Change-Sales-Strategy NextWaveMarketingStrategies.com

Albert Einstein famously defines insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” It’s time to break out of the insane asylum!

Traditional Advertising Avenues Are Costly And Not Always Effective
In comparison with the cost of producing broadcast and print advertisements and running them in order to reach a proposed target audience, business owners and companies can spend thousands and still may not receive results. In addition, it may take extra funds to test correct audiences and uncover successful avenues, including channels, timing and publications.

Internet Lead Generation Provides Results
Leads generated by companies through the world wide web give business owners a much lower lead cost. While leads generated through traditional media can be extremely costly, leads generated by internet companies are priced per lead or even at a monthly premium that includes all leads supplied.

Escape The Time-Consuming Qualifications
Although internet lead companies can lower the lead cost for a variety of companies, they can also offer qualified lead, saving time and money that would be paid to have internal employees perform similar tasks. Leads are often checked for quality and business owners often won’t pay for bogus or fake leads.

Internet Leads Can Be Targeted
A powerful tool that is continuing to grow and transform each and everyday, the Internet provides a certain amount of customizability for business owners. Targeting different locations, types of products or services desired by consumers and leads specifically designed to fit each businesses criteria often results in a lead that is higher in quality. A higher quality lead has a better chance of resulting in greater sales and production.

Tracking Capabilities
While some avenues of traditional advertising are difficult to track because there is so much bombarding consumers at any given time, internet lead generation can be followed simply and easily. The internet and the generation company does all the tracking for the business. If a lead is received, business owners are well aware of where it came from, when and what product or service it is for. The results of an internet lead generation campaign can be tracked with ease, giving advertising and marketing departments one less task to perform, yet provides accuracy.

Nothing converts a client like another customer singing your praises, but so many loan officers and debt counselors neglect this sales tool. Client testimonials and referrals should be a very intentional step in your sales process. Remind yourself of how important testimonials are with this three step process.

Get Testimonials

Like I said, getting testimonials needs to be a very specific step in your sales process. You should be using past client testimonials very early in your sales process with every prospect. This is a great time to start foreshadowing your request for a testimonial, “at the end of their exceptional experience.”

At every closing you need to closely interview the customer. Use this process to coach them on how to give an incredible testimonial. Not only will this give you a great comment for your marketing material, but it will condition their referral marketing.

Use Testimonials

Once you have great testimonials don’t forget to use them. Enthusiastic endorsements do little good as a personal thank you or atta-boy. You need to turn those into web content, brochures, and editorials in the local newspaper.

Have a testimonial plan and execute on it with each new testimonial you get.

Thank Testimonials

Once you get a great testimonial, don’t forget your manners–say, “Thank You!” Send a personal note with a gift card to a great restaurant or tickets to a local sporting event. Let them know how much you appreciate their business and the business they are going to refer to you in the future.

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Of course, I would argue that aged leads are the best sources of affordable sales marketing. However, I would encourage the smart mortgage or debt business to balance their marketing sources. Creating an effective blend and diversity will serve to smooth out volatility in any marketing channel.

Inherently there are peaks and valleys in any marketing source. Whether they are seasonal, economic, or business cycles there will be variations in your market channel performance. However, shutting channels off and on are expensive and inefficient. The smarter strategy is to nurture multiple channels of leads.

Here are a few strategies I suggest:

Online Leads

Regardless of your preference for real-time or aged leads you should have Internet leads in your marketing mix. There is no more efficient way to get a steady flow of high-intent, opt-in consumer inquiries for mortgage or debt. The added advantage is you can specifically screen for your target customer or product profile. In this tight credit market that means having to say, “no” less often.

If you want to really maximize the return on this channel you can add lead nurturing to the mix. By purchasing cheap aged leads you can build a long-term database of prospects. Continually marketing against this database with valuable email newsletters, market updates, and quick, personal check-ups will yield many more deals than one power-dialing session through the lot.

Pillar (Partner) Business

Establishing a close network of referral partners with the professionals in related industries: real estate, accountants, attorneys, and financial advisors is a smart sales multiplier. These channels can give you a small volume of very good clients. Creating a network of highly ethical and value focused professionals will help you lock-down the customers in your area. Building that network outward can even scale you beyond the borders of your local community.

The secret here is making everyone of those clients precious. Going beyond to create a phenomenal client experience with other clients will yield you a steady flow of this high-quality business. Doing it consistently, and reciprocating on referrals will grow your volume in this marketing channel.

Direct Mail

Using the postal system has fallen out of favor. The performance of direct mail has consistently fallen over time. This affect is attributed to saturation and the increased use of the Internet to find mortgage and debt solutions. However, if you have noticed your own “junk mail” has probably reduced significantly during the recession. This is bringing new opportunity to this method. Used in a good way to raise the awareness of market shifts and your ability to help can yield some pretty attractive numbers.

I recommend using it in conjunction with a client-loyalty program and in a smart way against your aged lead database of prospects. Often sending direct mail in relation to an online inquiry that seems to have gone dead can reawaken the client–there is something about mail that make you feel like there is a “real” person involved versus a straight telemarketing play.

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Fresh leads or aged leads? It is a classic lead generation debate. I heard it discussed in some of Twitter chatter from the recent LeadsCon. Most often the discussion is around the speed at which Internet leads reach the lead buyer.

The Debate

It seems most buyers of Internet leads have this intuitive perception that real-time Internet leads are better. In the perfect world they should be, because in the perfect world leads (customer inquiries) are generated and find a home in sub-second timing. The reality?

Internet lead generation is a complex ecosystem of websites, marketing, consumer behavior, affiliates, lead aggregators, lead exchanges, lead brokers, filters, data verification, matching, and inefficient waste. For this reason, there is opportunity in aged leads.

Internet Inquiries are Imperfect

The opportunity in aged leads starts with the imperfection of the Internet inquiry. This classic process of driving consumers to take an action online is very much an art, not a science. As such, you will have imperfections.

Here are just some examples:

• Technical errors and lost inquiries
• Misrouted inquiries
• Confusing or misleading calls to action
• Incomplete actions
• Unexpected capture process

All of these examples can leave a consumer lost in the lead ecosystem–unserved.

Consumer Behavior is Imperfect

Consumer behavior is no less imperfect and leads to just as many unserved leads. Internet users are notoriously unpredictable in their actions and inactions. As a result, they create more imperfections in creating the ideal real-time lead.

Here are some examples of behavioral errors:

• Follow the wrong capture path
• Make mistakes in completing the inquiry
• Abandon the inquiry
• Intentionally enter partially errant data
• Objective in submitting inquiry is misaligned

Again, these simple and unexpected behaviors will again cause consumers to be lost in the lead ecosystem.

Imperfection Creates Opportunity

Of course, many of these imperfections produce an aged lead. They either get misrouted to a buyer that can’t help the customer, the buyer is not diligent in following up on all of the contact information, or the lead generator simple loses the lead in its delivery process until it is too late.

Fortunately, for the aged mortgage or debt lead buyer these are easy challenges to overcome with a solid, diligent sales process. And for a fraction of the cost an enormous marketing ROI opportunity.

The verdict? Be cautious in assuming real-time, fresh leads are perfect and try a few aged leads to see if “there is gold in them thar hills!”

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This is probably one of the classic “religious” questions of online marketers. Is there a right answer? This is one of those audience participation questions. What do you think?

I think this is an answer that is very dependent on your business, target audience, and budget.

Ultimately, marketing is the attempt to attract the attention of consumers that are likely to buy your products or services. As such, picking the best lead generation can take a myriad of forms.

• Email and Permission: Email engages consumers, on a permission basis, in one of the most active venues of most consumers online life. It is a great way to stay top of mind, create a discussion, and allow your message to go viral with a simple forward.
• Search Engine Optimization: Searches have become the measure of intent online. Consumers use searches on Google, Yahoo, and MSN to go straight to what they need. If you position your content to attract these inquiries you can grab some of the highest converting consumers.
• Display and Placement Advertising: Often considered a branding play–banners get your image front and center. Exposing consumers to your brand in targeted venues that already have buyers can bring you consistent traffic. The magic of course is turning that traffic into conversions.
• Co-registration: Associated offers are often weakly linked to the primary offer. However, if creatively linked to the original offer as an additional value or an abandonment alternative–these co-reg offers can turn into a strong lead.
• Surveys and Incentives: Not all incentive leads are evil. Sometimes delivering value first, or an incentive, can gather targets and information that builds a better audience and marketing campaign.
• Telemarketing: The cold-call–a classic sales tool. Not all consumers know they are eligible for an offer or know your services can help them. Taking your message directly to the consumer is an intimidating marketing approach, but built in a smart way these campaigns can build brand and direct sales.

Each of these can be used effectively to generate sales leads. Which is best? Which is best for your business? It could depend. What do you think?

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