Leads

There seems to be varying kinds of leads out there at prices that range from the ridiculously cheap to the horrendously expensive, provided by an endless supply of different companies. Attempting to wade through all that can be frustrating and expensive, to say the least! Well, keep on reading and I'm going to help you wade through the tidal wave of sources, types, and prices.

What is a Lead?

In this case, it is defined as: an indication of potential opportunity, or information pointing to a possible solution. In lay man's terms, it is the personal information about a prospect that may contain all or some of the following information:

• First and Last Name
• Address, City, State, Zip Code
• Telephone number
• IP Address (if responding online)
• Date responded
• Age
• Male or Female
• Answers to miscellaneous questions

Generic vs. Specific

A generic lead is the personal information about a prospect that is interested in the product, service or business opportunity you provide. They have not expressed an interest in your specific product or service name or your specific company. For example, if your home business is Tender Care Organic Baby Food, a generic prospect would be someone who has either expressed an interest in all kinds of baby food or someone who has expressed an interest in working from home but not specifically with Tender Care.

A specific lead is someone who expresses an interest in your particular product, service or company. Following along the same lines as the example above, this prospect would have expressed an interest in ORGANIC baby food or in the company, Tender Care.

Which Company Should you Choose?

That's a very good question! Unfortunately, there isn't a straight forward answer. I'm sorry!

Personally, I have my own thoughts about all this....read on!

1. I do not purchase from companies that offer affiliate programs. Why? Because I believe that the quality should sell itself. Keep in mind this is my own personal opinion and worth about as much as you paid for it!

2. Generally speaking, you get what you pay for. I reiterate, this is generally speaking. I have purchased $1 leads that have proven much more successful than some $5 ones. Your success with prospects always depends a lot on your experience, confidence and the mood you're in at the time.

3. If you are involved with MLM or Direct Sales, ask others in your organization for their input. However, ask the people that know - don't ask someone who hasn't proven themselves to be successful. Ask the leaders of your organization!

4. In my own experience, I have tried more companies than I can count. Here's what I do: I purchase from one company until I receive a poor quality batch. These would be prospects that are unresponsive, don't remember asking for information, inaccurate telephone numbers or email addresses. When I receive one of those batches, I simply move on to another company and repeat the process. You have to keep in mind that these companies cannot control who responds to the ads that they place.

So, with all that said, I encourage you to visit our Leads Resource page for a list of some of the lead resources available to you.

I'm currently using one other tool to generate opt-in subscribers to my newsletter and I have to tell you my findings! I think you'll really like this one.


Pricing

Lead pricing is largely dependant on quality. That's why I say that you get what you pay for. If you make 100 phone calls, using lesser quality and lower priced leads, you'll most likely receive the same response had you made 10 phone calls, using the higher quality and higher priced ones. However, for people that are inexperienced at calling prospects, I highly recommend using the less expensive ones to start out with. Why? For two reasons: Firstly, they receive practice and experience in calling prospects, dealing with objections and dealing with rejections. Secondly, I wouldn't want to give someone who's just starting out, an unfair expectation that $1 leads are just as responsive as the $10 ones. That is just not the case!