Make those leads count.
By Raymond
Johnston Jr
Today's online marketers are much more sophisticated and enlightened
than ever before. Advertising has always been a very important
part of an entrepreneur's makeup, yet today that importance grows.
With the growth of the Internet, the number of different opportunities
continues to increase at an amazing rate. Leads were always very
important but in today's market, each one becomes even more precious.
In this article, I will discuss means of getting leads but more
importantly, how to handle a lead once you have it.
The word lead can be used in a variety of ways depending on the
article that you are reading or the conversation in which you
are involved. For the purpose of this article, the word lead will
be used as someone who has shown an interest in your type business,
whether it be an affiliate program or if you market toys. I do
not consider random e-mail lists as leads, but potential leads,
but so are the other millions of people who call this universe
home.
There are many different ways to obtain leads, the most common
being to run advertisements yourself. There are many different
options of where to run these advertisements. Some of the more
popular ways are ezine, classifieds, newsletters, newsgroups and
web sites. This is by no means a complete list, in fact with the
evolution of the Internet, the number of places is limited only
by the imagination.
Another way of obtaining leads is by purchasing leads or targeted
leads. These leads are obtained by running generic type ads on
different web sites on the net. These ads come in a number of
different forms but they are basically just a sign up
form for those interested in working some type of business, either
online or from home. These are the type of forms that most of
the affiliate program co-ops use. Targeted leads are obtained
from what I will call a double opt in process and are usually
a much higher class of lead.
Generating leads is very important to the success of your business
but possibly the more important part is how do you handle the
leads once they are obtained. Once you get a lead, you must decide
in what manner you will approach this lead. I am going to discuss
a couple of different ways to handle this follow up process.
The first method that I am going to discuss involves using auto
responders. This method requires a lot less of your time but as
I will discuss later, it is much less personal. This method is
used by a lot of people and is taught by a lot of the leaders
in some of the top affiliate programs. This method works very
well if one has the financial means to generate a sufficient amount
of leads. By just the sheer numbers alone, this method can be
successful for those that are involved with a good MLM program
or have a quality product to offer.
The problem I see is that the majority of people who are working
programs on the net, do not have the capital required to generate
the number of leads necessary to make this method a success. I
am certainly not saying that using auto responders cannot work
or that they don't have a place in today's online marketing. There
are too many people using them successfully to ever imply that
they cannot be useful.
They certainly save time and if you are having success with them,
that is great. If you are not having the desired results from
their use, then maybe it is time to add a more personal touch.
Even if you are having decent results from them, you may enjoy
even greater results by modifying the way you use them and injecting
an additional dose of personality.
The other way to respond to leads is by using a more personal
nature. A lot of the "how to" books, will tell you that
repetition sells. In other words, find a sales letter that is
productive and stick with it. Repetition personally turns me off.
If I receive an offer that seems to be of the variety that I have
browsed many times in the past, it's gone. Don't misinterpret
this analogy and think that you need to make every letter you
send original.
If you get a response to one of your advertisements requesting
more information or you purchase a list of leads, there is nothing
wrong with having a letter on file that you send in this type
of situation. If a lead responds to an ad with questions or even
just responds in a more personal way, take the time and make the
response personal. It may take more of your time but building
a good strong relationship with that one potential client, could
pay big dividends down the road.
A couple of the "right" clients can turn your whole
business situation around. Encourage questions to your leads,
it makes them feel as if you have an interest in them personally.
This will help bring a feeling of trust in you as a leader and
business partner and this is something that is required to be
a success in today's competitive market. The personal contact
also breeds the feeling that you are there to help and everyone
that is starting in business for themselves needs that reassurance.
This helps build the kind of relationship that will help them
become more productive as affiliates, should they decide to join
your team.
The art of working leads is no exact science in any one's eyes.
Try putting more personal effort into communicating with your
leads and see if this doesn't bring you a higher success rate.
Use this personal method to help increase the number of sign ups
as well as helping motivate the members that you already have
on board. I think you will enjoy much greater success if you start
treating your leads like friends instead of affiliate number 14u2.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Raymond Johnston Jr is the editor and publisher of Money For Hire
Ezine. You can subscribe on his website at http://www.moneyforhire.com
You can also get his free marketing course "How To Improve
Your Internet Marketing Skills" -
marketingskills@rapidreply.net
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------