Any good business needs a plan, and lead generation and distribution is no exception. How will you get your leads? Where will they go? Take a moment to think about the specifics and answer these questions before you start to sell leads:
There are a couple of options available for how you generate your leads. Organic leads come from people stumbling across your site from organic search or other websites. If you’re looking to get free leads (without paying for leads or advertising), you’ll want to bump up your SEO to make sure people find your site, and hope to get a mention on a review site or a partner site. You can also buy leads from other lead generation companies and “arbitrage” them, meaning you sell them for a profit immediately after buying them. But if you want to generate your own leads, and your organic reach isn’t very high, advertising with Google AdWords, AdRoll, and social media on a pay-per-click basis is the way to go. Heck, you can even generate leads in person at conferences or busy events! There are plenty of options, you just need to pick out the one that works best for you.
It’s important that, before you get your leads, you know where they’re going. Do you have companies in mind? How will you advertise your leads? Well, you’ve got a couple of options. Finding buyers has been made pretty simple thanks to a website you’re probably already on: LinkedIn. LinkedIn has dozens of groups dedicated to lead generation. Just typing the phrase “lead generation” into the search box will set you up with thousands of people looking to buy and sell. If that’s not your bag, there are still other options. Conferences like LeadsCon can introduce you to many like-minded individuals. Or, just contact us! We’d be glad to introduce you to some of our clients and get you started.
Understanding how your system works is key to efficient lead selling, so pick your distribution system right away. Are you gonna pick them by hand? Cherry Picking leads may get you good quality leads, but is time consuming and low-volume. Are you just going to statically price your leads and sell them real-time? This is time-efficient, but may have you lose out on some profits because of shifts in the market. You could also do Ping Post, which will most likely get you the best profit, but could result in a hit in lead quality. It’s an important decision to make to get yourself running smoothly. Luckily, there are some systems that do all kinds of distribution methods. It can really come down to having a good system and experimenting.
If you need a place to write all this down, using a business canvas might help. A business canvas is a chart outlining how your business works with people internally and externally, as well as how its finances are applied. This simple grid can be a lifesaver for those who just need to have it written down.