Thursday, September 9, 2010

Lead Generation - Can Your Business Afford Not To Do It?

By Miguel Pancardo

In order for your business to thrive you need a fresh supply of leads on a regular basis. The problem is that obtaining these leads can be expensive so it is a challenging task when you are first starting out and don't have much in your budget to spare. Here are some things to consider that might lower the cost of getting business leads.

Many sites use a simple sales letter type page that has one objective - to sell an item. While this may have some success, it generally does nothing for you in terms of future sales contacts. Sure, you have the person's name and all, but once they have bought that item, there is no follow up to it.

This type of business model allows you to sell a single item one time to a single customer. A better model is to have a way to sell multiple items to that same customer over time through following up. Of course, getting the person to buy multiple times or even the first time requires skillfully written sales page or follow up emails. Most people do not have the skill necessary, so to get the best results, consider having someone else write your copy for you.

Copywriters that have a proven track record don't work cheap so this is one of the major expenses involved with setting up a sales website. However, this is an expense that pays for itself over time. You will need a certain number of sales to offset the initial outlay before you realize any profits, but this is true of most any business you would start.

Besides the sales copy, you also need a website that is designed to sell, a domain name, and hosting. These costs mount up quickly and if you rely on single sales to pay the bills, you may not see the profits you want as quickly as you want.

On the other hand, a site that generates leads on a continuous basis will pay for itself over and over again. Believe it or not, this does not have to be elaborate or flashy. A simple offer of a free item like a report or white paper can be made in exchange for a little information. Usually this is a name and email address. So for the cost of $0, you now have a contact that you can market to as long as they remain on your list.

Because people agree to receive email from you in exchange for your free report, you don't have to worry about spamming. Set up your list to be double opt-in because when you do this, the person must confirm their email address by clicking on a link before they get your free report. This stops anyone from putting in someone else's email address. You know that the people on your list want what you are offering and have signed up for it willingly.

This is why lead generation is so important. You add new people to your list every day and have an ever growing list of people to market to. It only takes a few minutes to implement and compared to hiring someone to craft a sales page and design a fancy website, the cost is minimal. Treat the people on your list well in order to build trust and you will have customers for life.

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