Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Sales Leads

Sales Leads
 
Sales leads are generated on the basis of demographic criteria such as FICO score, income, age, HHI, etc. These leads are often resold to multiple advertisers. Sales leads are typically followed up through phone calls by a sales force. Sales leads are typically only used in the mortgage, insurance and finance industries.  Its important to understand that sales leads are just that.  They are a foot in the door, so to speak.  The person has filled out a contact form on Google.  Once that information is assimilated, they become fair game for leads generators to distribute to marketers.
 
Online lead generation advertising refers to a number of internet-based methods for generating customer leads.
Advertisers pay for impressions in most online banner campaigns, and for clicks in search engine marketing campaigns. However, they pay exclusively for leads in an online lead generation campaign – irrespective of the impressions and clicks that went into generating the leads. This is why online lead generation advertising is commonly referred to as Cost-per-Lead (CPL) advertising.
 
What you need to consider is how much money are you willing to spend for a sales lead?  Often, leads brokers will tout claims of sales leads only costing cents per dollar.  When you look at the effectiveness of that lead, and how many leads that you actually have to call to close a sale, then the process begins to take on an entirely different light.  Be prepared to spend hundreds of dollars before a sale is closed.  In speaking about leads, most people tend to think that buying leads is a viable alternative to building an online business.
 
A lead is a sign-up for an advertiser's offer and is comprised of the user's contact information. A lead may consist of as little as an email address, or it may involve a more detailed set of data. Also sometimes referred to as PII data (Personally Identifiable Information).  Online marketers tend to think simply of this lead process.  They simply signup for some MLM business, then are more than likely led by their upline sponsor to spend additional revenue for leads.  Actually, this is a very cost ineffective way to produce income, particularly is that business being promoted is that not lucrative.  You must consider ROI (return on investment), and how successful a marketing or campaign was. ROI is calculated by determining what the measurable results were for the marketing spend invested.  If you crunch numbers, you will see that those leads that you buy are costing a great deal more money that you expected to pay.  You will also discover that in terms of time spent in making cold phone calls to prospects, the ROI becomes increasingly less.
 
So we come to the ultimate question.  Is buying sales leads an alternative for most online entrepreneurs to pursue?  In essence, the buying of sales leads is unproductive at best.  This more than likely leads to frustration to the marketer, and soon, they will either abandon the business, or simply join something else on Google that is advertised to be much more cost effective.
 
The alternative to buying sales leads today is finding a Good Business that requires no leads be bought in order to promote.  There are very few of these types of businesses currently operating for the simple reason that MLM companies are not allowed to sell their products or services directly to consumers.  They must recruit online entrepreneurs to accomplish the task.  In a true Good Business environment, the MLM company would have the option to sell direct to the consumer, but they will take a different approach, and sell those already paying customers to distributors.
 
This type of business model makes much more sense in a very uncertain world of online marketing.  The business affiliate simply joins the business plan for a modest investment, and then proceeds buying customers.  This approach to building substantial businesses is considered to be a long term investment, rather than a simple MLM get rich quick scheme.
 
In essence, this type of business plan is a winning situation for the marketer.  Long range business investors will clearly discern that buying customers certainly makes more sense than buying sales leads.  By purchasing customers monthly, you will see immediate ROI.  This will lead to more productivity on your part and a clearer vision of what it means to build a business on Google.  Is this a viable Answer to MLMs?  Only you, the SOHO business owner can decide.  This could be called a Quiet Business, and not some glorified cheerleading session found on most MLM teleconferencing calls that I personally have witnessed.
 
To locate a business of this nature, simply click on any of the highlighted words in this article will take you to the business model that is proving steadily this whole concept of buying customers, not sales leads.
 
 
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