Roast My Idea - Lead Generation Business

[DamienP]

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?

 

[SmoothFranko]

Here is the current iteration of my website http://swiftreboot.com/

 

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[SmoothFranko]

You're in a competitive market, and your USP's are nowhere near punchy enough. If you want to stand out, you need to find a reason why people should give a shit about what you have to offer.

Come on? What makes you GREAT? Why the hell should I choose YOU? Give me an awesome offer that grabs my attention.

I'm sorry I have very little marketing experience and just need something to fill the gaps it was the best I could come up with at the time. I am looking into getting a job at a marketing agency as well as reading books and websites till my eyes bleed.

What can be improved?
Where there are specific instances that illustrate the problem?
Why do you feel it needs improvement?
How you would suggest making the improvement?
Why you feel your recommended changes work better?

 

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[SmoothFranko]

Whether or not this is a good idea and whether or not you can make it work, I respect that you're always looking to solve problems rather than let problems stop you. It's this sort of fearlessly optimistic mindset that runs circles around the "need to know everything before I take a baby step" sort of people. High five for you.

Thanks man I appreciate the kind words, I genuinely feel like I have no other choice but to try as my alternative is to sacrifice everything I've ever wanted to do and join the chained masses.

 

[tafy]

I charge £30-50 per lead in my niche

Yeah I would pay that too, for a sale I would pay up to $500

 

[SmoothFranko]

On my point 4 above, let me give you a real world example... this is my business and a real deal with one of my lead buyers:

Our leads cost $40 each. We expect that you will convert 1 in 12 leads, therefore your cost per acquired customer is likely to be around $480. Your service costs $8000 on average, with a 40% profit margin. So you'll make $3200 per customer, and we'll sell you those customers for $480 each. Sound like a fair deal Mr Lead Buyer?
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There are some extremely experienced lead generation people on this forum (wink wink @Andy Black and @MJ DeMarco). Spend a bit of time here, learn all you can, but don't forget that decisive actions ultimately decide your fortune.

I see your point in which case my currant target is Non-Franchised IT businesses within my state of Tasmania of which there is around 50 That fit my criteria.

Marketing wise I having a hard time thinking what else to do other than read and soak in info or get a job at a marketing firm which I mentioned I was trying to do.

As for lead prices the few business I've seen average about $100 an hour + extra for onsite callouts, as for conversion rates if I gave them 10 leads id guesstimate that at least half would convert as the traffic I would be driving to the site would be people already looking for a technician to fix their PC (using Andy's AdWords)

 

[Andy Black]

Some great advice and action taking in this thread so far. (The advice is forthcoming *because* of the action taking.)

This already IS your progress thread. No need to create a new one imo.

 

[DamienP]

You can even scale this locally. Setup a pay-per booking option. Run your own SEM/SEO for more bookings. They don't need to know how you get them.

I guess that's the concept I ended up with, never thought about it that way.

I've been considering this, but its market-dependent. No good for uber-specialist, but fine for more general stuff. Some verticals like legal, financial etc will pay per booked consultation, kind of a halfway house between the lead and the sale.

 

[SmoothFranko]

Hey so depending on what industry your in, leads may be the thing of the past. Customers just want things taken care of, so why not take bookings instead of leads, take the money and get it all sorted.

Why mess around with leads that they have to close? Just give them them the business with no fuss.

I think in the IT industry it would be difficult to use a booking system as you'd have to have it tie into an existing system that the businesses uses or even design one for them to use... just had an idea brb...

 

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[SmoothFranko]

You're in a competitive market, and your USP's are nowhere near punchy enough. If you want to stand out, you need to find a reason why people should give a shit about what you have to offer.

Come on? What makes you GREAT? Why the hell should I choose YOU? Give me an awesome offer that grabs my attention.

Alright after reading through the articles I came up with this based on those 3 principles


Computers Are Frustrating
So let us make life easier, request a callback now.

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If we can’t fix it, you don’t pay anything.

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Still struggling with your computer? Let us fix your problems today!

 

[tafy]

Well you can take the booking and tell the company to contact the customer asap to arrange details. If there is any problems you can always refund the customer

 

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[CoolAV8R]

I don't know why I didn't realise sooner but It only occured to me a few days ago that even though I'm not competing directly with IT businesses for services I am competing for web traffic. So today I launched an AdWord campaign.

I currently have 5 ad groups running (hopfully) following @Andy Black 's AdWord advice.
My Ad as it appears on Google.

Hey Smooth...Are you running at least two ads per ad group?

If I may ask, where are you sending traffic to?

 

[Alex W.]

How about a marketplace in which businesses bid for a list of high-converting leads?

Just setup an auction site, and direct merchants to it.

Post a list of "qualified leads" in a specific vertical, set a starting bid & let the auction begin.

Of course it'd be pretty difficult to get going, as you're essentially creating a new market. You'd need a decent # of merchants participating for it to work. That said, I bet there are creative ways to attract merchants to such a site (free bids, new account credit, free leads, etc...)

Hell, maybe even allow other lead-gen'ers (for lack of a better term) to post offers. Just act as an intermediary (and take a commission, of course).

Surely this has been attempted before?

If not... Andy, how 'bout a partnership

Just thinking aloud. Sorry if it's a derail.

Looking into both centralized & decentralized lead marketplaces now... not much out there.

Found LeadPoint, which is a market that matches lead buyer/sellers. In reality, though, it looks a bit like list buying (they offer "core" and "value" leads, which are only recommended for buyers with experienced sales teams). Their "premium" leads are rare, according to their site.

So... a market for only premium, high converting, leads could be well received (and command a premium price).

I'll move this to another thread if I decide to pursue it any further.

Good luck with your venture @SmoothFranko

 

[AdamMaxum]

What if you didn't charge for a lead... What if you charged for a confirmed customer/sale/purchase instead? That's where the bigger money is.

 

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