WEEK 38

TRY AN INTERNET LEAD GENERATION SERVICE

Throughout this book, I provide advice on how to generate your own leads. If you already have a web site and blog, you’re making your 100 phone calls a day, practicing the 10-10-20 technique, and networking with everyone who crosses your path, you should already have more business than you can handle on your own. (Hopefully, you have hired one or more assistants to help you handle the extra business so you don’t have to turn customers away.)

If you have the time and resources to take on even more business, then consider subscribing to an Internet lead generation service as a source for additional prospects.

In the real estate industry, lead generation services are a huge industry in and of themselves. Companies including HomeGain (HomeGain.com), HouseValues (HouseValues.com), and Agent-Connect (AgentConnect.com) are only a few companies that gather contact information of people who show an interest in buying or selling a home, screen those leads, and provide them to real estate agents all across the country who subscribe to the service.

While Internet lead generation has pretty much gotten its start in the real estate industry, it has quickly spread to other industries, including banks, insurance companies, and even the medical industry. No matter what you sell, there’s probably an Internet lead generation company that can help you track down prospective customers.

ASSESS THE BENEFITS OF LEAD GENERATION SERVICES

Lead generation services offer several benefits to you as a salesperson, including the following:

• Marketing and advertising: Lead generation services often have a pre-established Internet presence that draws prospective customers, so you can invest less time and effort establishing yourself on the Internet. Many of these services also pay for search engine advertising, giving them a much higher search engine ranking than you could afford on your own. By relieving the burden of Internet marketing and advertising, lead generation services free your time and resources to follow up with motivated customers rather than having to find them.

• Screening: Perhaps the biggest benefit of a high-quality Internet lead generation service is that the service screens out prospects who are less ready, willing, and able to make a purchase decision in the near future. This enables you to concentrate your efforts on highly motivated clients. One of the most important factors in choosing an Internet lead generation service is how well the service screens out poor leads.

• On-demand leads: An Internet lead generation service gathers leads 24/7, so you can focus on more important tasks, such as serving your clients. When you need more leads, the service can supply them on demand.

Tip: When you are in the market for an Internet lead generation service, find out how many salespeople receive the same leads, the average age of the leads, and what the company does to screen out less promising leads. Many companies promote their services by boasting about the total number of leads, but if 20 salespeople in your market are receiving the same leads or if the leads are old or bogus (visitors entered fake information to register on the site with no intention of being contacted), then you could end up paying for bad leads that merely waste your time.

BE PREPARED

I was once the official spokesperson for a promising Internet lead generation service for real estate agents. Part of my job was to provide training to real estate agents, so they could make optimum use of the high-quality leads the service sent them.

The biggest problem we encountered is that many of the agents who subscribed to the service were ill-prepared to follow up on the leads they received. They would receive leads and simply sit on them until they “had some free time.” By the time they got around to contacting the hot lead, it had gone cold or another agent already snapped it up.

To maximize the return on your investment, you need to put a lead-management system in place before you even subscribe to a service. Your lead-management system should do the following:

• Qualify the leads. Rank your prospects A, B, and C. Focus your sales efforts on the A-level prospects, but don’t ignore the Bs and Cs. You may be able to convert them into A-level prospects later. In Week 39, I show you how to date your leads.

• Be the first to call. Clients, especially those who shop on the Internet, demand instant gratification. Even slight delays can result in lost opportunities.

• Offer the best service. Chances are pretty good that the same lead has been distributed to several salespeople in your market. When you contact the lead, you had better be in a position to offer superior service.

• Treat your lead like a customer. Too many salespeople expect leads to be willing buyers. You still have to sell. Treat the prospect well, and you can turn the prospect into a customer. Continue to follow up, so that the person becomes a customer for life.

 

Ralph’s Rule: Lead generation systems are not perfect, but they do provide another source for contacting prospective customers. The more proactive you are at following up on the leads you receive, the more business the service will generate for you.