I am seeing a disturbing (or foolish) trend in the major verticals that buy leads–mortgage, debt, insurance, education, and auto. We are buying leads, not investing in customer opportunities.
Pause for a moment and think about your current online lead buying or even offline marketing. Do you have a strategy to manage your “no” customers as well as your “yes” clients? How about those that are non-responsive? My guess, if you are like 95 percent of sales folks, is the the answer is a big negative.
That simply means that you are throwing away 3-5% of your business potential. For most that is an additional 1-2 loans per month. Could that help in a down market? Of course, so let’s talk about it.
Diversify Lead Generation
I can’t say it much better than Chris Meerschaert from Sparkroom did at the recent TargusInfo Online Lead Quality Summit, “any lead can work for the right price.” Your lead generation strategy can begin at any budget from $0 to $2000 per month.
You read that right, you can generate leads for $0 and work your way up to more efficient and lucrative lead buying. Building your online marketing program is a simple economic equation.
When you begin, for experience and capital reason, you may exchange your time for capital. If you are selling mortgages or insurance it certainly isn’t efficient for you to be generating leads. However, if you are without sufficient capital you can start at nearly $0 with a blog and your own time.
As you land those client you will build cash flow that generate an important question: “Where do I spend my time–generating leads or selling my product?”
As you begin buying leads, again you can start at the bottom (with VERY careful due diligence) and trade up to the best lead quality.
Database Everything
To make that strategy work you have to be smart. That means every lead turns into a long term investment. It is really hard to make 1000 leads, at $10 per lead, turn a profit in 7-14 days. However, if you database and market to every lead you ever receive–”yes” AND “no” leads–you will be hugely profitable!
Now, if you want even more value out of that lead investment don’t waste that 7-14 day magic window of opportunity either. If you set your goal on 100% immediate contact, good conversation, and follow-up you will have a relationship with every lead. This is going to increase their long-term responsiveness to your marketing–even if they say “no.”
If you are receiving leads via email–you are a fool!
Sorry to be so direct, but it is THAT IMPORTANT. Database every customer!
Lead Nurturing
Looking for that easy, extra pop in your sales production out of your leads? Lead nurturing is the secret. Lead nurturing is simply a fancy term for relationship building.
Unfortunately, some people think lead nurturing is a synonym for drip email campaigns. As Brian Carroll puts it so well, “Lead Nurturing is About Relationships, Not Emails.” As such don’t turn your autoresponder on your lead database. Autoresponders have an effective place in online marketing, but it is not in your lead database.
Your lead database or lead management software should allow you to build dynamic lead nurturing workflows. These workflows should coordinate a multi-touch campaign combining follow-up calls, meetings, email, and information. Lead nurturing campaigns should feel like an old friend checking in on you from time to time.
Database Marketing
Database marketing is a closely guarded secret of the biggest in the online lead and sales business. Top online originators and sales organizations most priceless asset is their database of customers (leads) and how they market to them.
Industry sales statistics show that even the most rudimentary marketing against a database of customers will yield 3-5% conversion annually. What would that mean to your annual sales targets?
Make Lead Buying More Profitable
Establish the database and then leverage email, lead nurturing, and lead analytics to bring you more from your lead generation efforts and dollars.
Lead buying is a dangerous label–lead investment is far more appropriate. Set-up properly your lead program should be a powerful annuity for your future.
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Want more information about Kaleidico's lead management software or services call 866.667.5253 or visit www.kaleidico.com.
