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Save Time, Money, and Frustration: Generate Your OWN Leads

By Brett Kitchen

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"Hey! You guys are way off base with your attacks on lead companies. A friend of mine has had several hits with Acme Leadco, Inc."

It was another desperate advisor on the end of the line, trying to reassure himself by attempting to reassure me that YOU can indeed make loads of cash with online lead companies...

He couldn't see my arched eyebrows, but I am sure he noted the fair amount of skepticism in my voice when I replied: "Really, now?"

"Yeah, " insisted Advisor X, his voice rising a little in pitch. "Yeah, he wrote 3 or 4 huge cases with that company's leads."

I paused...took a deep breath... and repeated what I had said so many times before:

"It IS possible to sift through tons of leads and find a gem or two. I never said otherwise. What I DID say is that generally the leads you buy for $15 or $20 each are NO MORE QUALIFIED than if you purchased a list yourself and did a lot of cold calling. If you call enough people, surely you will hit every now and then.."

This is something most financial professionals never consider: that they may be paying someone big bucks for leads that aren't any better than they would get purchasing a list themselves or cold-calling out of a phonebook.

In fact, I am willing to bet that if you measured the results of a dedicated and proficient cold-caller against the stats of someone who spent a lot of money for online leads, they would be virtually the same. The cold-caller might, in fact, do better because their expectations of success are more reasonable and they KNOW ahead of time that rejection is likely.

What IS different is that Leadbuyer Advisor just blew his whole marketing budget and got extremely frustrated and demoralized, experiencing the same sort of rejection he had when he used to cold-call. After all, he purchased these leads SO HE WOULD NOT HAVE TO COLD CALL!

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION? A GOOD MARKETING PLAN!

I believe that in the long run the only way to get a steady stream of qualified (qualified meaning more than just being a carbon-based lifeform) leads is to put a multifaceted marketing plan in place. Such a system might consist of:

DIRECT MAIL

Now before you start groaning, "Oh, not THAT!" and telling me how much you blew on your last postcard campaign, allow me to explain.

Well-written, relevant copy enhanced by technological advances such as PURLS (Personal URL's) and variable data printing can dramatically improve your direct mail results. Today's direct mail is an evolving art form that can be tweaked, tested, and retweaked in an infinite number of ways to achieve great results.

Of course it still works- if it is done with careful planning and patience. Yes, it's expensive, but it can still be a vital and profitable part of your marketing plan. And.. a few very clever agents have even figured out how to do it for little to nothing. (details later...)

ONLINE LEAD GENERATION

Sad but true...

most agents and advisors who are allowed to use their websites for lead generation, fail to do so. If your website hasn't been updated since the 4th season of Survivor, if you have no meaningful content, and no way to capture data, you are missing an opportunity to gather your own leads online.

Besides your website, there are other online tools of which you can take advantage. These include: blogs, social media sites such as Linked In and Facebook, Twitter, Diggit and other social bookmarking sites.

Of all these, I personally think a blog has the most potential to generate leads and position you as a celebrity in your chosen niche. It also serves as a source of high-quality content to which you can direct people with whom you wish to do business. Think of devoting a lot of time to your blog, making it useful and entertaining (as opposed to being all about the product or service you are representing). Use the various social media and bookmarking sites to promote the ideas and articles contained on your blog and drive traffic to it.

SEMINARS AND SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

Seminars aren't for the budget-constrained. These days a seminar can cost upwards of $3,000 and from what I have heard from advisors lately, it's gotten harder and harder to fill them up. Still, if you are careful and market to a well- researched niche, you CAN profit from seminars.

Some advisors, on the other hand, pay nothing to speak in front of large, affluent crowds by getting themselves invited to speak at group and association gatherings, or addressing educational and civic organizations.

A California-based insurance agent I know teaches personal risk management classes at a local community college and has formed many profitable relationships over the years. (and they pay HER!)

Many agents, however, tell me they have tried this and it hasn't worked .

I think I know part of the reason: judging by some of the presentations I have attended , the presenters come across as pitchpeople disguised as "educators."

I know you want to monetize every thing you do to market, you want instant results, money flowing in faster than it is flowing out, but you need to be willing to give away some good information now and then. Great content attracts great prospects.

And speaking of content...

An overlooked area of marketing that is cheap and can be very effective is

ARTICLE MARKETING

Even if you have to get them "approved" by Compliance Cathy and her Cohorts or even if you aren't a great writer (don't worry- you can hire a freelancer) you can profit from article marketing on the internet.

In the future, I will discuss exactly how to go about marketing with articles, but for the moment let's just say that you do not have to necessarily write about financial issues to profit from this particular marketing strategy.

And...

It's cheap...sometimes even free.

Designing a good marketing plan isn't alchemy: it's a combination of soul-searching, (what am I trying to accomplish in my business?) researching, (who is my target market and what are THEY thinking about and doing?) and testing (do I know WHICH of my marketing campaigns are generating WHAT leads?)

Whatever you do, don't ever rely on any ONE kind of marketing to work each and every time you deploy it. Stuff happens, pieces stop pulling, website traffic drops off for no apparent reason. You need to be well-rounded and well-prepared so you won't have to spend restless nights on the internet...

Searching for lead companies.

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