Anna Campbell, mother, author and business guru gives her take on lead generation. After reading her article let me know how you feel about purchasing leads for business. Does it work for you? Are you playing truth or dare with lead generation tools?
Remember playing truth or dare as a kid at a friend’s house? I personally hate this game because I am a control freak and I don’t like to share too much personal information about myself or be forced into doing something that I normally wouldn’t want to.
So, how do lead generation tools work and are they playing truth or dare with you, your time, and your money.
While in the real estate world, I unloaded a great deal of money to wipe away years of time my fellow Realtors had already put into their businesses. As a newbie, I needed to play catch up and there were two very large lead generation companies that provided statistics, answers and huge potential dollar signs. I learned very quickly and painfully how to understand which companies were telling the truth and which were asking me to dare.
When a company forces you into a 3 month, 6 month or annual contract; they are daring you to invest your money into their product or service with very little truth. Zillow and Trulia both force you into a potentially expensive and long-term contract with very little return. In fact, their goal is to have you upgrade, upgrade, and upgrade even more, so that you are so heavily invested in their service/product you feel that you can’t afford to go anywhere else, because your cash is tied up into their dare.
These two companies promise you quality business leads. What they forget to mention is that 50% or more of real estate buyers and 75% or more of real estate sellers are only going to use someone they know or someone they are personally referred to. You can’t buy quality leads, because they aren’t for sale. Quality leads are breathing human beings with needs and fears. You must earn the opportunity to serve quality buyers and sellers.
Another choice many business owners need to make is about a website. This will be one of your biggest online lead generation tools available to you, when you know how to use it properly. The way to tell if a website designer is telling you the truth or asking you to dare, is when they present you with a cookie cutter template price, with a cookie cutter style and service. When a website designer is not able to answer your questions, doesn’t have time to help you understand how to use your website, or what it takes to get your website ranking (without you paying them to list it), then you are talking with someone that isn’t able or isn’t interested in providing you with a business service that will actually help your business long-term.
Business websites are your virtual face, business sign, and basic first impression. How your website looks is very important, attracting people to your website is just as important. How will people find you? Why will people want to visit your website? How often will they come back? Is there any reason why someone would want to share your page with others? These are all questions your website designer should be able to help you understand. Once you understand them, then you will know what type of website is best for your business, and what you will need to do to build traffic to it.
The key to truth and dare is information and working with people who are not afraid of sharing information with you without a contract. We earn our clients, and our clients should earn us as well. Take your time, build a relationship, learn about the person you are working with because it is a lot less stressful and a lot less expensive to take your time and work with one honest person than to hurriedly blow through thousands of dollars on all the wrong people.
In truth, patience is very hard. However, you and your business are worth the time.
Now it is your turn, what have you found to be truth or dare while running your business?
Written by Anna Campbell with My Monthly Business Journal. Anna uses many ways to share the tools her clients need to grow their business. She has a published business journal workbook, notes and feedback on her facebook page, articles and information on her website, small group time at her monthly Coffee Breaks, and very in-depth break through sessions with clients on a one-on-one basis as needed.
http://www.MyMonthlyBusinessJournal.com
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