You have a new home based business and you have decided it’s time to start marketing. The decision you have to make is how are you going to do that and to who. The simple answer is to start prospecting

Now the question is who are you going to prospect? Again the answer is simple, every single person you come in contact with. Well, if you’re like me you will tell everyone who dares come close enough to talk to. These people are known as “leads”.

Leads are a mixture of people you know and those you have never met before. In other words, they are your “Warm Market” and your “Cold Market”. Of course there are other types of leads but here I’ll discuss these two.

Who You Know:

If you’re going to be an online marketer in affiliate programs or any type of network marketing you will eventually need leads. There is a right place to start in this process. Almost all Networking programs are going to teach you it is with your “Warm Market” prospects.

For these types of leads you’re simply going to do some brain storming and write down a list of everyone you know or have come in contact with. It can be easy at first because you’ll write down all your family and close friends, people you see and talk to almost daily.

This list could literally be in the hundreds and keep you quite busy for a long time to come. The “Warm Market” list is an absolute must and one you will need to create quickly to give your new business a jump start.

This list is made up of those you hold close to your heart and see every day. They are the ones you should most want to see succeed right along with you. It is them you will want to approach first.

Now For Those Leads You Don’t Know:

Eventually you will need to turn to new prospects, people you do not know. Warm market leads are the very best but to maximize your new business you will need to share with people you have never met. These are your “Cold Market” leads.

Although you may be scared to death of approaching strangers with your business you know it is something you must do to grow your business. The only problem you have is where do you get the names for your list?

Searching the internet will provide you with many places who sell leads. These leads can be fresh or better said “real time” and can cost as much as $4.50 per lead or they can be “aged” leads and cost as little as .49 cents per name.

The first thing to consider is lead quality. Usually the more you pay the more you are going to get as far as leads that are responsive to your opportunity because they have recently searched the net looking for money from home opportunities. The less expensive leads are those who have searched for opportunities on the net but may have done it a month or so before.

Lower Cost Leads With Large Numbers:

A big mistake made by most marketers is to try and hit the leads with their main sales page or their longest sales pitch usually thinking 1 in 100 will respond. Sadly that is usually the wrong approach to take.

I’ve paid for as many as 20,000 leads thinking the $40.00 I spent was a bargain, I was sure I would get 10 - 15 sales. I sent them right to one of my direct sales pages, not even one person even attempted to sign up. When I looked at my web site statistics most of these leads only stayed a few seconds and they were forever gone.

Why, because a lot of these leads are not even searching for Home Business ideas or have the slightest interest in Network Marketing or Affiliate programs. They are names harvested from all types of advertisements placed in every imaginable spot possible on the internet.

Considering the fact they only stayed a few seconds I concentrated sending these leads to pages that only took a few seconds to read and did not have any type of sales pitch on them. They were not going to buy but they certainly were going to look. So I began the process of building a “List” of names, one’s I could then market to using email.

Slamming older leads who have been marketed to many times or random names off a purchased visitor list with your longest sales page or most in depth sales pitch will usually drive them away quickly. A slower approach offering smaller bits of information and requiring less action on their part is the way to go.

High Dollar Leads:

I’ve paid as much as $12.25 per name with high cost leads amounting to $245.00 for a list of 20 prospects. Were they worth it, some would say no. But I say they are if you have a specific plan for them. These are not leads that harvested through some low cost advertisement some where on the net. These are leads that are captured through a lead capture page specifically aimed for your market.

As you start to pay more money for leads you will find out you also gain a lot more information about the person you are calling. With leads that cost in the medium price range you should expect very specific contact and location information. As you get into the higher brackets these leads will have even more information including how much they are willing to invest and more. Their value to you in your marketing campaign has increased dramatically the same as the cost of the lead has increased.

These leads can be put in an email marketing list but that is not what they are generated for. Actually that would be a waste. These names are people who are actively searching for a Home Based business and ready for a phone call. Often they are expecting it with a bit of enthusiasm. Just keep in mind, not all of them are buyers or even ready to buy.

Providing you are confident with your approach you can expect to recruit a couple people for every 20 names you contact. At times the number can be more and it can easily be less. Often these people are searching for information and need time to sort through all the information they have gathered so they can decide on the company they want to go with.

There are many kinds of leads available and some cost a lot while others cost just a little bit of time. The most important thing is to have a specific plan for them before you make your approach. It doesn’t matter if you are approaching your family and friends or some one you have never met knowing what you are going to say and how you are going to say it along with being confident in yourself is the key to your success.

Tags: Affiliate Marketing

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