All this talk about lead generation. I need to jump in !!!

[AJGlobal]

Since getting back into reading some threads on the site I couldn't help but notice all the lead gen topics being thrown around. One thing I never mentioned in my original story when I wrote it was what my business actually was. So I'll let the dog out of his cage....

I'm in the lead business. I don't generate the leads and I don't use the leads. So where does that put me..........right in the middle. My company is based on finding leads and selling them to end users. Most businesses who generate their own leads never have a need to sell them to someone like me. Mike's business he sold is a good example of this. His leads were created for his customers who were the limo companies. Many businesses do this and never need someone like me, however many businesses don't know how to generate their own leads so that is where I step in. They call or e-mail and I match them up with the right leads. On another note many businesses do generate their own leads, use them for themselves and then put them into management with a company like mine. We then in turn market their list for them to be used by other companies to help them gain the customers they need to make their business grow or sell their products.

These leads can be used for direct mail, telemarketing, e-mail, mass texting (this is up and coming and talked about at the recent marketing show I attended) or direct appointment settings to get the customer to come to you.

I could spend all night going into details as this is what I love to do and I get to do it everyday and make money doing it but then I won't be up in time to check e-mails from my blackberry while I lay in bed.

 

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[Rem]

How do you turn forum members into leads? I know a ton of people in my industry who own leading forum communities. I am not sure a username would be that helpful. I guess you would have to create a new page and get your members to reveal that info.

 

[andviv]

Tony, this is great information. I for sure will spend some time thinking about this and come back with questions later. Thx again.

 

[AJGlobal]

How do you turn forum members into leads? I know a ton of people in my industry who own leading forum communities. I am not sure a username would be that helpful. I guess you would have to create a new page and get your members to reveal that info.

Remdog,

I was not referring to the forum. I'm guessing your talking about MJ owning this forum and turning us all into leads. That is not what I meant. His prior business (the one he sold before writing the book) was basically a form of internal lead generation, meaning that he created his leads for his customers. His customers were the limo companies and their customers were the ones that requested the need for a limo. That is as far as it went in his business as far as leads go.

Many companies will create a lead generation campaign and sell those leads to other businesses selling a variety of products or services. Some generate them, use them and then sell them to companies like myself. It can get confusing if your on the outside looking in.

Lead generation can be done in many ways. Mail driven responders is one of the best if you know what your target market is. E-mail blasts can drive people to your website and from there the possibilities are endless. It all depends on what your main objective is. Leads generate leads and those leads can generate more leads. We are all essentially a lead. Everyone of us. We are all on a list out there somewhere that has us targeted for something. Hope this clears things up a bit.

 

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[LightHouse]

Tony, never knew this! Good to have you back on the forum though as im sure some folks could benifit from your knowledge and you may learn a thing or two around here. You coming out the the b&p meet up in February?

 

[kwerner]

Thanks for the info AJGlobal, it's really appreciated!

How do you turn forum members into leads?

I think what Remdog meant in this quote was that HE owns a forum that caters to a specific industry, is there a way that he could turn some of his forum members into leads? Or provide leads for some of them that are searching for a particular service?

 

[AJGlobal]

Tony, never knew this! Good to have you back on the forum though as im sure some folks could benifit from your knowledge and you may learn a thing or two around here. You coming out the the b&p meet up in February?

I was just talking to Mike about that earlier in the week. I would love to check it out. If I'm in town I will most definitely be going.

 

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[AJGlobal]

Thanks for the info AJGlobal, it's really appreciated!




I think what Remdog meant in this quote was that HE owns a forum that caters to a specific industry, is there a way that he could turn some of his forum members into leads? Or provide leads for some of them that are searching for a particular service?

Now that's a great question. Yes, I think you could but you have to tread carefully with that kind of situation because you would not want forum members getting pissed. It all depends on what type of forum he has and what the purpose is behind having the forum. Also not everyone is required to fill out all their personal info on every forum so without that the information is not going to be very useful, unless you require them to fill all that out prior to registering.

Me personally, when I see something that requires me to fill out all that personal info even if its just a name and phone numbers, I stay away.

 

[Bond]

Can you be a bit specific about payments?

 

[LightHouse]

I was just talking to Mike about that earlier in the week. I would love to check it out. If I'm in town I will most definitely be going.

Would be cool to meet you! Just dont bring alan along. This will be my first year out there.

 

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[AJGlobal]

Would be cool to meet you! Just dont bring alan along. This will be my first year out there.

Ha, Allan lives in L.A. He's been there for a few years now. We talk about once a week still. Was just out there in August and saw him.

 

[Deege]

Well since the cat is out of the bag, this was also my "Fastlane" plan, lately I've been researching on ways of optimizing the lead process and providing a different type of service to make the lead process better for business, who wants to do cold calls all day? I will go into depth over PM if you want, as i do not have time.

All this talk makes me wonder though, is their an over saturation of the field?

AJGlobal I'd love to talk more with you about your lead business and maybe do some networking.

Right now, back to work, lots to do! One word, AUTOPILOT!

Oh, and hello everyone, sorry i haven't been around lately, just trying to get my business going so i have nothing but time to talk in the future, hope everyone is doing well.

 

[moop]

How do you turn forum members into leads? I know a ton of people in my industry who own leading forum communities. I am not sure a username would be that helpful. I guess you would have to create a new page and get your members to reveal that info.

Forum communities are a great way of interfacing with your customers. If you ran a quality forum with good content and community, I would imagine conversion would take care of itself.

 

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[lightning]

All this talk makes me wonder though, is their an over saturation of the field?

I doubt it, because aside from all the chatter here, my guess is only 5% (or LESS!) of the people contemplating a lead generation business will actually DO IT! (maybe less). As MJ said, talk or "ideas" mean nothing. Execution is everything.


On a side note, thanks for the info Tony! Great to see you around again!

 

[Deege]

I guess the reply from my iPhone didn't go through on the forum earlier. haha ;-)

Lightning: I did a little more research and even if your 5% estimate is right, which i assume it's pretty close, and of that 5% how many people do it right for their industry. Which lead generation companies are actually efficient in there lead generating abilities.

And the field widens!

 

[AJGlobal]

Well since the cat is out of the bag, this was also my "Fastlane" plan, lately I've been researching on ways of optimizing the lead process and providing a different type of service to make the lead process better for business, who wants to do cold calls all day? I will go into depth over PM if you want, as i do not have time.

All this talk makes me wonder though, is their an over saturation of the field?

AJGlobal I'd love to talk more with you about your lead business and maybe do some networking.

Right now, back to work, lots to do! One word, AUTOPILOT!

Oh, and hello everyone, sorry i haven't been around lately, just trying to get my business going so i have nothing but time to talk in the future, hope everyone is doing well.

Actually yes, saturation can be an issue if the list your using or "leads" your using get sold to many times to different people or they are calling several times with the same offer. Part of doing what I do is being able to manage the data so this does not happen otherwise you end up with a lot of unhappy customers bitching that the list you just sold them didn't make them any money because someone else got to them before they even had a chance to get their foot in the door. They have been overstimulated so many times they just are not interested in listing to anyone regardless if they are called, mailed or e-mailed. They will simply hang up, throw out the mailer you sent them or delete the email with out even looking at it.

 

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[Antonio.]

I doubt it, because aside from all the chatter here, my guess is only 5% (or LESS!) of the people contemplating a lead generation business will actually DO IT! (maybe less). As MJ said, talk or "ideas" mean nothing. Execution is everything.


On a side note, thanks for the info Tony! Great to see you around again!

You are right Mike. That leaves ample room for people like myself

 

[Rem]

Here is a question. Do you build your brand around those who are giving you leads or around those you are selling your leads to?

 

[CMCarlin]

Why not both?

 

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[AJGlobal]

Here is a question. Do you build your brand around those who are giving you leads or around those you are selling your leads to?

For me, its both. I'm in the middle so it benefits me on both ends.

 

[Jag]

AJ,

I've been working on trying to break into this industry. Any general advice on good ways to get started or direction you could point me to get a better understanding of the industry and process? I remember you mentioned in your Fastlane story that in the beginning you did a lot of cold calling, was this to procure leads to broke and sell to others? I'm sure this part would be more web based now-a-days?

Thanks for the great info you gave above!

-Todd

 

[AJGlobal]

AJ,

I've been working on trying to break into this industry. Any general advice on good ways to get started or direction you could point me to get a better understanding of the industry and process? I remember you mentioned in your Fastlane story that in the beginning you did a lot of cold calling, was this to procure leads to broke and sell to others? I'm sure this part would be more web based now-a-days?

Thanks for the great info you gave above!

-Todd

Its very difficult to jump into this type of business now vs 10-15 years ago. There is a lot of competition vs when I got into to it and to stay on top of our game we stick to a handful of lists instead of trying to sell all the different kinds that are out there. By doing this we have gained a strong customer base which is what has kept us alive through thick and thin.

As far as cold calling goes. This is what I did in the very beginning to get my lists into the hands of my customers. With some guidance and info from my mentor who is now my business partner I picked up the phone and started asking if they would be willing to test out what I had. In turn I would send them a test for free. If the list performed, they would buy. I did this over and over again, all day, day in and day out for the first couple years. To this day I still have about 4 or 5 of those customers buying from me that I found by cold calling them. Fast forward to today (12 years later) and I rarely pick up the phone to make a sale. Its the other way around now. When the economy crashed there was a brief 8 month period where is was bad. My partner and I did get our butts into gear and we complied an e-mail list of all the emails we had in our system that were buyers at one time or another. Blasted them all and followed up with phone calls. Things picked up and we made it through.

If I were to offer you anything in the way of starting this type of business, I would say that you need to have the following in place.....

1) Can you sell on the phone ? We are not talking about a couple hundred bucks here. Can you get someone to wire you $2k , $3k, $10k for a list of names ? our dealing with people all over the world. If you can't or are not good at it. Don't bother reading any further. Without this skill you will not succeed. if you think you can, with some practice, then its worth a shot.

2) Know what kind of lists you can sell and what they work for. Many lists can cross over into other markets and work very well.

3) Who are you going to get your lists from ? Do you plan on generating your own or buying from other brokers, mail houses etc etc ?

4) Can you learn how to use a database program ? Many brokers don't and still do well because they can sell. So you can hire someone, but then they'll probably back door the lists and sell them on their own and you'd never know. BOTH my partner and I can do BOTH very well hence NO ONE has access to our lists except him and I.

I had help and lists at my disposal to send out for tests so all I needed to do was make the calls and learn how to make files. This required learning how to work a database program. We use paradox. Nothing crazy but its simple and works well for what we need. It took me months to learn the DB program, the selling part over the phone took me minutes. I was in my element and felt right at home from the start.

This is just a small part of the process (as MJ calls it) the event looks much nicer than the process. LOL

 

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[Jag]

AJ,

Thanks for the great post! I know I can sell on the phone as I sell long term contracts over the phone right now as my day job (and do pretty well at it), in which I do a fair amount of cold calling. However as you stated selling in the manner you spoke to would be a big step forward from what I do now, but one I am confident I can do with some practice!

I also have a HUGE strength in that I can program, build websites, have built and managed databases but have the unique ability to cross back and forth between the sales side and the tech side. As such I actually do both the selling and internet marketing / list management in my current role at my job.

The part I am not sure how to approach is how to get the lists and know who what target. I'm sure the targeting part comes with experience. I have the technical acumen to build websites to gather leads and that will probably be the way I go but it might be easier to buy up a list for just starting out. Where did y'alls original lists come from back when you started (if you don't mind me asking)?

A big concern is that businesses seem much more insulated in the modern day in age, in that they don't allow soliciting so it might be tougher to get that cold call through. HOWEVER that won't stop me as I am pretty relentless and resourceful!

I actually think I would be a little opposite as it might take me a little longer hone my sales skills and pitch but the database part would be easy for me, not that I'm a slouch with selling or anything. Like you said, all part of a process, one step at a time and I'm willing to do whatever it takes!

Can't thank you enough for your time and great info!

-Todd

 

[AJGlobal]

The part I am not sure how to approach is how to get the lists and know who what target. I'm sure the targeting part comes with experience. I have the technical acumen to build websites to gather leads and that will probably be the way I go but it might be easier to buy up a list for just starting out. Where did y'alls original lists come from back when you started (if you don't mind me asking)?

This is the part that you need to work at and figure out on your own. There are so many avenues you can go to obtain lists, manage them, broker them and compile your own. Trial and error and years of it will give you the answer to this question. I'll give you one example.

Many don't know this but experian, equifax and trans union all sell lists. The first thing that comes to mind when you hear these names is credit scores. They make a ton of money from selling lists. They are not allowed to give out the actual credit scores of people but they can pull the demographics and sell the list. So for example if your looking for a list of people who have credit scores between 600 and 650, they will put that together for you and sell it to you. I don't do this but I have in the past. You also will get a 20 to 30% discount off the price as a broker after giving them the proper documentation.

You also have the do not call registry to deal with if your selling the file with phones. Guess who's exempt from having to run their files against the DNC. Fund raising organizations. The same politicians who passed the bill through congress couldn't risk loosing out on the billions of dollars that are raised for their campaigns via telemarketing not to mention its around $17k per year to obtain the list of phones that you CAN'T call. It used to be $11k.

As a broker your not obligated to have this list of phones because your not actually using the list but when you go to buy a file and then lose 40% of it to the DNC you have just killed your profit.

 

[Jag]

This is the part that you need to work at and figure out on your own. There are so many avenues you can go to obtain lists, manage them, broker them and compile your own. Trial and error and years of it will give you the answer to this question. I'll give you one example.

Many don't know this but experian, equifax and trans union all sell lists. The first thing that comes to mind when you hear these names is credit scores. They make a ton of money from selling lists. They are not allowed to give out the actual credit scores of people but they can pull the demographics and sell the list. So for example if your looking for a list of people who have credit scores between 600 and 650, they will put that together for you and sell it to you. I don't do this but I have in the past. You also will get a 20 to 30% discount off the price as a broker after giving them the proper documentation.

You also have the do not call registry to deal with if your selling the file with phones. Guess who's exempt from having to run their files against the DNC. Fund raising organizations. The same politicians who passed the bill through congress couldn't risk loosing out on the billions of dollars that are raised for their campaigns via telemarketing not to mention its around $17k per year to obtain the list of phones that you CAN'T call. It used to be $11k.

As a broker your not obligated to have this list of phones because your not actually using the list but when you go to buy a file and then lose 40% of it to the DNC you have just killed your profit.

AJ,

Great insight! I've got a lot to learn but I am going to take what you've provided and run with it! I definitely never thought as the credit reporting companies as a source for lead lists but it makes sense now that you mention it given the data they have access to.

Any advice on how you price the leads? As well, are emails worth more/more sought after than phone numbers nowadays? Where I work now our phone campaigns are more effective but we get a lot more value out of the leads we send email campaigns to.

I'm sure ill be back with more relevant questions/observations as I encounter them, thanks again!

 

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[AJGlobal]

AJ,

Great insight! I've got a lot to learn but I am going to take what you've provided and run with it! I definitely never thought as the credit reporting companies as a source for lead lists but it makes sense now that you mention it given the data they have access to.

Any advice on how you price the leads? As well, are emails worth more/more sought after than phone numbers nowadays? Where I work now our phone campaigns are more effective but we get a lot more value out of the leads we send email campaigns to.

I'm sure ill be back with more relevant questions/observations as I encounter them, thanks again!

Pricing varies depending on the list, how old it is, if its been sold once before or not, supply and demand of that list and what it can work for, if it has phones or no phones. I could go on and on.

I'll give you an example. Back when everyone under the sun was doing re-fi's , mortgage leads were hot. Especially live transfers. People were paying up to $50 - $60 per lead for a live transfer. They also sold on the secondary market for $10 to $20 per name. The days of that are long gone.

Today the hottest lead we have sells for around $5 a name, high in demand and supply is low. We adjust the price accordingly. Cheapest we have is .10 cents per name. Low in demand, high in quantity but quality is going to be lower as well.