Lead generation

[Jon0]

• I've been knocking around a few ideas and the one scoring highest at the moment has two income streams, one simply transactional, the second is based on selling leads off the back of the data gathered. I know MJ talks about this in MFL, but I've had a look around the web and there isn't a huge amount of information. From what I gather, leads can be sold directly to interested parties or via a broker (the latter removing some element of control [hitchhiker risk!]). You can also by SaaS software to manage them for you and offer them out to customers. It's also very difficult to understand what leads are worth, how much they sell for, whether to charge per lead or a subscription. Also it seems some people only pay for successful leads, but how is this validated?

Some other considerations are:

• How live are the leads
  
  
• How do you know if the lead has been consumed by someone else
  
  
• How they be kept up to date
  
• What will they be classified
  
  
• What if a customer pays for the lead and the lead's gone
  
  
• Do you offer a rebate structure if the lead gets pulled?

• How do you sell data and comply with the data protection act and other legislation?

MJ must have gone through all of this when he was building his business system. It's a bit of a minefield and not something that is openly discussed much, I guess this indicates a potential high barrier to entry, which is good.

Do any fellow fastlaners have any experience or advice in this area?

 

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[maverick]

Learn by doing. Stop asking general questions. Go and try something and ask for specific questions once you get going. Nobody is going to hand you a step-by-step plan that you can follow to success.

 

[Jon0]

Learn by doing. Stop asking general questions. Go and try something and ask for specific questions once you get going. Nobody is going to hand you a step-by-step plan that you can follow to success.

OK that's a fair comment, I'm intending to crack on with this, was just curious if anyone else was doing this and had any experiences to share. I will of course share mine once I'm up to speed.

 

[Azure]

Almost all of your questions will have varied answers due to the particulars of different industries.

Talk to your potential customers and see where you can add value. Work backwards from the problem, don't try to meet an issue in the middle when it may not even be there, or you may be on the wrong path to meet in the first place.

 

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[Jon0]

Almost all of your questions will have varied answers due to the particulars of different industries.

Talk to your potential customers and see where you can add value. Work backwards from the problem, don't try to meet an issue in the middle when it may not even be there, or you may be on the wrong path to meet in the first place.

Good advice, thank you, already got some customer to talk with, will pursue that. Thanks

 

[TheDillon__]

Ahh newbie I like you already. I started taking a big ol' interest in Lead Gen a few months ago.

So, honestly, you're asking a lot of questions that don't matter. Sure you could offer some SaaS solution, sure you could find a leads broker to sell to and blah blah blah but inevitably, all of this starts at one place - your ability to generate leads!

So let's find a vehicle - how do you plan to generate leads in the first place? Stand on the highway and spin a sign, send out paid search ads on Google and Bing, place social ads on Facebook and Twitter?

Pick one mode of ad delivery, dive into it head first. (I recommend paid search, super pure and super effective. People have been searching for "window repairs dallas" since the dawn of search engines, and they won't stop any time soon.)

Next, study. There's a wealth of info all throughout the forum from guys like @eliquid and @Andy Black. At every meal, scrape 20% of your food into a fire as an offering to the Kings of Paid Search.

Then, create ads for companies. Maybe start with "window repairs +your city"

Now don't worry about brokers, buyers, SaaS products, whatever. If someone clicks on your link and fills out a contact form, call the best rated local business and give them a customer. If they want more customers, charge them a monthly rate + ad spend.

Have fun mate, PM me if you have questions.

 

[eliquid]

Just get started mate

 

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[Jon0]

Ahh newbie I like you already. I started taking a big ol' interest in Lead Gen a few months ago.

So, honestly, you're asking a lot of questions that don't matter. Sure you could offer some SaaS solution, sure you could find a leads broker to sell to and blah blah blah but inevitably, all of this starts at one place - your ability to generate leads!

So let's find a vehicle - how do you plan to generate leads in the first place? Stand on the highway and spin a sign, send out paid search ads on Google and Bing, place social ads on Facebook and Twitter?

Pick one mode of ad delivery, dive into it head first. (I recommend paid search, super pure and super effective. People have been searching for "window repairs dallas" since the dawn of search engines, and they won't stop any time soon.)

Next, study. There's a wealth of info all throughout the forum from guys like @eliquid and @Andy Black. At every meal, scrape 20% of your food into a fire as an offering to the Kings of Paid Search.

Then, create ads for companies. Maybe start with "window repairs +your city"

Now don't worry about brokers, buyers, SaaS products, whatever. If someone clicks on your link and fills out a contact form, call the best rated local business and give them a customer. If they want more customers, charge them a monthly rate + ad spend.

Have fun mate, PM me if you have questions.

I really appreciate your response, I have been getting up at 5 every morning, researching then going to work, I am committed to learning. I used a friend of mine who works in the industry I'm targeting, he liked the idea and even said his MD would help me refine the idea into something sellable in return for some favourable rates. So I potentially have a leg up. Only blocker is the cost of developing the site. I can't code so it's either learn or cough up. Time will tell I guess. Many thanks again, really appreciate it.

 

[Jon0]

Just get started mate

About to start reading your posts as @TheDillon__ recommended

Thanks

 

[Andy Black]

Learn by doing.

Listen to the first radio interview in my signature, and then the call I had with @Contrarian

As @eliquid has already said, just start.

 

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[Scot]

OK, here's the real question. And I question you need to ask yourself.

Why lead generation? Is it because that's how MJ got rich, and you like his book?

The thing you really need to find first is the need that you are solving. It is probably one of the most cliché ideas here on the forum, but that's because it works.

Does lead generation work as a good business? Absolutely. But it will only work if you are solving a genuine need. Before you dive down the rabbit hole of lead generation just because you read about it in a book, find a need to solve. If that need can be solved through lead generation, even better.

I tried making a directory website because it sounded really cool in the book, and it failed miserably. Because it was not solving a need and I did not know the customers.

 

[Jon0]

OK, here's the real question. And I question you need to ask yourself.

Why lead generation? Is it because that's how MJ got rich, and you like his book?

The thing you really need to find first is the need that you are solving. It is probably one of the most cliché ideas here on the forum, but that's because it works.

Does lead generation work as a good business? Absolutely. But it will only work if you are solving a genuine need. Before you dive down the rabbit hole of lead generation just because you read about it in a book, find a need to solve. If that need can be solved through lead generation, even better.

I tried making a directory website because it sounded really cool in the book, and it failed miserably. Because it was not solving a need and I did not know the customers.

Thank you kindly for your reply. I went round in circles actually, I had around 8 ideas, simmered them down to three which I am now testing using dummy sites and sign up if interested style pages. The favourite of these is not primarily based on lead generation, the need it solves is a real user need which happened to generate data which could be of interest to other people as a secondary source. I say could, of course I could also fail miserably too, and probably will! So in answer, it would appear like I read it in a book and had an imagination bypass, but my thinking brought me to this place as a by-product of solving a need (cliché though it may be). Of course I need to stress test this need more before investing any time and money.

 

[Scot]

Thank you kindly for your reply. I went round in circles actually, I had around 8 ideas, simmered them down to three which I am now testing using dummy sites and sign up if interested style pages. The favourite of these is not primarily based on lead generation, the need it solves is a real user need which happened to generate data which could be of interest to other people as a secondary source. I say could, of course I could also fail miserably too, and probably will! So in answer, it would appear like I read it in a book and had an imagination bypass, but my thinking brought me to this place as a by-product of solving a need (cliché though it may be). Of course I need to stress test this need more before investing any time and money.

Good, as long as you can give an answer for why you want to do this, that's all waiting to hear. It's all about execution so don't forget that. Good luck.

 

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[Jon0]

Good, as long as you can give an answer for why you want to do this, that's all waiting to hear. It's all about execution so don't forget that. Good luck.

Thank you

 

[SEO Guy]

First post... I have a decent amount of experience in lead gen, but my main gig is client seo. 3 lead gen websites in the home services niche for low-medium competition industry.

The first thing you've got to have in order to make ANY real money with lead generation is a burning desire to provide value. You're not selling a lead that converts at 56.2% and cost $75 and is guaranteed to come from x demographic. You're selling a way for a business owner to put food on his table, grow his business, and help a person in need find his services. Start with your why always.

This is going to help you a lot with it comes to selling your leads. A business owner knows the difference between man who is trying to make a dollar off of him and a man who is looking to provide true value in turn creating a win-win long term relationship.

There's two ways to go about lead gen. Paid advertising and Organic SEO. I'm a bit biased, but I like Organic SEO for a few reasons. With paid ads, you have to worry about CPC's going up, split testing, and a bunch of other BS to make a temporary flow of cash that stops when you stop. Benefits are you can make money faster. But assuming you're a beginner, it won't be fast at all.

On the other hand ranking a lead gen site with organic SEO definitely takes more time, but done right your rankings will stick for years to come with little maintenance. With Organic SEO you're looking to rank "bathroomremodeling[city].com" for [Bathroom Remodel + City] keywords wherever the competition is low and search volume is worth it. Once you build out a bunch of these sites and they are ranking and generating calls you can sell the set of lead gen sites for $xxx,xxx to a big player.

Again, think about how much value you'll be providing for a business owner with a struggling business. You offer them 10 highly targeted phone calls per month for $50/piece, and if they just close one of those calls they make all their money back and more. You're out putting a ton of value there.


Expand quote for more

• I've been knocking around a few ideas and the one scoring highest at the moment has two income streams, one simply transactional, the second is based on selling leads off the back of the data gathered. I know MJ talks about this in MFL, but I've had a look around the web and there isn't a huge amount of information. From what I gather, leads can be sold directly to interested parties or via a broker (the latter removing some element of control [hitchhiker risk!]). You can also by SaaS software to manage them for you and offer them out to customers. It's also very difficult to understand what leads are worth, how much they sell for, whether to charge per lead or a subscription. Also it seems some people only pay for successful leads, but how is this validated?

Some other considerations are:

• How live are the leads: Email submits or Live phone calls. Live phone calls often sell for more, however you can find email submit leads that sell just as much. Live phone calls come from a number on your landing page and are forwarded to client. With call tracking you weed out the good leads from the bad. Someone getting a quote would be a good lead, a telemarketer is a bad lead.
  
  
• How do you know if the lead has been consumed by someone else With my model you sell leads in a monthly package of 5x, 10x, 20x, etc. You can even do round robin calling. This is where a phone number on your lead generation site/ad calls 10 local businesses at once and the first to pick up gets the lead.
  
  
• How they be kept up to date
  
• What will they be classified
  
  
• What if a customer pays for the lead and the lead's gone Somewhat only applies to crappy lead generation business models. A successful lead generation business connects a someone who has a problem with someone who has a solution in real time.
  
  
  
• Do you offer a rebate structure if the lead gets pulled? No, you're selling a lead. If you were making money off the sale, you would be an affiliate marketer.

• How do you sell data and comply with the data protection act and other legislation?

MJ must have gone through all of this when he was building his business system. It's a bit of a minefield and not something that is openly discussed much, I guess this indicates a potential high barrier to entry, which is good. I believe MJ's lead generation model was closer to mine than yours.

Do any fellow fastlaners have any experience or advice in this area?

Might not be the answers you're looking for, but if you have any more questions let me know.

 

[Andy Black]

First post... I have a decent amount of experience in lead gen, but my main gig is client seo. 3 lead gen websites in the home services niche for low-medium competition industry.

The first thing you've got to have in order to make ANY real money with lead generation is a burning desire to provide value. You're not selling a lead that converts at 56.2% and cost $75 and is guaranteed to come from x demographic. You're selling a way for a business owner to put food on his table, grow his business, and help a person in need find his services. Start with your why always.

This is going to help you a lot with it comes to selling your leads. A business owner knows the difference between man who is trying to make a dollar off of him and a man who is looking to provide true value in turn creating a win-win long term relationship.

There's two ways to go about lead gen. Paid advertising and Organic SEO. I'm a bit biased, but I like Organic SEO for a few reasons. With paid ads, you have to worry about CPC's going up, split testing, and a bunch of other BS to make a temporary flow of cash that stops when you stop. Benefits are you can make money faster. But assuming you're a beginner, it won't be fast at all.

On the other hand ranking a lead gen site with organic SEO definitely takes more time, but done right your rankings will stick for years to come with little maintenance. With Organic SEO you're looking to rank "bathroomremodeling[city].com" for [Bathroom Remodel + City] keywords wherever the competition is low and search volume is worth it. Once you build out a bunch of these sites and they are ranking and generating calls you can sell the set of lead gen sites for $xxx,xxx to a big player.

Again, think about how much value you'll be providing for a business owner with a struggling business. You offer them 10 highly targeted phone calls per month for $50/piece, and if they just close one of those calls they make all their money back and more. You're out putting a ton of value there.


Expand quote for more


Might not be the answers you're looking for, but if you have any more questions let me know.

Love the part about getting your Why right.

 

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[Jon0]

First post... I have a decent amount of experience in lead gen, but my main gig is client seo. 3 lead gen websites in the home services niche for low-medium competition industry.

The first thing you've got to have in order to make ANY real money with lead generation is a burning desire to provide value. You're not selling a lead that converts at 56.2% and cost $75 and is guaranteed to come from x demographic. You're selling a way for a business owner to put food on his table, grow his business, and help a person in need find his services. Start with your why always.

This is going to help you a lot with it comes to selling your leads. A business owner knows the difference between man who is trying to make a dollar off of him and a man who is looking to provide true value in turn creating a win-win long term relationship.

There's two ways to go about lead gen. Paid advertising and Organic SEO. I'm a bit biased, but I like Organic SEO for a few reasons. With paid ads, you have to worry about CPC's going up, split testing, and a bunch of other BS to make a temporary flow of cash that stops when you stop. Benefits are you can make money faster. But assuming you're a beginner, it won't be fast at all.

On the other hand ranking a lead gen site with organic SEO definitely takes more time, but done right your rankings will stick for years to come with little maintenance. With Organic SEO you're looking to rank "bathroomremodeling[city].com" for [Bathroom Remodel + City] keywords wherever the competition is low and search volume is worth it. Once you build out a bunch of these sites and they are ranking and generating calls you can sell the set of lead gen sites for $xxx,xxx to a big player.

Again, think about how much value you'll be providing for a business owner with a struggling business. You offer them 10 highly targeted phone calls per month for $50/piece, and if they just close one of those calls they make all their money back and more. You're out putting a ton of value there.


Expand quote for more


Might not be the answers you're looking for, but if you have any more questions let me know.

That's some excellent insight, thank you so much. I think I need to go and read up on organic SEO.

 

[Andy Black]

Did you listen to the call I had with @Contrarian?

 

[jclean]

• I've been knocking around a few ideas and the one scoring highest at the moment has two income streams, one simply transactional, the second is based on selling leads off the back of the data gathered. I know MJ talks about this in MFL, but I've had a look around the web and there isn't a huge amount of information. From what I gather, leads can be sold directly to interested parties or via a broker (the latter removing some element of control [hitchhiker risk!]). You can also by SaaS software to manage them for you and offer them out to customers. It's also very difficult to understand what leads are worth, how much they sell for, whether to charge per lead or a subscription. Also it seems some people only pay for successful leads, but how is this validated?

Some other considerations are:

• How live are the leads
  
  
• How do you know if the lead has been consumed by someone else
  
  
• How they be kept up to date
  
• What will they be classified
  
  
• What if a customer pays for the lead and the lead's gone
  
  
• Do you offer a rebate structure if the lead gets pulled?

• How do you sell data and comply with the data protection act and other legislation?

MJ must have gone through all of this when he was building his business system. It's a bit of a minefield and not something that is openly discussed much, I guess this indicates a potential high barrier to entry, which is good.

Do any fellow fastlaners have any experience or advice in this area?

First post... I have a decent amount of experience in lead gen, but my main gig is client seo. 3 lead gen websites in the home services niche for low-medium competition industry.

The first thing you've got to have in order to make ANY real money with lead generation is a burning desire to provide value. You're not selling a lead that converts at 56.2% and cost $75 and is guaranteed to come from x demographic. You're selling a way for a business owner to put food on his table, grow his business, and help a person in need find his services. Start with your why always.

This is going to help you a lot with it comes to selling your leads. A business owner knows the difference between man who is trying to make a dollar off of him and a man who is looking to provide true value in turn creating a win-win long term relationship.

There's two ways to go about lead gen. Paid advertising and Organic SEO. I'm a bit biased, but I like Organic SEO for a few reasons. With paid ads, you have to worry about CPC's going up, split testing, and a bunch of other BS to make a temporary flow of cash that stops when you stop. Benefits are you can make money faster. But assuming you're a beginner, it won't be fast at all.

On the other hand ranking a lead gen site with organic SEO definitely takes more time, but done right your rankings will stick for years to come with little maintenance. With Organic SEO you're looking to rank "bathroomremodeling[city].com" for [Bathroom Remodel + City] keywords wherever the competition is low and search volume is worth it. Once you build out a bunch of these sites and they are ranking and generating calls you can sell the set of lead gen sites for $xxx,xxx to a big player.

Again, think about how much value you'll be providing for a business owner with a struggling business. You offer them 10 highly targeted phone calls per month for $50/piece, and if they just close one of those calls they make all their money back and more. You're out putting a ton of value there.


Expand quote for more


Might not be the answers you're looking for, but if you have any more questions let me know.

First post... I have a decent amount of experience in lead gen, but my main gig is client seo. 3 lead gen websites in the home services niche for low-medium competition industry.

The first thing you've got to have in order to make ANY real money with lead generation is a burning desire to provide value. You're not selling a lead that converts at 56.2% and cost $75 and is guaranteed to come from x demographic. You're selling a way for a business owner to put food on his table, grow his business, and help a person in need find his services. Start with your why always.

This is going to help you a lot with it comes to selling your leads. A business owner knows the difference between man who is trying to make a dollar off of him and a man who is looking to provide true value in turn creating a win-win long term relationship.

There's two ways to go about lead gen. Paid advertising and Organic SEO. I'm a bit biased, but I like Organic SEO for a few reasons. With paid ads, you have to worry about CPC's going up, split testing, and a bunch of other BS to make a temporary flow of cash that stops when you stop. Benefits are you can make money faster. But assuming you're a beginner, it won't be fast at all.

On the other hand ranking a lead gen site with organic SEO definitely takes more time, but done right your rankings will stick for years to come with little maintenance. With Organic SEO you're looking to rank "bathroomremodeling[city].com" for [Bathroom Remodel + City] keywords wherever the competition is low and search volume is worth it. Once you build out a bunch of these sites and they are ranking and generating calls you can sell the set of lead gen sites for $xxx,xxx to a big player.

Again, think about how much value you'll be providing for a business owner with a struggling business. You offer them 10 highly targeted phone calls per month for $50/piece, and if they just close one of those calls they make all their money back and more. You're out putting a ton of value there.


Expand quote for more


Might not be the answers you're looking for, but if you have any more questions let me know.

I Agree with seo guy, as a customer off three leadgenerating businesses.
I prefer the one that is providing more value, the way he works is
he bought hundreds domains in the cleaning and building space.
(i have a window cleaning biz. )
He automated the site.
A person wants a window cleaner
fills in a form.
The site sends it to max 3 companies
and they need to reply direct to the consumer.
We pay a monthly fee.
for 1 the leads and 2 a better ranking in google.
The other leadsellers sell the leads one by one.
Not so interesting for him because many leads wont sell.
Forgive me for the mistakes in the text

 

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