I know from experience that dealing with leads can sometimes be confusing. I’ve been asked previously how I deal with them from start to finish, so I’ve compiled some tips and information that has helped me in the past. What worked for me may not work for you, but if this helps you, then great! Also, if you have any other methods to suggest that haven’t been covered below, please feel free to share them in the comments.
Lead Generation
Over the years, I've covered the essence of how I generate leads in a few different articles. My latest article brushed on it a bit more, which I've quoted below:
Lifespan of a Lead
Unfortunately, lead lifespan can vary greatly depending on the industry and market. As we all know, in the domain industry there can be a small window of opportunity when it comes to trends and an even smaller window when it comes to a motivated buyer with cash in hand that needs something to build on TODAY! While it can be difficult to put an exact expiration date on a lead, we can surely speculate. Here are a few trends I’ve experienced:
Once you've started to acquire leads, you need to establish a way to track and maintain them. Everyone has a different method, but I‘ve found the easiest is to log them all in an Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheets.
Selling Leads
Now that you have leads, it's time to figure out what to do with them. There are several options for selling, depending on the type of buyer or lead. Based on those factors, you can determine whether to sell the lead individually or as a bulk lot.
In Conclusion
The lead generation topic is vast, and there’s much more that has yet to be covered, but this should provide you with a general starting point for beginning. So if you still have questions, please feel free to ask in the comments below or share the lead generation methods you’ve tried that have yet to be discussed.
Lead Generation
Over the years, I've covered the essence of how I generate leads in a few different articles. My latest article brushed on it a bit more, which I've quoted below:
Read the full article: How I Monetize My DomainsI love, love, love lead generators. In a nutshell, a lead generator is a small mini-site that has been optimized to target a specific service or product line. After some creative and targeted SEO/SEM strategy implementation, the mini-sites put a smack down on page #1 of Google search within the top 3 to 8 listings. These are also referred to as Doorway sites.
My lead generators are a crucial contributing factor to my business. For instance, when someone visits one of my geo-city targeted mini-sites geared for corporate identity, it provides them with the basic information they need to make an educated decision on whether I provide what they need. If they should decide they want more information or develop the uncontrollable impulse to make a purchase, then they click on a call to action (CTA) link with instructions on how to proceed and get introduced to my primary service, product, or brand, so that they know who they will be dealing with moving forward.
Basically, a generic brand that refers to a primary trusted brand to do business with after educating them on what they were looking for. A lead generator should educate, evaluate, establish trust, and then refer to an authorized brand that will take care of the purchase and support process.
Lifespan of a Lead
Unfortunately, lead lifespan can vary greatly depending on the industry and market. As we all know, in the domain industry there can be a small window of opportunity when it comes to trends and an even smaller window when it comes to a motivated buyer with cash in hand that needs something to build on TODAY! While it can be difficult to put an exact expiration date on a lead, we can surely speculate. Here are a few trends I’ve experienced:
- Motivated Buyer (cash in hand; already researched): 1 to 3 days
- Payday Buyer (only buys once a month on payday): 1 to 30 days
- Researcher (only buys after they have compiled enough research to justify the investment): 7 to 90 days
- Tire Kicker (asks a lot of questions, but never pulls the trigger): 1 to 365 days
Once you've started to acquire leads, you need to establish a way to track and maintain them. Everyone has a different method, but I‘ve found the easiest is to log them all in an Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheets.
- Create a different spreadsheet for each industry/market.
- Sort the list by the date the lead was acquired (first column)
- You should have the following columns (at a minimum):
- Date
- Full Name
- Phone (if applicable)
- Address (if applicable)
- Product/Service interested in
- Budget (if applicable)
- Source (how you acquired the lead)
Selling Leads
Now that you have leads, it's time to figure out what to do with them. There are several options for selling, depending on the type of buyer or lead. Based on those factors, you can determine whether to sell the lead individually or as a bulk lot.
Option 1: Develop a service that caters to the lead. If you’ve ever wanted a development idea, now you have one with demand.
Option 2: Join an affiliate program and provide links to leads that will pay you a commission if the lead clicks and/or makes a purchase. You can either email them the link or you can put up banners or contextual links on your webpage.
Option 3: Join a Partner program that provides an API you can use on your webpage. This will provide the convenience of retaining your visitors on your site and not forcing them to leave your site to fill out an application. You generally get paid after they submit an application and make a verifiable purchase that is associated with your site/partner ID.
Option 4: This is my favorite option and what I try to do whenever possible. Try to partner up with a salesperson who works in the industry that your leads are targeted in. Meet him/her in person and have a pleasant, low pressure business lunch to discuss bird dog fees. If you’re not familiar with that term, a bird dog fee is a commission or flat-rate fee that a salesperson pays you, as the bird dog, for fetching them a lead (or a bone/bird), which converts into a sale. This is common in industries such as real-estate, auto sales, boat sales, etc.
Example: Let’s say you sell tires and you get an inquiry from a current or potential customer interested in a used car. To make this into a potential “bone” respond with: "I'm glad you asked. I have a buddy that sells used cars, and he'll probably give you a great deal if he knew I sent you. Would you like me to call him really quickly to give him your information?" By tweaking your response to favor a partner in the industry, you’ve just created a potential money-making lead.
Think about it: how much more likely are you to buy something if a friend or associate recommends it? Word of mouth is an incredibly powerful advertising/marketing tool, which leaves the customer feeling more in control, less like they are being solicited. In my experience, 9 times out of 10, they will agree to calling and giving their information. Not only are these deals easier to close, but you're likely to make more money selling a bird dog lead directly than you would on a Pay Per Click affiliate commission, or even an application flat-rate fee via API partnership.
Option 5: Bulk email lead lists are one of the more difficult, but still potentially useful, options. Industry leaders will more than likely pass on most of these types of offers if they can't verify the source of the leads. They have been around long enough to know about resold lists, harvester lists, dead email lists, bogus/fake emails, etc. You'll really need to have some solid evidence to show why your leads are better than everyone else’s. If they feel that your method of acquiring the leads is legitimate and that the leads are of high quality, you may just be able to form a partnership contract for monthly subscriptions. Bare in mind that this can be a hard market to sustain when dealing in bulk and trying to keep high quality, uncirculated leads at the same time.
Option 2: Join an affiliate program and provide links to leads that will pay you a commission if the lead clicks and/or makes a purchase. You can either email them the link or you can put up banners or contextual links on your webpage.
Option 3: Join a Partner program that provides an API you can use on your webpage. This will provide the convenience of retaining your visitors on your site and not forcing them to leave your site to fill out an application. You generally get paid after they submit an application and make a verifiable purchase that is associated with your site/partner ID.
Option 4: This is my favorite option and what I try to do whenever possible. Try to partner up with a salesperson who works in the industry that your leads are targeted in. Meet him/her in person and have a pleasant, low pressure business lunch to discuss bird dog fees. If you’re not familiar with that term, a bird dog fee is a commission or flat-rate fee that a salesperson pays you, as the bird dog, for fetching them a lead (or a bone/bird), which converts into a sale. This is common in industries such as real-estate, auto sales, boat sales, etc.
Example: Let’s say you sell tires and you get an inquiry from a current or potential customer interested in a used car. To make this into a potential “bone” respond with: "I'm glad you asked. I have a buddy that sells used cars, and he'll probably give you a great deal if he knew I sent you. Would you like me to call him really quickly to give him your information?" By tweaking your response to favor a partner in the industry, you’ve just created a potential money-making lead.
Think about it: how much more likely are you to buy something if a friend or associate recommends it? Word of mouth is an incredibly powerful advertising/marketing tool, which leaves the customer feeling more in control, less like they are being solicited. In my experience, 9 times out of 10, they will agree to calling and giving their information. Not only are these deals easier to close, but you're likely to make more money selling a bird dog lead directly than you would on a Pay Per Click affiliate commission, or even an application flat-rate fee via API partnership.
Option 5: Bulk email lead lists are one of the more difficult, but still potentially useful, options. Industry leaders will more than likely pass on most of these types of offers if they can't verify the source of the leads. They have been around long enough to know about resold lists, harvester lists, dead email lists, bogus/fake emails, etc. You'll really need to have some solid evidence to show why your leads are better than everyone else’s. If they feel that your method of acquiring the leads is legitimate and that the leads are of high quality, you may just be able to form a partnership contract for monthly subscriptions. Bare in mind that this can be a hard market to sustain when dealing in bulk and trying to keep high quality, uncirculated leads at the same time.
In Conclusion
The lead generation topic is vast, and there’s much more that has yet to be covered, but this should provide you with a general starting point for beginning. So if you still have questions, please feel free to ask in the comments below or share the lead generation methods you’ve tried that have yet to be discussed.
