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Don't Go Broke Buying Leads!

Once you’ve figured out that trying to recruit and/or sell to your friends and family is one of the hardest ways to grow a business, ouch! Then next most people turn to leads. Or perhaps you got a head start on the rest of the bunch and you’ve been using leads for some time.

The term, “lead,” of course, means the same thing as, “prospect,” which is to say, simply someone who has expressed an interest in the type of product and/or service you are offering, or has in the past.

A continuous stream of qualified, interested people to expose to whatever it is that you are marketing is needed for any business based upon numbers to be successful. Master the techniques for doing so efficiently, and at worst it is very unlikely that you will ever go hungry. Do better and you will generate a tidy income for yourself. Do well and you can become financially independent.

Unfortunately, well over 90 percent of the people using leads to try to grow their businesses find themselves getting disappointing results, with more money going out than is coming back in.

I routinely hear from people who have spent thousands, and even tens of thousands of dollars trying to grow their business. Most have earned little or nothing in return.

There are three areas where people end up spending most of their money:

1. Leads.

2. Inventory (quite amazing, but still true).

3. Signing up with or investing into an opportunity that involves inflated and/or high startup costs (as in thousands or tens of thousands of dollars). Which, by the way, there is nothing wrong with if you are buying into a business that appropriately requires a larger investment, such as a restaurant franchise. However, one of the main benefits of network marketing (the type of home business that most choose) is that, ideally, it can involve low startup costs and overhead.

If you too are spending lots of money on leads and not seeing any results or money finding its way back into your bank account in return, you would be very wise to stop and reevaluate!

(I say, “lots of money,” but it really doesn’t matter how much you are spending. If you are only spending $30 a week, but you aren’t getting any results, then there are more profitable places where you could be putting your money to work for you.)

If you are spending more than $1.00 per lead (and especially if you are spending $2, $3, $6, a lead or more), then you would be especially wise to stop and reevaluate.

If you’ve just recently started buying, “expensive,” leads, but haven’t yet been at it long enough then you might disagree with this next point. If you’ve been at it long enough so that you already know you aren’t getting the results you want, then I won’t have to convince you.

Here’s a tip that will save you a ton of money: Except in rare cases, leads don’t get better just because you spend more money on them!

Some would have you believe that a $6 lead is better than a $2 lead. Or that a, “phone verified,” lead is better than one that has not been. Or that a, “fresh, hot,” lead is better than one that is a bit older. And so on… All of which is largely incorrect.

Over the years I’ve purchased and tested all of the various kinds of leads, and I can absolutely beyond a doubt assure you that you are wasting your money if you are spending much more than pennies or dimes to buy leads!

I won’t go so far as to say that the people you are getting your leads from are lying to you, but there may be some things they aren’t telling you or making clear. Again, if you’ve been buying leads and not getting results, then you probably already suspected that something just doesn’t add up.

First, it is the WAY that most leads are generated that means that they almost all leave something to be desired, regardless of price.

Often, companies that generate leads do so using a technique that involves what is called, “enticement.” That means that the, “prospect,” is offered something to get them to fill out their information.

And please don’t misunderstand me on this point. There is nothing wrong with a company offering promotional incentives to market their products. Just last week, for instance, Ford Motor Company announced that if you buy select models they will give you a Dell notebook computer, and up to $2,000 cash back. And even ABCIncome.com is running a special promotion right now. However, there is a huge difference between offering someone who is ALREADY interested in a certain type of product or service something special or extra, as opposed to trying to entice someone who might not even have the slightest clue about what is going on.

Obviously no one is going to buy a new Ford automobile just to get a free notebook computer, unless they were ALREADY thinking about buying a new car!

In contrast, companies that use enticement to generate MLM, network marketing, and small business leads, often try to grab anyone they can by offering the illusion of a gift.

Have you ever been surfing the Internet when all of a sudden an advertisement pops up (disguised as a giveaway) saying that, “YOU’VE WON!” whatever kind of gift? Lately, for instance, there are tons of these ads running that feature one of Motorola’s newest, and most expensive, cellular phones. Other pop-ups seen often feature the incredibly popular Apple iPod, and there are many others.

First, these offers, or whatever you want to call them, are almost always deceptive in that, if you click on one, you quickly find that you haven’t really won anything free at all. Rather, what you will find in almost every case is that you MUST purchase other merchandise or services in order to be able to claim your “free” gift. And often the cost of the other, often completely unrelated, merchandise that you must buy exceeds the cost of the “free” gift if you were to simply go out and buy it yourself.

Unfortunately, by the time you find all of this out, you’ve already provided your contact information. And that contact information, according to the fine print that you probably didn’t read, is then sold as a lead to someone else who is going to contact you to try to sell you yet some other product or service.

Are you now starting to see why, “expensive,” leads really aren’t all they are cracked up to be?

By the way, ABCIncome.com engages in NONE of these practices, and you are welcome to read our privacy policy which is posted right on the Website:
http://www.abcincome.com/privacy.html

At best, techniques like those above can be labeled as, “enticement.” At worst it amounts to something not unlike hijacking unsuspecting people into providing their contact information for purposes they probably weren’t even clear about at the time.

Next YOU end up buying the above lead for anywhere from $1 to as much as $6 or more, and then wonder why you aren’t getting great results when you try to market to such people?

You might be thinking, “but these leads are supposed to be opt-in, or double opt-in?” Maybe they were. But if the person filled out a form and opted in only because they thought they were receiving a free gift, it really doesn’t make any difference does it?

All that opt-in or double opt-in means in cases like these is that it can be categorized as a “legitimate,” legally obtained lead. As you can now see, however, it absolutely does NOT guarantee you a qualified, interested, or cooperative prospect. In fact, as you probably already know too if you’ve purchased such leads, many of the prospects on the other end won’t have the slightest clue what you are talking about when you contact them to try to market your product or service.

So next you might be thinking, “but if these are ‘phone verified’ leads surely they must be better?” Theoretically, yes. In practice, probably not.

Think about it. Let’s simply continue the scenario that we’ve already outlined above. Someone is surfing on the Internet and clicks on a free offer. In order to, “claim,” their, “free,” gift they must provide their contact information, and in order to do that they must opt-in, or even double opt-in.

Next the company selling those leads has a telemarketing department call those people to, “confirm,” their information.

Hello, “this is John Doe from XYZ Leads Company calling. I’m just calling to confirm that you recently visited our Website and filled out a form requesting a free gift. Do you remember requesting a free gift?” Usually the person on the other end is going to say, “yes.” This same scenario can continue through a number of other questions. Some companies may honestly ask other qualifying questions, while others don’t. The point is, hopefully you can now see that just because a lead is, “phone verified,” doesn’t mean it is any better than it was before that company’s telemarketers called to ask those few brief questions.

And next you might be thinking, “but surely not all leads are enticed.” And, you are absolutely right in your thinking. Not all leads are. The problem is that most companies that sell leads don’t tell you HOW they get their leads, so you may never know whether your prospects were essentially hijacked into providing their contact information, as in the scenarios above, or whether you are really getting the kind of qualified, interested prospect you really hoped for.

So, Rule #1, if you are going to buy leads, always try to buy from a company that assures their leads are not enticed!

Rule #2: Never spend more than pennies to dimes (maybe 50 cents max) on leads that you buy from someone else.

Rule #3: Learn how to generate your own leads instead of buying them from someone else, as they are ultimately the BEST lead!

Rule #4: As is the recommendation all throughout ABCIncome.com, always grow your business out of profit! If more money is leaving your pocket that you are spending on leads than is finding its way back into your bank account, please stop to reevaluate, as that is an excellent way to go broke!

Two of the very best programs that you will find anywhere to teach you how to get maximum results with leads are featured on ABCIncome.com.

If you are already an advanced marketer with an established budget who has mastered your prospecting and closing skills, and specifically if you are marketing on the Internet, then please visit here:

http://www.abcincome.com/sitesell.html

Even if you are an advanced marketer this next option will help you explode your business, but especially if you haven’t yet learned the skills of prospecting and closing, and/or if you do not have an unlimited budget, and especially if you have not mastered Internet marketing and/or you are not really very computer savvy, then please visit here. This option also covers additional off-Internet marketing techniques such as telephone, radio, newspaper, and TV:

http://www.abcincome.com/dtstart.html

I hope that you enjoyed this article... Also, if you have not already done so, please read the information that you'll find at the link below:

To Your Success!

Phil Covington
Founder of ABCIncome.com