Converting Sales Leads: Tips For Inflating Your Bank Account

Part 1: Everything You Need To know About Leads

Affiliate Leads, MLM Leads, Network Marketing Leads.

No matter what you call them, your online business is going to need sales leads. A sales lead is the identity of a person or entity potentially interested in purchasing a product or service. Lead generation represents the first step in the sales process.

Waisting Your Traffic.

Many internet marketers are unware that the purpose of attracting visitors to their website should be to generate sales leads. When a user first arrives at a website, or sees a splash page on a traffic exchange, they should be compelled by the ad to leave their contact information. Attempting to make a sale directly from your splash pages and capture pages is a big mistake, and a huge waste of valuable traffic.

Very Quick Overview Of The Sales Process

1. Generate Sales Leads - Attract people to your advertisments and capture their contact information.
2. Move Sales Leads to Sales Prospects - Systematically screen sales leads for pertinent information such as product applicability, availability of funding, and time frame for purchase. Converting leads into prospects is entry point of the sales funnel.
3. Sales - When the prospect makes a purchase, this is called a conversion. The ratio of sales leads that convert into sales is called the conversion ratio.

Different Types of Leads

Real Time Leads

Real time leads are amazingly effective for individuals building a home-based business such as a franchise or MLM. These leads contain names of and the means to contact individuals interested in purchasing a business opportunity.

Real time leads are differentiated from traditional business leads by the methods in which they are harvested. Traditionally, business leads were generated by a MLM or franchise owner cold-calling on individuals or by business / social networking. Real time leads are harvested via websites targeting MLM / Franchise opportunity seekers. Individuals interested in such business seek out information on the web, choose opportunities best suited to themselves and fill out a form requesting contact from those selling the business opportunities.

Opt-in In Leads

Opt-in leads are similar to Real Time Leads in that they are generated by individuals seeking home based business opportunities via the internet. These leads are a resource for individuals building network marketing (NM), MLM, and franchise businesses.

Opt-in Leads should have at the very least the opportunity seeker’s full name, postal address, email address, phone number and time zone. One extremely effective way to move a lead to a prospect in one easy step is to prequalify them. This means that your questionaire shouldinclude the type of home based business, how many hours a week, level of interest, desired income and how much the prospect wants to make from the business opportunity.

Another differentiator between Opt-in and Real Time Leads is how they are best used. Since Real Time Leads are seconds old, the opportunity seeker and provider can contact each other immediately. This being the situation, phone contact is best. Since Opt-in Leads are usually around 72 hours old they are best suited for email campaigns – but still can be used as phone leads.

Giving Your Leads Generation A Serious Boost

The fastest and most effective way for a marketer without a huge sales list to begin prospecting is to buy sales leads from a reputable lead generation service. I have purchased sales leads from several online leads sources, and based on conversion ratios, the best online source I have found comes from company named Total Leads.

I recently purchased 50 Telephone Verified Opt-in Leads (these are leads that have been pre-qualified and are very close to becomming sales prospects), and 5,000 Opt-In Email leads from NetworkLeads.com.

These leads were prospected for an education in developing and marketing an online business. Of the 50 telephone leads, 16 people converted into actual sales (just over 33%!), and of the 5,000 Opt-In email leads, 147 converted (just over 3%). My typcial conversion ratio for leads which I generate and get into my autoresponder series is just over 7%. Based on these numbers I highly recommend taking a look at a quality lead generation service such as PM Marketing by Total Leads.

In Part 2...

I will show you 9 simple ways to convert phone leads into sales.