How do lead generation companies actually work? eg. Limos.com

[RobbieFoston]

Hola,

I'm looking to understand more about how lead generation companies actually work, such as MJ's Limos.com.

How does the back-end operate without being labour intensive?

I have an idea for a lead generation business but it currently involves ringing up every single supplier whenever somebody registers for a quote. How do companies such as limos.com operate globally?

I can't ring every single place, every time I get a lead. It's draining and not scalable. It also means I end up working a thousand hours a week for a product which has scale but a low price point.

Any tips and tricks appreciated.

Thanks,
Robbie

 

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[ZackerySprague]

His business attracted people around the world who would send in requests finding limo's in certain cities and then he brought in companies who were looking for leads and sold them to for $4 dollars a piece. However, the strategies that he used back in the day will not work in today's environment.

I'm sure MJ called all of the vendor's who provided LIMO service to sell leads so if you have to cold call that will be something you have to do.

Lead generation now days is a bit different than what MJ did, I think you can still do it today, but using a different strategy. I've seen a guy called Josh Nelson create a digital marketing agency for plumbers over the years, but he made himself different by doing plumbers and HVAC. But how he's doing lead gen is not the same as what MJ did.

 

[Andy Black]

Hola,

I'm looking to understand more about how lead generation companies actually work, such as MJ's Limos.com.

How does the back-end operate without being labour intensive?

I have an idea for a lead generation business but it currently involves ringing up every single supplier whenever somebody registers for a quote. How do companies such as limos.com operate globally?

I can't ring every single place, every time I get a lead. It's draining and not scalable. It also means I end up working a thousand hours a week for a product which has scale but a low price point.

Any tips and tricks appreciated.

Thanks,
Robbie

Signup a service provider in an area to take leads in that area, then supply them with leads. Rinse and repeat for different areas?

Check out Dan Wardrope's YouTube channel.

Get good at generating leads first.

 

[ZackerySprague]

Signup a service provider in an area to take leads in that area, then supply them with leads. Rinse and repeat for different areas?

Check out Dan Wardrope's YouTube channel.

Get good at generating leads first.

I totally forgot about him lol

 

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[Qeno]

Signup a service provider in an area to take leads in that area

Hi, could you please explain that a bit more? I couldn't think of a service that is doing that here in Germany. Possibly I just don't understand it right.
Thank you very much!

 

[The-J]

Hi, could you please explain that a bit more? I couldn't think of a service that is doing that here in Germany. Possibly I just don't understand it right.

How Limos did it:

A person would find Limos.com either by typing in the domain or by searching on Google/Yahoo for a limo in X location. They'd visit the site and choose the location of the limo they want and when they want it. Limos.com would send the message to the service providers and whoever responded first would get the job. The service provider would pay Limos.com for the lead. The specifics are unimportant, this is basically how it worked.

Back in the late 90s, Adwords didn't exist. Limos acquired search engine traffic by optimizing the site for search engines (SEO). They got traffic for basically free, qualified the traffic, then sold it to limo providers. That's the business model.

Limos.com wouldn't work today because Uber exists. However, lead generation services similar to Limos exist for other niches. Think Bark.com or Rover.com. MJ sold Limos at the exact right time because only a few short years later, Uber came out and completely disrupted the industry.

Lead generation as a service and as a specialized unit both still work in many niches. It's a skill that can be learned and practiced with very little money.

 

[Andy Black]

Hi, could you please explain that a bit more? I couldn't think of a service that is doing that here in Germany. Possibly I just don't understand it right.
Thank you very much!

Lots of businesses spend money on getting leads. Lots of ways to do it too.

Businesses pay Facebook, LinkedIn, Groupon, Yelp/Yellow Pages, etc for more leads.

Businesses pay people to help with the above.

Businesses also pay for websites, SEO, content marketing, and social media management.

As well as all the above strategies (and more), you could signup a business, put their phone number on a landing page, and send visitors to the landing page. You could have a Contact-Us button on the page and enquiries get sent straight to their email address. Like I said, it starts with getting leads.

 

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[Andy Black]

Limos.com wouldn't work today because Uber exists

A person would find Limos.com either by typing in the domain or by searching on Google/Yahoo for a limo in X location.

It might still work if someone Googles "limos <location>", hits the landing page, and sends contact info. It depends on whether you can get enough visitors to enquire at the right price.

I'm sure there's people who want a limo and not an uber.

 

[The-J]

It might still work if someone Google's "limos <location>", hits the landing page, and sends contact info. It depends on the supply and demand and whether you can get enough visitors to enquire and the right price.

I'm sure there's people who want a limo and not an uber.

Good point. Limo companies still exist after all.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

How Limos did it:

A person would find Limos.com either by typing in the domain or by searching on Google/Yahoo for a limo in X location. They'd visit the site and choose the location of the limo they want and when they want it. Limos.com would send the message to the service providers and whoever responded first would get the job. The service provider would pay Limos.com for the lead. The specifics are unimportant, this is basically how it worked.

Back in the late 90s, Adwords didn't exist. Limos acquired search engine traffic by optimizing the site for search engines (SEO). They got traffic for basically free, qualified the traffic, then sold it to limo providers. That's the business model.

Limos.com wouldn't work today because Uber exists. However, lead generation services similar to Limos exist for other niches. Think Bark.com or Rover.com. MJ sold Limos at the exact right time because only a few short years later, Uber came out and completely disrupted the industry.

Lead generation as a service and as a specialized unit both still work in many niches. It's a skill that can be learned and practiced with very little money.

Nice summation and pretty accurate, although this...

Limos acquired search engine traffic by optimizing the site for search engines (SEO). They got traffic for basically free, qualified the traffic

Is not correct. We spent a monthly fortune on Adwords and other pay-per-click services. "Free traffic" as alluded here, probably represented only about 25% of our traffic.

 

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[The-J]

Nice summation and pretty accurate, although this...



Is not correct. We spent a monthly fortune on Adwords and other pay-per-click services. "Free traffic" as alluded here, probably represented only about 25% of our traffic.

Wow! Makes sense. Thanks for the correction, I was going based on what I remember reading in TMF .