10 THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE STARTING A LEAD GENERATION COMPANY

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1 10 THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE STARTING A LEAD GENERATION COMPANY

2 TEN THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE STARTING A LEAD GENERATION COMPANY The lead generation industry is growing at a rapid pace. Companies large and small are increasingly looking to more specifically targeted potential customers who have expressed an interest in their products. This interest comes in a variety of ways, as well; phone calls, web leads, manually submitted leads, and social media are all playing a big part. This demand will be met by new and creative lead generation companies. If you are interested in starting a lead generation company and meeting this demand, fantastic! But there are many things you need to consider. The following is a list of ten items that are commonly overlooked by individuals looking to start their own lead generation company.

3 1. Do you have ample knowledge in the vertical you are going to sell? There are many different potential markets and lead types (also known as verticals). One key to running a successful lead business is to understand the different problems and desires your clients have. Clients in the mortgage lead market are going to have different needs than clients in the insurance lead market. It is important to understand not only what your clients are interested in but also the interests of their potential customers. The better your understanding of the market, the more effectively you can tailor your leads to your individual clients and keep them coming back to you. 2. Do you know what you still need to learn? There are many different factors that go into running a successful lead generation company. Some of these are industry specific, while some are general business practices. It is important for any business owner to recognize what they do not understand and how to address it. For example, not every lead generated will be sold. A percentage of the leads you generate will not match the interests of your clients or will just be bad leads. It is important to know how to fit these leads into your ROI predictions. Some business owners understand their field well but are less knowledgeable in basic business practices. For example, if you know that you are weak at marketing then you understand what you need help with. The key is not to know everything but to recognize what you do not know and how to address it (or knowing someone that knows how to address it).

4 3. Do you have proper funding? Like any business, a lead generation company requires a certain amount of starting capital. Funding will be required for office supplies, lead generation, and customer service. In general, it is more expensive and difficult to generate good clients than it is to generate good leads. You ll need capital to advertise and find your clients, especially because, in the lead industry, more clients means more quality leads. It is also important to have sufficient funding so that you can provide quality customer service to your clients so they keep buying leads from you. 4. How well do you understand online marketing? The fastest growing and arguably most important tool used for lead generation is the Internet. Marketing on the Internet can be tricky and costly. However, if done properly, it is extremely effective. When starting a business budgets are generally very tight. Using the Internet to generate and sell leads can be an effective way of producing a positive ROI. Understanding how to track and test the success of your advertisements is extremely important. Knowing which of your advertisements are bringing in the most leads and which advertisements are not successful allows you to spend your advertising budget more effectively. The more effective your advertising, the greater your profit margin. If you re only starting with a little bit of capital, you want to make sure you re stretching it as far as you can. 5. Do you have realistic goals for leads and clients? Having a well defined business plan coupled with goals for growth is the key to building and expanding a successful lead generation business. However, before you can set any goals you have to understand your clients and leads. For example: How many leads can your clients take per day? You don t want to expect to sell 1,000 a day when your clients only want 30.

5 How many of the leads that I generate will I be able to sell? Not every lead is perfect, and sometimes you may only sell a small percentage of your new leads. How much can I do myself? Depending on your lead distribution system, you might need help parsing the leads. You might need customer service. You might need sales and advertising. You don t want to bite off more than you can chew right out of the gate. Your goals should focus on what your clients are looking for and what you can reasonably accomplish. It is important for any new and growing business to set realistic goals so they can grow at a healthy pace and meet any potential demand. 6. Do you understand how many leads go unmatched? In an ideal world, all the leads you generate will be sold. However this will not always be the case. A certain percentage of the leads you generate will go unsold for a variety of reasons. Some of these leads will be unusably bad leads. Other leads may go unsold because they were never matched to a lead buyer. Minimizing the number of leads that are unsold is of the utmost importance for the efficiency of your business. Generally, leads are matched to lead buyers based on filters. The filters you use when routing leads to your clients should be defined as broadly as possible. This will help ensure that you have the largest number of sales for each of your leads. 7. Can you find any wholesalers that you can offload unmatched leads to? It is not uncommon to generate a great lead that does not match any of your current clients interests. If, for example, you generate a mortgage lead that is outside of the geographic location of your clients, the lead will go unsold. Having an outlet for this lead allows you to recover the money you spent on generating the lead. A lead wholesaler can be a great destination to offload these unsold leads. This will allow you to cover areas that you have not yet found clients for while protecting your ROI.

6 8. Are you a good salesman? The lead generation business is essentially a sales industry. Your job is two fold: You have to generate leads, and you have to sell leads. And leads are not the easiest things to pitch. As a leads salesperson, you must be able to effectively sell your product while dealing with rejection. There is strong competition in the lead industry. Most lead buyers will have many lead companies trying to sell them leads. Your job is to convince them to buy your product and not the competition s. 9. Are you ready to spend serious time focused on the details before you ever sell a lead? There are many small details that go into running a successful lead generation company. Paying close attention to all of these things is essential to running a successful business. You will have to spend a lot of time working on your lead form, filters, contracts, and terms. Additionally there are general business items that will require your attention. You will need to design a human resources policy, interview potential staff, and run an office. All of these things require a large time investment but are integral to running a successful lead generation company.

7 10. Do you understand the value of a system that will manage your business. Keeping track of a lead sales can be tricky and making mistakes can be costly. A lead generation company has to be able to capture, match, and distribute large numbers of leads quickly and efficiently. A lead management system will automate many of these tasks for you. A good system can automatically capture leads, enter the leads into the system, and then deliver the leads based on filters to your clients. Additionally, such a system will allow your clients to browse the leads that you have for sale and make purchases. Not all of your clients will want their leads delivered in the same way. Some of your clients will likely want the leads they purchase delivered in a custom or unique manner. Some will request lead returns. Some will bombard you with calls from sales representatives. In order to grow your businesses you will have to be able to track your sales and produce reports. Lead management systems provide detailed lead reporting and statistics. These reports allow you to track your sales and returns. Additionally, lead management systems provide tracking information that will allow you to monitor the effectiveness of your advertising. Some systems even include expansive reporting that can help you grow your business and manage your ROI. These are just a few of the more obvious ways that automating your system can help your business. At the end of the day, while choosing a lead system is important, the bottom line is that being successful in the lead business comes down to two things: your ability to generate leads, and your ability to sell them at a profit. You need to know your lead type inside & out, and anything you don t know you need to keep track of. You need proper funding and effective ways to use it. You need to brush up your sales skills to find clients. Finally, you need to use your time efficiently to make sure your profits are worthwhile. Lead generation can be a difficult industry, but if you get the basics down quickly, you will be well on your way to turning your project into a business.

8 About boberdoo.com boberdoo.com is the industry-leading provider of lead distribution software for lead generation companies of all sizes. While we have clients generating leads in virtually every vertical under the sun, a large percentage of boberdoo users operate in the home improvement vertical. Our advanced lead distribution software comes standard with all of the ping post and distribution features required to operate in the home improvement vertical and the flexibility to expand to any other vertical down the road. boberdoo.com has been building lead distribution systems since Over the years we have worked with our clients to solve any challenges that they have faced and have built these solutions into the standard boberdoo system. Along with the experience we have gained, we have also watched other lead distribution solutions come and go in the blink of an eye. By choosing boberdoo as your lead distribution software, you are choosing not only a system that is catered perfectly to lead generation companies, but also the most trusted and established name in the business. There are hundreds of things to worry about when running a lead business. Your distribution software shouldn t be one of them. We d be happy to schedule a demo to show you the various features and functionality of the boberdoo system. We would be glad to specifically discuss your needs and determine exactly how boberdoo can be of assistance. Request a Demo