Leads

Do you know anyone who has successfully built a business with purchased leads?

Having just performed an internet survey of "home business leads" I was not only struck by the similarity of the verbage and design of the websites but it also left me wondering why everyone isn't rich? I mean "there's lots and lots of people just waiting prequalified for your call" as the ads say. You can even pick your geographic location and gender of your leads. Wow. I just get the impression that many of these leads websites are owned by the same people each offering "fresh" leads. I just wonder if they are all selling the same fresh leads?

The key question then is :" how many times the lead is being sold over and over again?". I don't know and unless you actually work for one of these outfits, you will never know.

One website explained their procedure this way; "our realtime leads are sold up to two times, never to the same opportunity. They may be shared one more time after 3 days. Our 3 -7 day old leads have been shared up to two other times...we do not believe in selling a lead over 5 times" .

Cost for these leads runs from a low of $2.00 for week old leads to $4.00 per lead for fresh leads. If you purchased 250 leads you could get them for $3.45 per lead or $862.50. Now you should compute the time it will take to track down each one of those leads. Conversion rates are probably in the 3% range if you are good at what you do.

There's more from mlm.com. In an effort to explain how good their leads are, the website issues a Leads Scam Alert. Apparently, it's a fairly common practice among unscrupulous lead brokers to actually exhange lists with other brokers so that the other broker can now advertise new, fresh leads. Well, they have be new and fresh to the broker but they are not new and fresh people. Chances are, these same people have been called several, if not many, times by different people. I get calls on a fairly regular basis because my name is on one of these lists.

How do these lead brokers get their leads? Well do a search on Google looking for a "home business opportunity'. You'll find very few (or none) specific opportunities but what you will get are generic websites with tons of links to other opportunity websites and website splash pages which talk about a business opportunity in a very general way complete with testimonials about how anybody can do it and how awesome their lifestyle is. All these websites look and sound like they've been written by the same person. They never tell you anything about the exact opportunity but do ask you to fill out a questionnaire. Once you fill out the form and send it in, you are now on a lead list, perhaps 100's of leads lists. Get ready for your telephone to ring.

Why Do People Buy Leads 

People buy leads because they have either gone through their warm market list or don't want to contact their warm market at all. Warm market contacts should be contacted simply because they are easy but don't expect too much. They can be very negative and could totally discourage a new business owner who has never dealt with any kind of real rejection. Often, the new person is told "the product sells itself " or "everybody gets in" so it should not be suprising when the new person is devasted by failure. The lead companies then give them the same type of hype about responsive leads. No wonder the failure rate among mlm and home business owners is so high.

Reputable Lead Companies

There are numerous reputable lead companies that service all kinds of industries with lead information. For example you can get lead lists for most of the professions, you can lead lists for all kinds of customers, by age, by gender, by income level. I call these the big league lists because they are very expensive and are used by corporations and professional sales and marketing people as a way to promote their business through direct mail, email or by personal contact. Conversion rates form lead to customer can be as low as 1-3%. The companies that buy these lists know that but it's stiil worth it to them because these lists focus on their target markets.

By contrast, home business lead list operators often paint a very rosy picture about leads knowing that the home business owner is so not well educated in this area. There are, no doubt, some good home business lead list companies. I just haven't found any. Problem is that you do need some sort of way to attract leads or customers or you business will fail. So what can you do?

Using Personal Websites

Every business needs prospects and new customers. It's what makes the business world go round and round. I have chosen to have multiple personal websites each on a slightly different themes and keywords but all with the same common purpose and that is to find true business opportunity seekers looking for a good solid business opportunity. My websites are listed in the Links Page.

How am I different from a common splash page? Well #1, you know exactly who you are dealing with. My name, address, telephone number and photo is on every website. You know what I'm promoting because my business opportunity is plainly stated on all websites and they all have several links to the host company . The business I am promoting is based on relationships which in this case starts with this website. You agree to participate a little by filling out the contact information to seek further information. We can communicate by telephone or email.

The competitive advantage and key point of difference with my Trivita business is that you actually get to "buy customers" not leads. Its in the health and wellness arena which is a massive mega trend. It's currently not mlm and it already has 2,500,000 customers. It's a real business with a very sophistated marketing agenda which you get to leverage because it works for you in your own home based business. It's not going to cost you anything to find out more.

For more information about attracting leads see my website http://www.leads.bz