The lifeblood of your business is a plentiful supply of quality network marketing leads. Has your sponsor ever told you "never stop adding people to your front line" or "always be closing". This is sound advice since you never know where or when a super star will emerge on your team. But, "always" is a long time and no one has a contact list long enough to go on forever (no matter what their background or financial resources). You, as well as every person on your downline team, will eventually need a source of fresh MLM leads.
Network Marketing Leads: The Sources
The sources for network marketing leads fall into two main categories - buy or build. These are the same choices you face multiple times every week. Do I buy a garden shed or build on myself? Do I bake a cake for the party or buy one from the store? Do I take my car in for an oil change, or learn how to do it myself? How you answer each question is all about tradeoffs. Time, cost, quality and level of customization are the major considerations. This is how we will structure our discussion of whether you should buy or generate your own MLM leads.
The Choices:
- Buy Network Marketing Leads
- Generate Your Own (or Team) Network Marketing Leads
The Considerations
- Time
- Cost
- Quality
Buying versus Generating Network Marketing Leads
Time- Most people incorrectly assume that buying network marketing leads is always faster. That is true if you are talking about a list of 500 leads. But, what about the time to get the first lead? To get started, you only need 1 new lead since you can only call one person at a time anyway. You don't need the second lead until a little bit later, and you don't need the 500th lead until quite a bit later. Viewed in this way you begin to see how a continuous flow of MLM leads is actually preferable to a long list all at once. When you buy MLM leads you can sometimes request a paced flow of leads. When you generate your own, you are always in control of the pacing and can turn the lead generation on or off at any time.
Cost - Both approaches cost money. Don't let anyone fool you that generating your own network marketing leads is won't cost you anything. It will. However, many business owners choose to make a distinction between a cost and an investment. Going out to eat every day because you don't know how to cook is a cost. Taking cooking lessons for 3 months so you can reduce your reliance on restaurants is an investment. You spend money now to acquire a skill or knowledge that will allow you to spend less in the future. Network marketing leads are as vital to your business as food is to your body. If you plan to buy MLM leads, you are committing to an on-going necessary expense (over which you have no price control - think gasoline!). When you decide to generate your own MLM leads, you make an investment in your business that can never be taken away from you - and that you can teach your downline organization.
Quality- The cliche phrase "you get what you pay for" is appropriate here. The quality of network marketing leads is generally reflected in the price. But, what criteria are used to judge quality in the first place? The relevant quality factors are recency, specificity, amount of data provided, verification, location and the most important factor - exclusivity.
Recency: This refers to how long ago the person expressed interested. Obviously 2 months ago is bad, a few days ago is OK and real-time, right now is the best.
Specificity: This refers to how closely matched the person's interest is to your offer. For example, some network marketing companies have 90% female distributors. A list of mostly male contacts would not be specific to this opportunity.
Amount of Data Provided: The most basic lead is an email address only. The amount of data available increases from there to include phone numbers, names, zip codes, annual income, etc...
Verification: This refers to whether the name, phone number and email provides are correct or not. When you generate your own network marketing leads a few junk leads aren't a big deal. If you are buying, advanced-verification that the information is correct is a feature you can pay for.
Location: You may prefer network marketing leads that are within driving distance so you can meet with prospects live or have them attend opportunity meetings. Or, your MLM company may only operate in certain countries or states.
Exclusivity: This refers to how many other business owners (in addition to you) have access to the same lead information. This factor is the most critical consideration and the reason that generating your own network marketing leads will always trump the quality of purchased leads. When you set up the system to generate the leads...they are 100% yours alone to call or email. When you buy network marketing leads, the same lead is often sold to 3,6 or even 12 other people who you must compete with for the prospect's attention. In many cases, once the prospect realizes their information has been sold they stop answering the phone or become very resistance and combative on the phone. Exclusivity is the only solution.
Where to Learn the Skill of Generating Network Marketing Leads
We believe in 100% in "teaching a man to fish so he can eat forever" so the only recommendations we have are for learning the art and skill of generating your own network marketing leads. We do not recommend that you buy network marketing leads - not even once. Your business can wait another few weeks or another month while you learn how to generate continuous lead flow. Sponsors and upline leaders who tell you cannot wait and make a calculated investment in your business are only interested in how your activity affects their bottom line. They are not giving you sound long-term advice, and you have to call them out on it. Once you acquire the skill of generating network marketing leads on your own, you'll be able to teach that skill to your team. And, you'll be able to use the fact that your team has its own lead system as a tactic to attract highly qualified prospects to your team.
