Comments on: $200 into $4,000? Local Lead Generation Can Be Very Profitable

By: The Importance of Building a Network Marketing Funnel | Leads Mentoring for Businesses and Sole Proprietors

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:07:06 +0000

[...] $200 into $4000? Local Lead Generation Can Be Very Profitable … [...]

By: Chris Peterson

Chris Peterson — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:29:09 +0000

Hi Andrew!
Definitely CPL is one of really productive models to work with. However, clarity of concepts, numbers & use of innovation & latest local trends is quite significant. Its a individual choice that depends on risk v/s reward model you can comfortably work along with other monetization options.

By: Affiliate Expansion – Go Local, Go Offline, Go Global - 5 Star Affiliate Blogs

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:47:02 +0000

[...] $200 into $4,000? Local Lead Generation Can Be Very Profitable “If you’ve embarked on the affiliate marketer route, you might already be very successful with pay-per-sale, pay-per-lead/pay-per-action, and maybe even the new-fangled pay-per-call business model for a network or merchant-direct program. But are you aware of the awesome profit potential of lead generation for local businesses?” [...]

By: Lee M

Lee M — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:17:38 +0000

To make this business work (automated) you need a script written that you can upload to your lead gen website … in order to automate the process of e-mailing leads (forms that have been filled out) to your client(s). I have such a script written.

More importantly, if you’re using PPC to generate the leads on a LOCAL level in your city/metro area … you’ll need to be aware of the fact that a certain number of impressions (searches) and clicks (visits to your website) are necessary to pull this off.

EX: Say you get 500 searches a day (for all of your keywords in total) which translates to 15,000 over a month.

If you get a 1.5 CTR (click through rate) that equates to 225 clicks (visits) to your lead gen website.

If 10% opt-in (fill out a form) that translates to 23 leads.

I’d like to see more “inside the numbers” discussion.

By: Andrew Wee

Andrew Wee — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:28:25 +0000

@Steve – if you’re concerned abt getting paid for the leads you’re sending over, you should have the leads come to you, then you pass them to the client.

If you’re being CCed and the client gets the leads, you’re setting yourself up for problems.

Like Rob was saying, if your duplicate/bad leads are getting scrubbed, it’s on a performance basis, vs lead gen.

By: Rob_TID

Rob_TID — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:51:40 +0000

You’re selling leads. Not sales, so you don’t have to verify, audit or cross check. If you send a lead, you get paid. End of relationship.

You know, everything I have read about local lead gen online always has someone noting how difficult it would be to track everything. It perplexes the shit out of me why such people even consider going into business.

By: Rob_TID

Rob_TID — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:47:35 +0000

You kind of have to set this one up yourself. No book that I have found has been of specific help for this, but any affiliate should know what to do anyway.

By: Rob_TID

Rob_TID — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:44:50 +0000

The other way to do it is simply to research what other’s are charging for the same type of leads. It is very unlikely that you are going to be the only person in the world offering a specific type of lead. Look online or call up and find out what your competitors charge. Then price yourself accordingly.

By: Andrew Wee

Andrew Wee — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:13:34 +0000

The books I mentioned have to do with direct marketing, and as far as I know, no book will give you a lead generation business plan. Even if they did, it would have to be customized for each niche.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:07:48 +0000

I looked up the names you mentioned for a business model, but none of the books I found had to do with a business model.

Care to share what books write about this? Thanks.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:58:38 +0000

Yeah, I’ve recently had this type of opportunity (send leads to a company’s website to earn commission on conversions) and also want to do a Geotarget website in my city to generate leads for a variety of local businesses…

But the stymied part is how to ensure I get paid for all the leads I send them that convert. “Trust but verify” is the Russian proverb that comes to mind.

Best I can think of would be an online form that gets sent to both me and the business, and then audit some of those individuals to determine who converted and cross-check to see if I actually got paid for that conversion.

Although that’d be a pain to do (could outsource it I suppose) and still sort of hit or miss…

By: Andrew Wee

Andrew Wee — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:30:50 +0000

In my opinion, a lot of it has to do with the relationship you have with the client. In many cases, I know a number of marketers in the lead generation business start off with a business they’re already doing business/buying services from, or a friend/relative who has an existing business (probably more brick-and-mortar based and isn’t leveraging the internet much – or if they do, it’s probably a 5 or 10 page static HTML brochure-type site).

Like Shoemoney was saying in his post, the better clients will be ones who have their numbers – cost per acquisition, customer lifetime value, customer lifespan, ARPU (average revenue per unit) worked out. These organizations tend to be sales-focused – like real estate, financial services, car dealerships, golf country clubs, casinos, high end product retailers – eg: private aircraft, sports cars.

If they know their customer acquisition cost, usually as an online-based lead generator, you should be able to acquire the lead for a lower cost.

I’d look at some lead generation material from marketers like Dan Kennedy, Joe Sugarman, Jay Abraham for a business model.

Your other questions about getting an advance, charging, payment terms, etc are all tied in to your business model.

By: Andrew Wee

Andrew Wee — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:25:06 +0000

Hi Jack,
I provided some options in the answer above.

Again, I’d suggest having either one big client, or a number of smaller clients before going out and investing a bunch of systems right off the bat.

By: Andrew Wee

Andrew Wee — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:24:05 +0000

I’d use excel or another spreadsheet to track on a simpler level.

If you’re very focused on lead gen, then a web-based system like SalesForce.com is something that a number of my contacts use.

Higher up the chain, you’d have the ERP (enterprise resource and planning) solutions that the big corporates use. It’s going to be pretty pricey, so something that’s web-based like MySAP.com (from ERP provider Germany-bases SAP AG) might be a good fit. Else you’d have the other stuff from Oracle, PeopleSoft, etc.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:12:20 +0000

Great post Andrew! The only thing with this is how do you usually charge the client and how do you determine what to set the CPA cost at?

Would you do some kind of a test for the client, then determine the CPA cost? Then would you ask for the money up front or what?

There’s a lot of ways you can set up your payment model for your lead generation business, but what do you think would be the best for both you (lead generator) and the business you are generating leads for?