This is an old question, but one that is still very much with a large section of home network marketing business owners.
It’s not that there’s a lack of potential customers or a lack of opportunity seekers; It’s the fact that there are so many so-called lead generation companies and even people marketing in the industry now that it’s almost impossible to know who to trust and who has the best leads with the best price and highest quality.
Well, let me save you a ton of time, money, and effort by explaining what one of the BEST ways to get high-quality leads from a trusted source actually is:
It is to generate your own leads!
For some of you that may be very obvious, but for many people that thought has never crossed their mind.
Now, I’m NOT talking about getting ‘leads’ by making cold calls, using the 3 foot rule, scouring your warm market, collecting business cards, or talking to someone in the store and getting their number.
I’m talking about ATTRACTING people to you using effective marketing principles.
If I may, let me share with you my take on the quality of leads out there using 3 stages:
Stage 1 Leads – These are the so-called leads that you can generate by using old school mlm prospecting techniques as described above. What I refer to as ‘Interruption Marketing’. This basically says that what you have to say seems so important that you should track people down and spew your speech at them and hope they receive your message with joy and delight. I know, that sounds terrible, but it is what it is. I was there myself and did that and I speak from experience so now I can laugh about it.
So Stage 1 leads are often the bottom of the scale and also don’t help your reputation as a true business professional. You don’t see the usual business owners scouring the streets looking for prospects, do you? There’s no need to when you educate yourself in EFFECTIVE marketing.
Sure, you can engage people using these methods, but why subject yourself and most of your prospects to these demeaning and rather ineffective tactics?
Stage 2 Leads – These are the most popular form of leads, which are generated by lead generation companies or lead brokers. This category contains multiple varieties of leads such as opportunity seekers, home business leads, mlm leads, etc. which can have different degrees of type: phone interview, phone verified, polled, exclusive, infomercial, radio response, non-exclusive, email, opt-in, direct mail, long form, short form, etc.
Now some of the highest response rates I’ve personally seen in this category are leads fully interviewed over the phone and respondents combined as a single lead type. At the very least, there are varying degrees of response rates between these leads and the people who buy from them, as well as your skill level in working with these leads.
That being said, Stage 2 Leads are a step up from Stage 1 Leads and I know people who have built great businesses just by working with purchased leads. This is also a step up because it allows you to be a true HOME BASED business owner. Which means you can work outside your house in your shorts and talk on the phone and build a great business without driving across town trying to find people to meet or meet someone at Starbucks or doing presentations at someone’s house! !
The main challenge with these leads is finding a reliable source of good quality leads at a good price, and hoping you have the time and skills to make the calls necessary to convert the number of people you need to make a decent profit. . In fact, many people who buy purchased leads never earn more than they spent on the leads. You can create a vicious cycle similar to slots and gambling: “Maybe if I buy one more set of leads, I’ll get some good ones this time and hit the jackpot.” It doesn’t work that way.
Stage 3 Leads: These are my favorites! These are leads that you generate yourself by using highly effective marketing techniques that ATTRACT YOUR TARGET MARKET 24/7 on autopilot with or without your presence. Just like the other 2 stages, there are varying degrees of these leads and how you can generate them.
My personal favorite is the leads you generate yourself using FREE niche avenues of online marketing, where you actually GET PAID for every lead you generate AND every lead has been qualified by making a purchase of educational information products BEFORE talking to them.
So you get paid (rather than paid for) by a lead who has actually invested a few bucks in their education in this industry and is actively looking for something (as opposed to just kicking tires), and has been attracted to and You completed this entire process while you were playing golf, hanging out with your kids at the park, or working at your day job, etc.
This way, you can spend more time with serious prospects (who you get paid to talk to) instead of wasting time trying to find or convince suspects. This will also free up a great deal of time and allow you to spend your time doing what gets you RESULTS.
Which lead stage sounds best to you?
The good news is that it only takes proper education and then simple implementation of a predictable plan that allows you to start doing business this way. It is easier than you think.
Personally, I will never go back to the hard old ways of building and prospecting. Has no sense!
So, get the right education and develop your own game plan for lead generation success.