Friday, June 29, 2007

How to Pick A Lead System

by Tammy de Leeuw
Financial Advisors Netzone

BH's experience (see previous post) is certainly not unique,
frustration with lead services has been a recurring theme with
advisors who have contacted me.

The bad experiences, by the way, have not been confined to
Javelin or NF or Cold Solutions or any of the other services
which have incurred the wrath of both
experienced and inexperienced financial services professionals.

With this in mind, I offer you some ideas on how to pick a lead
service, should you feel the need to use one to supplement
your current marketing efforts.

Mama told you "You gets what ya pays for..."

It's true about cars, it's true about houses, and to a certain
extent, it is also true about lead and list services.

Top Ten Ways To Know Your Lead Service Might
Not Be On the Level

1.They have a PO Box or the street address that
is the same as the local Postal Annex.

ALWAYS run the address of any lead service you might be considering through
a YAHOO or GOOGLE search. Coming up with a Mailboxes Etc. "address" might
be a sign that they are either a small, rinky dink operation, or that they don't
want the lynching party to find out their true location.

This never seems to bode well when one is buying leads.

2. Their "agreement" is longer than than lines for the I-Phone
and is fraught with arcane, sometimes downright bizarre
provisions and terms. Take the time to READ it.

Yes, I know you are used to just clicking "I agree" and these kinds of
standard agreements are as boring as hearing the tax code
read aloud by Tibetan monks. However, you MUST read the thing
all the way through- because it WILL be used against you when
you file a complaint.

3. They tell you" We have the most advanced, high tech solution
ever devised by the brains of men."

Remember that HYPE IS HYPE. I know you want clients- we
all want clients, but don't let your emotional side rule.

Back away from the BS and do the math. Ask yourself how a
company could possibly generate 30,000 HOT leads a month
from a demographic (60 plus) that (a) doesn't go online that
often (b) knows enough to stay away from FREE offers and
(c) is very concerned about identity theft?

Once again Mama's voice of reason is validated"

"If it sounds too good to be true..." You all know the rest.

A good question to ask is: "How many people are currently using
your program and how many leads do you generate per month on
average?

If the leads are TRULY generated in real time, the
numbers should be pretty low unless some sort of deception
(Free IPODS, Free vacations, etc.) is used to drive traffic to the
website.

4. They refuse to show you an actual LIVE ad posted by them
on websites "frequented by seniors."

You ask to see one of their ads- "Can you please direct me to
a website where I can see your ad?" and they get very
vague and say things like"the ads move around all over the
internet so I can't find one for you."

Always ask "Can I see your ad at work?" INSIST on seeing a LIVE ad or
website they use to generate leads.

5. They use "co-registration pages" to gather leads. Ask the question
"do you use co-registration pages?" A good definition of what these
are and how they work can be found at:
http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/What-Is-A-Co-registration-
Lead-Anyway/119445.

Co-reg seems to only work well for financial services when all the ads are
regarding FINANCIAL services and not offering coupons for free Ipods
or free nude photos. There is a lot of traffic to the latter sites,
obviously, but is it the demographic you want? Probably not unless
you are selling silk teddies and acne medicine.

Some companies just place their ads on any co-reg page which
offers them a huge volume of traffic. It's the lead company
equivalent of "spray and pray," and it usually does not
work out well for retiree leads.

6. The company has a very vague or non-existent return/credit
policy and they make you jump through lots of hoops to get
that "Money Back Guarantee." Ask to know the return
policy IN ADVANCE. Ask them how many of their clients
ask for refunds or replacements.

(to be continued...)

5 comments:

jvia said...

read your article. Any lead companies that provide good leads for 401k and annuity prospects that you can recommend?

TD said...

An advisor in southern California told me she had good LTC leads from Target leads in Texas. But she did not know whether the annuitiy leads were good or not. It's worth a try if you ask all the questions.

http://www.targetleads.com/

Has anyone else had any encounter with this company?

TD

Anonymous said...

In my opinion, there are not great lead sources - only ones that are better than others. The inability to distinguish a good from a bad lead source is partly due to the number of variables involved: geographical territory, skills of the agent, etc.. Many agents are looking for a solution to a challenge that has no easy answer.. if it did, this business would not be entrepreneurial and everyone would be doing it, thus making it HARDER for the rest of us. I have used some lead systems listed on this blog as "bad" that have worked great for me, referring it to agents who fail with it and continue their endless search for a "lay down" prospect. This does not exist and while some lead source HAVE BEEN misleading and horrible (I do have a new story), much of the outcome re: success or failure must be shouldered by the agent.

Free At Last said...

I did not have any luck with my 5 free leads from Leadzilla/
allianz-Life Sales
but most likely my own fault

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this avenue of communication.
I would be interested in an ongoing listing of all the different opportunities of which you are aware (listed by catagory) and a blurb about them and their contact information *****then a reader "star" rating and brief review of reader experiences.