleaning both physical and via software) starts at about 80 -100 dollars. Once I get a hang of the marketing side and generate some leads I intend on using Dane Maxwells idea on talking to the businesses i intend to target, to find out what a new customer is worth to them. With the intention of using this as a pricing point for leads.

***EDIT I don't know about prices outside of Australia but technology is quite expencive here and the repair fees back that up with most places charging 50 bucks to even look at your pc.
 

DaRK9

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Most computer service (general cleaning both physical and via software) starts at about 50 -80 dollars. Once I get a hang of the marketing side and generate some leads I intend on using Dane Maxwells idea on talking to the businesses i intend to target, to find out what a new customer is worth to them. With the intention of using this as a pricing point for leads.

***EDIT I don't know about prices outside of Australia but technology is quite expencive here and the repair fees back that up with most places charging 50 bucks to even look at your pc.
About the same prices here. I just don't know if their margins allow for lead buying to be affordable to them. I assume it would be around $1 per.

But who knows? Only one way to find out. Pick up a phone. I would do that before even getting a site.
 
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SmoothFranko

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About the same prices here. I just don't know if their margins allow for lead buying to be affordable to them. I assume it would be around $1 per.

But who knows? Only one way to find out. Pick up a phone. I would do that before even getting a site.
Thanks for the imput, I am planning on running the site purely to help out a friend with his mobile IT business at the moment so I'm not so much concerned with selling the leads at this time as I am making sure I can generate them and master the process.
 

SmoothFranko

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UPDATE** Thus far I have a semi-completed website (www.swiftreboot.com) and have complied a list of businesses that fit my critera, currently around 50 odd. Only a few of these businesses seem to have their prices listed on their sites and the going rate seems to confirm my inital speculation of being around 80 to 100 dollars an hr. In your guy's opinion do you think asking 100 bucks for 10 leads is unreasonably?

Thanks for all your helpful info thus far :)
-Shannon

EDIT** my reasoning for this is that 100 bucks for 10 (10 dollars a lead) they could turn around and make $1000 of these 10 leads if all the jobs take an hour
 

DaRK9

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Where it says "Book a Computer Service TODAY!" the white in the header makes the text hard to read. Consider reducing the white balance in the picture.

Love variant though. I've used it before.

Edit: In fact it's on one of my landing pages to sell restaurants online ordering systems.
lHsbXfT.jpg
 
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Andy Black

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UPDATE** Thus far I have a semi-completed website (www.swiftreboot.com) and have complied a list of businesses that fit my critera, currently around 50 odd. Only a few of these businesses seem to have their prices listed on their sites and the going rate seems to confirm my inital speculation of being around 80 to 100 dollars an hr. In your guy's opinion do you think asking 100 bucks for 10 leads is unreasonably?

Thanks for all your helpful info thus far :)
-Shannon

EDIT** my reasoning for this is that 100 bucks for 10 (10 dollars a lead) they could turn around and make $1000 of these 10 leads if all the jobs take an hour

I'm maybe only 1 or 2 steps ahead, or arguably in the same place. So take my thoughts with a pinch of salt.



IMHO (In My Humble Opinion):

  • You need to know if you can generate leads. (The best way to do so is to generate some.)

  • You need to know how much it will cost you to generate leads. (Again, the best way is to generate some.)

  • You could price the leads based on what your cost is to generate them. (You could be leaving money on the table of course.)

  • It would be nice to find out the ticket value of the leads you're generating. (So you can price them based on their value to the merchants, rather than based on your cost.)

  • Talk to the merchants. I think you should start by developing a very good relationship with at least one of them. If you can get to work with one very closely, you'll be able to determine the value of the leads. They will tell you what type of lead they want more of, and what they want less of. Ideally they will tell you how much they quote for each lead (that's definitely possible).

  • Will there be a mixture of leads from corporate and consumers? What's the difference in average-order-value (AOV) and average life-time-value (LTV) between corporate and consumer? Which do they prefer (different merchants might have different preferences)?

  • What you class as a lead (a call or a form fill), the merchant might just see as an enquiry. Maybe you're not selling leads per se. Go into it with an open mind.

  • Getting a conversation with merchants is easier if you actually have a lead when you speak to them. I'm definitely finding it best to generate leads first and then talk to merchants.

  • It looks like you're building a brand in the vertical. I like this. My learnings so far is that consumers will interact with that brand as if you're a player in the vertical, and so will merchants if you do it right. This has resulted in us interviewing the merchants, rather than them seeing us as a lead generation business, or marketing agency.


TL;DR

Just start. Generate leads. Talk to merchants. Build relationships. See where it takes you.

HTH
 

SmoothFranko

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I'm maybe only 1 or 2 steps ahead, or arguably in the same place. So take my thoughts with a pinch of salt.



IMHO (In My Humble Opinion):

  • You need to know if you can generate leads. (The best way to do so is to generate some.)

  • You need to know how it will cost you to generate leads. (Again, the best way is to generate some.)

  • You could price the leads based on what your cost is to generate them. (You could be leaving money on the table of course.)

  • It would be nice to find out the ticket value of the leads you're generating. (So you can price them based on their value to the merchants, rather than based on your cost.)

  • Talk to the merchants. I think you should start by developing a very good relationship with at least one of them. If you can get to work with one very closely, you'll be able to determine the value of the leads. They will tell you what type of lead they want more of, and what they want less of. Ideally they will tell you how much they quote for each lead (that's definitely possible).

  • Will there be a mixture of leads from corporate and consumers? What's the difference in average-order-value (AOV) and average life-time-vale (LTV) between corporate and consumer? Which do they prefer (different merchants might have different preferences)?

  • What you class as a lead (a call or a form fill), the merchant might just see as an enquiry. Maybe you're not selling leads per se. Go into it with an open mind.

  • Getting a conversation with merchants is easier if you actually have a lead when you speak to them. I'm definitely finding it best to generate leads first and then talk to merchants.

  • It looks like you're building a brand in the vertical. I like this. My learnings so far is that consumers will interact with that brand as if you're a player in the vertical, and so will merchants if you do it right. This has resulted in us interviewing the merchants, rather than them seeing us as a lead generation business, or marketing agency.


TL;DR

Just start. Generate leads. Talk to merchants. Build relationships. See where it takes you.

HTH
Wow Andy thanks for breaking it down in such a simple way. I wasn't sure I understood what you ment by Vertical so I've got some reading to do there, but otherwise great advice!
 

Andy Black

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Wow Andy thanks for breaking it down in such a simple way. I wasn't sure I understood what you ment by Vertical so I've got some reading to do there, but otherwise great advice!
Vertical = Niche. (It just sounds a bit better... less "Internet Marketing" speak.)
 
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SmoothFranko

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I've been busy battling with my website and am finally making headway with it, I am still playing around with my CTA and have tried several things the most recent incarnation is this:
5um1BPC.png

I'd be keen to know what you guy's think, is it too simple? whats it missing? I'm no web guru nor a web designer so feel free to pick it apart.
 

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I've been busy battling with my website and am finally making headway with it, I am still playing around with my CTA and have tried several things the most recent incarnation is this:
5um1BPC.png

I'd be keen to know what you guy's think, is it too simple? whats it missing? I'm no web guru nor a web designer so feel free to pick it apart.
Looks good. In the header, bring the light blue up and drop the arrow down more to give it the effect of crossing over the blue into the white space. That will break up the box you created with the arrow and the bottom right corner.

Looks good though.
 

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Been a few days since I updated but I've been thinking about the image I want to convey to people when they hit up my site so I tried a more professional look, Still not happy with the contact box (I think it needs to be stylized) and still working out how to impliment @DaRK9 idea but what do you guys think?

yIQHumL.png


I will be making a actual progress thread once my site is up and running.
 
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DaRK9

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Read your setup instructions, I think you are using the wrong type of code snippet for the contact form.


To implement my idea easily do these steps.

Open your header file in Photoshop. Make a box on the bottom of the image the same color as in the main body.
Bring the layer for the arrow over the box. This will easily create the illusion that the arrow is passing into the main body.

This way you don't have to mess with CSS.
 

SmoothFranko

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Read your setup instructions, I think you are using the wrong type of code snippet for the contact form.


To implement my idea easily do these steps.

Open your header file in Photoshop. Make a box on the bottom of the image the same color as in the main body.
Bring the layer for the arrow over the box. This will easily create the illusion that the arrow is passing into the main body.

This way you don't have to mess with CSS.
Cheers I'll give it a go, as for the contact form I didn't like the formget ones and hated the idea that I'd have to have an ongoing cost to keep the look i wanted and use there management services, so I instead edited the theme html to turn that space into a widget and am using Contact Form 7 and its widget plugin.
 

DaRK9

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Cheers I'll give it a go, as for the contact form I didn't like the formget ones and hated the idea that I'd have to have an ongoing cost to keep the look i wanted and use there management services, so I instead edited the theme html to turn that space into a widget and am using Contact Form 7 and its widget plugin.
http://contactform7.com/styling-contact-form/
 
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DamienP

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This looks like a good idea in principle, but I think your revenue model will be difficult to live with due to the low numbers involved. Low transaction value means a low cost per lead. Low cost per lead means less profit for you.

If computers are your poison, is there an area of the market you could target with higher transaction values?
 

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This looks like a good idea in principle, but I think your revenue model will be difficult to live with due to the low numbers involved. Low transaction value means a low cost per lead. Low cost per lead means less profit for you.

If computers are your poison, is there an area of the market you could target with higher transaction values?
I did have an untested idea to sell leads to businesses on a contractual basis offering to serve them a minimum amount of leads a month and then charge them for leads over that minimum so I get recurring monthly revenue.

As for yourself and Theag's comment about the low CPL I am well aware of this but the amount of money I make off this is trivial at the moment, If I made $1k off this its 1k I didn't have and experience gained which is invaluable. Who knows if I work at it constantly reapply myself and learn from issues that arise IT MAY JUST WORK OUT! The core of the matter is that I DID SOMETHING! As far as I can tell the idea fulfils Need, Entry, Control, Scale and hopefully Time.

It'd be so easy for me to just say "your right, the CPL is too low so its not worth it" but having said "its too hard" my whole life I'm determined to at least try. Who would I be if I didn't at least try.
 
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