Sales Strategies
There are many ways to promote the Lead Generator, and many strategies that you can use to maximize your earnings. But the most important things to remember are:
- Tell As Many People as You Can about the Lead Generator.
Very simply, the more people whom you tell about the Lead Generator, the more subscribers you'll get. Go to networking events. Publish a blog. Post content to business sites. Call your contacts in sales. Hand out business cards. Recommend it as a solution in online forums. The point is, if you know, or can find, anyone who is looking to grow their business, save money, find a new job, identify strategic partners, make more money, or identify new opportunities, tell them about the Lead Generator. And encourage them to subscribe. The Lead Generator can help them achieve their business objectives, and you can earn substantial commissions based on their paid subscriptions and advertising fees.
- Leverage Your Efforts by Building a Network of Sub-Agents who can, in turn, tell even more people about the system. If your sub-agents are successful in generating paid subscriptions, you can earn an override commission when their users subscribe and pay.
Because virtually every company needs more sales (or, at least, to save money), the more people whom you tell about the Lead Generator, the more subscribers you'll get. And therefore the more money you'll earn. It's that simple. And when you leverage your efforts by recruiting additional sales agents, you can earn even more!
Tools and Strategies
The Lead Generator VAR Program has available a number of tools and strategies for marketing the Lead Generator, depending on where and how you like to sell. Below are just a few examples:
| Technique | Tools Available |
| Local Networking Meetings |
Overview Presentation - Present the benefits of the Lead Generator to small groups PowerPoint Presentation - Customizable version of the Overview presentation 30-Second Commercial - Uncover needs, and stimulate interest with a large audience Trifold brochure - Hand-out brochures at networking meetings Local Networking If You Can't Attend |
| Email Marketing |
The Invitation System - A method for sending out mass invitations for people to subscribe Customizable Invitation - Text that you can put in a customizable emailed invitation Sales Letter - Text for an email blast The Lead Generator Newsletter - Send to contacts, and suggest articles |
| Online Marketing |
The Lead Generator Group on LinkedIn - Drive users to our moderated LinkedIn group The Lead Generator Blog - Introduce potential users to concept behind the Lead Generator Other Networking Groups and Sites Advertising |
| Direct Marketing |
Postcard Mailings Send out post cards to potential subscribers Direct Mail - Introduce the Lead Generator with traditional direct mail Fliers - Hand out fliers at networking luncheons Telemarketing - Cold-call potential users, and sign them up in 2 calls |
| Other Sales Aids |
Business Cards - The single best sales aid there is! Webinars - Be on the lookout for the Webinar schedule here Online demos - Train new users with screen-sharing Powerpoint presentations - Train groups of new users in-person Video instruction - point new users to the User Guide on YouTube User Seminars Testimonials - Comments from users Other Sales Aids |
| Strategies |
The trick to selling the Lead Generator in a Virgin Territory Reference Selling Using LinkedIn to Stimulate Interest Basic Territory Plan: Excel Spreadsheet (pdf) Discussion |
As you can see, there are a lot of approaches that can work. And there's a ton of support available to help you succeed. (You may also want to take a look at the Sales Agent Program Overview, and the Introduction to Selling the Lead Generator presentation.)
Marketing the Lead Generator
There are many ways, and many places, to market the Lead Generator - so be creative. But if you don't have the tools you need, or aren't sure how to get started, let us know. Here are some pointers about what works best, and how you can market the Lead Generator successfully:
Local Networking
For the local representative, perhaps the easiest and most effective technique for promoting and selling the Lead Generator is to attend meetings of local networking groups. There are usually two or three groups in any given town; and while some have membership fees, many don't. Almost all of them will allow you to give a brief introduction (e.g. your 30-second commercial), and that's usually all it takes to create interest, and get people to try the system.
Groups that use this format include your local Chamber of Commerce, BNI, Le Tip, and dozens of private groups. They are always looking for members and, more importantly, their members are always looking for sales leads. That's why they're there, and you have the solution!
Here is a 30-Second Commercial, and a flier you can use, as well as a trifold brochure that you can print and distribute.
Usually, all you need to do is give your 30-second commercial, and ask people to see you after the meeting. Give them your business card, with your Promotion Code on the back. Get their business card, and follow-up with a phone call. On average 50%-70% of the people who take your card will subscribe.
Email Marketing
Another technique you can use is email marketing. Sending an invitation to subscribe to the Lead Generator to an opt-in list of email contacts, such as by using an invitation like this version or this version, is a very low cost way to reach a lot of people, very quickly. With the right subject line, and especially by personalizing it, you can get a tremendous response rate. And remember, the more people who subscribe under your Promotion Code, the higher your commissions and income will be.
In fact, email marketing has the ability to actually "feed on itself" and grow your subscriber base geometrically. The way it works is simple. Let's say you start with a list of 250 email addresses, and you send an invitation to each one. (If you have the person's name, it's easy to personalize it, which you should do. But even if you don't, this will still work.) If just 2% subscribe, you'll get five new subscribers. (If you actually know the people, your response rate should be much higher.) If you then ask each of those five new subscribers for a list of people whom they think would benefit from the Lead Generator, you can invite each of them, too. In our experience, the average subscriber has at least 250 email addresses they can supply, and some people have thousands; so five subscribers should yield at least 625 new email addresses. A 2% response rate on 625 email addresses should generate at least 13 new subscribers. If only half of them gave you 250 email addresses each (for a total of 3,906 new email addresses,) and you got a 2% response rate, that would yield at least 78 subscribers. And if half of them gave you their contact list, and 2% of them subscribed, you would have over 3,000 new subscribers!
| Email Campaign Example | ||
| Iteration 1 | Email Addresses | 250 | Response Rate | 2% | New Subscribers | 5 |
| Iteration 2 | Email Addresses | 625 | Response Rate | 2% | New Subscribers | 13 |
| Iteration 3 | Email Addresses | 3,906 | Response Rate | 2% | New Subscribers | 78 |
| Iteration 4 | Email Addresses | 152,587 | Response Rate | 2% | New Subscribers | 3,051 |
| Subscriptions from an email campaign assuming an average of 250 emails/subscriber, and a 2% response rate. | ||
Results of an Opt-in Email Campaign
The above example shows the results from an email campaign through just four interations, with no repetition effect (which would tend to increase the results). If just 10% of your 3,000 subscribers were Managed Accounts, that would yield over $90,000 in commissions per year! (So is it worth it to try?)
We have several templates you can use. And we can even send out the invitations for you, if you'd like. All you need to do is ask for the contact lists. Think it's hard? Remember, it's in the subscriber's own interests to provide them, because the more users there are, the more leads there are - for them!
Telemarketing
Another effective technique is telemarketing. Although somewhat more labor intensive than email marketing, telemarketing is a simple and easy way to inform people about the system. There are hundreds of companies in every community that are looking for qualified sales leads, or to save money. And for less than the cost of one sales lead, it's a steal.
Introductory Seminars
If you like public speaking, one of the easiest ways to market the Lead Generator in your local community is with a seminar, or in a networking group meeting that is attended by professional salespeople and entrepreneurs. Getting sales leads is the primary reason that people join networking groups. So when you tell them about the Lead Generator, you're basically giving them exactly what they're looking for. Here is an Overview presentation in a PowerPoint version or as a pdf.
One technique that you can use in a seminar that is particularly effective at proving that the Lead Generator works is to do a "live demo". That is, after you've given the part of your presentation where you explain what the Lead Generator is and how it works (i.e. you have to put in your needs in order to get access to other people's needs,) go around the room, and ask people to introduce themselves. (This is usually about ten minutes into the session.) The structure of the introduction is that the person should:
- Give their name
- Give the name of their company
- Describe very briefly what their company makes and/or sells
- Describe one product or service that their company is in the market for (i.e. something they currently need)
Inevitably, by the time you get to the seventh or eighth person, someone will have announced a need for a product or service that someone else in the room offers. This is proof that posting your needs will generate qualified leads, and will convince people of the value of leveraging what they know - to get what they want - on the Lead Generator.
While giving a seminar may entails some cost (e.g. if you have to rent the room, mail out invitations, or provide donuts), there are many ways to avoid these costs. For example, getting time on the agenda of a pre-existing networking group guarantees you an audience, and potentially enables you to avoid paying for food. You can also use email to invite people; and many libraries and other public facilities allow groups to meet for free.
Typically, 50% of attendees at these sessions will subscribe - especially with the free option.
Online Marketing
There are literally dozens of business networking sites online today. And while none of them work the way that the Lead Generator does, promoting the Lead Generator in these online sites, blogs, and other systems can point visitors to what they're really looking for: the qualified sales leads that you can only find on the Lead Generator. Using Social Media, and linking back to the Lead Generator, is also an excellent way to get the word out about the system, and driving traffic. (We can even show you how to insure that the traffic is credited to you.) And by combining these techniques with your recruiting of Sub-Agents, you can get literally thousands of new subscribers quickly, and with almost no effort.
Leveraging Your Resources
There are two key ways to maxmize your earnings with the Lead Generator: building a base of subscribers, and recruiting other agents to promote the Lead Generator.
Building a Base of Subscribers
You can help your subscribers find more sales leads, and build your own user base at the same time, simply by asking your subscribers for their contact lists, and inviting them to subscribe. By explaining to your subscribers that the more users there are, the more leads there are, you'll be able - by working together - to expand your subscriber base and their prospect base simultaneously, and make sure that your subscribers have as many leads as they need, whenever they need them. Here's how it works:
Let's assume that you're in the early stages of building your subscriber base, and there aren't a lot of leads in the system for any given local subscriber. And let's say, for example, that you have a subscriber who sells computers, and who's looking for new prospects who need computers - but he's a little skeptical about subscribing to the Lead Generator. While he probably doesn't need help prospecting to people he knows, he can be motivated to subscribe to The Lead Generator and, more importantly, to give you a referral to any of his friends who might also benefit from the Lead Generator - despite his skepticism.
The reason is this: If each new subscriber gives you contact information for 50 people whom they think would benefit from the system, and even if only 10% of them sign up, and each of them gives you 50 names, and only 10% of them sign up, and so on, by the time you've gone through four rounds of referrals you would have over 625 subscribers (625 = 5 x 5 x 5 x 5). And at least a few of them are going to need computers, so your new subscriber will get the leads he wants. And you'll be earning commissions!
Asking your subscribers for referrals to other people whom they know (and who might benefit from the Lead Generator) and contacting them about the Lead Generator is one of the easiest and most reliable ways to grow your subscriber base - because it is in your subscribers' best interests to see the database grow.
Building Your Own Rep Network
Beyond growing your own base of subscribers, you can also multiply your efforts by recruiting other Independent Sales Agents to market the Lead Generator on your behalf, and earn override commissions on the subscription revenues that they generate. This can provide you with an even higher return on your investment, while helping your subscribers find even more sales leads - a true "win-win." Here's how it works:
As you can guess, as your local subscriber base grows you may not be able to call on each of the thousands of prospects you're going to get from building your own user base. But by recruiting a cadre of Sub-Agents you can reach them all, and more - while getting a substantial override commission on your Sub-Agents' efforts, and their Sub-Agents' efforts, as well.
For example, let's say you called fifty people per day, and you didn't have any Sub-Agents. If 10% of them subscribed, and half of them were Managed Accounts, it would generate about $11,000 in commissions over the course of the year from your calling program.
On the other hand, let's say that you have a Sub-Agent, and you give them some of the names to call. (Or if they just had names of their own to call, but you recruited them as your Sub-Agent.) Assuming they do exactly what was decribed above for you, they would earn $11,000 in commissions, and you would get a 10% override - or an extra $3,000. And you would get this for every Sub-Agent you recruited, so if you recruited five Sub-Agents, and they performed as above, you'd earn an extra $15,000/year.
And there's no limit to what you can earn.
By recruiting and supporting Sub-Agents, and providing them
with referrals and support, you can leverage your efforts,
and earn substantial commissions and overrides.
If you're familiar with network marketing, you'll recognize this as simply the power of building a downline. But you also may be familiar with some of the pitfalls of network marketing, such as running out of Sub-Agents, or worse, running out of potential customers to call. So how is this different? First of all, there are no geographic or territory limits for where you can market, so your addressable market is huge. And it includes both businesses and consumers, since consumers have needs, too. Also, the Lead Generator only pays two levels of override (along with a commission on your own sales). You earn nothing from the third level down, so while you're limited in how deep the network can grow, there is no limit on the number of Sub-Agents you can have. So your earning potential is enormous.
Second, for many VARS the Lead Generator is more of a door-opener that can enable you to pull through additional service and consulting revenues. In fact, you may even find that providing support for free, and upselling other products and servies, can be even more profitable than charging for it.
Either way, by combining the leverage of "Building Your Base" (that is, getting referrals from each new customer to his or her friends who might benefit from the Lead Generator,) with the leverage of your "Rep Network" (and its ability to multiply your efforts,) you can earn substantial commissions, the database will grow rapidly, and together we will be able to provide our subscribers with the quantity and quality of leads that they want - at a vanishingly small cost to them - but with a very large ROI for you.
Why User a "Referral" Strategy?
While the numbers are important, just as critical is the strategy of using referrals to get in.
Once a prospect understands what the Lead Generator is and how it works, most people think it's a great idea and will want to subscribe. (At the very least, they'll all know someone who could use it.) The problem is in getting them to listen to the story in the first place. That is, the problem is getting their initial attention, and maybe a little bit of trust. Because once you can get them to take your call, the rest is pretty easy. But that's why you need the referrals - to get in the door.
Specifically, being able to say to someone, "I'm calling on a referral from 'So-and-so' - whom, I believe, you know - who thought you might be interested in what we're doing..." is a powerful way to get past gatekeepers and voice mail, and gain the 2-3 minutes with the decision maker (who is usually a business owner or sales person,) that you need to tell the story. Otherwise, they're simply going to hang up on you, or not return your voice mail message.
However, if the person who gave you the referral has any credibility at all with the prospect in the area of sales, the prospect will take your call, listen to the story, and be far down the decision cycle before you ever try to close.
Even the size of the database (assuming you are reading this in the early stages of its growth,) will not be a major concern for most people. Many prospects will be willing to "bet on the come," since the database will grow rapidly using this method, and even moreso if they themselves provide referrals. (And if you give them a couple of weeks of free usage as a trial, by the time it runs out the database should be populated and growing nicely.) But this is a way for people who naturally like to network to do it, and benefit from it, on a huge scale - with almost no effort or cost.
Using a referral to get in also gets you past a number of barriers that we know exist. For example, over the past few years the market has almost completely devalued the term "sales lead," to where it now refers, albeit inaccurately, to a name on a mailing list instead of a "qualified lead" (i.e. a contact with a decision maker who needs your product or service, and who wants to talk with you about how you can help.) So when you call someone offering to sell a system that provides qualified sales leads, all they think is: "Oh, great, another call from another list vendor." But having a referral from someone they know and respect negates that bias, and gives you time to explain the difference between what the prospect thinks is a sales lead, and what the Lead Generator really provides.
Using a referral also encourages you to establish a relationship with the customer - which is the key to long term customer satisfaction. This is because most customers will give you a referral if they know you're not going to abuse it. That is, if you help the customer post his data and search for leads - all for only $24.95/month - it's pretty hard for them to distrust you. And if you stick around and work with him - turning, at least, some of the referral lists over to your Sub-Agents to call so that you actually have the time to work with your customer - you'll not only assure that your customer will get value from the system, you'll get the referrals we talked about before.
Asking for referrals is easy. And using them is even easier, as the system is designed to support referral-based sales.
- As a new Sales Agent for the Lead Generator, you will be provided with a list of prospects from your Master Agent that he has acquired from his customers, prospects or other contacts, and assigned to you. The list will also indicate who provided the names so you can use that person's name as a referral when you call the list. (You may even want to call the "referrer" and introduce yourself.) Once it's been assigned to you, your list will be accessible from the "Referrals" link at the top of this screen.
- As you call the list and sell the Lead Generator, you will be expected to acquire referrals and contact lists from your new customers as part of the sales process. These contact lists can be uploaded (either by the prospect or by you, if you are helping them,) to the Lead Generator database directly from Outlook, GMail, Hotmail, VCards, or even an Excel spreadsheet. Note that the customer can edit the list at anytime to remove inappropriate contacts, or add new ones.
- You can then either call the names yourself, or you can assign them to one of your Sub-Agents to call - making sure that you balance your own sales, your Sub-Agent's sales, and your customer support efforts.
The mechanics of the Referral system will make more sense once you see it in action. (Note below, for example, that you have a choice as to whether you keep the list and prospect to it yourself, or recruit a Sub-Agent and give it to them to prospect to.) But for now, keep in mind the immense power of referrals to get you in the door, and your responsibility to keep the process going by acquiring referrals and lists as part of the job - and your key to success.
Master Agent, you call it, close them, and provide good service that
earns you more referrals. You then can either call the new list yourself,
or recruit, train and support Sub-Agents to do it.
What Else Can You Do?
While using referrals and Sub-Agents is the most effective way to go, there are certainly other marketing techniques you might consider. For example, promoting the Lead Generator to local Chambers of Commerce, business associations and networking groups (as a member benefit,) is an excellent way to leverage your time and energy. This is because they are, in effect, simply pre-built referral networks. You should also ask people to tap into their networks on sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook as sources of names. And employing your own telemarketers, or advertising, can also be worthwhile if you have the resources. Just remember, though, you can't be your own Sub-Agent; and the more people who hear about the Lead Generator, the better. --->
Next Steps
If you are not already familiar with the Lead Generator, be sure to register on the site now (at www.leadgenerator.com,) and review the online documentation. Post your own company's information, and learn how to use the system so you can coach your subscribers. Fill out the Sales Agency Agreement, and fax it to 856-316-7465 for approval. Once you're approved, we'll send you your Promotion Codes, and you're ready to go!
Return