Lets get the record straight.

Not everyone can be successful generating leads. As a matter of factual data, most are not successful at generating their own leads at a reasonable cost. Sure anyone can generate leads at a cost. Normally, however, its at a cost that is not sustainable or that is significantly more expensive then simply buying the leads from a lead gen company. I want to be clear though, it IS completely possible to generate your own leads and even do it well.

Now, obviously different marketing channels result in different marketing costs. Email is typically less expensive, but in most cases requires the ability to handle a large amount of leads from large geo target. Paid Search is the easiest to get up and running, but can be very costly. Display is a channel that can very very costly and requires high level of expertise to make work, especially for lead generation. So, why is it that lead generation companies are able to make it work? Because they have the expertise, scale, coverage and possibly multiple sales. It is really that simply.

Why am I bringing up these simple facts? Well, as soon as I feel like people are understanding lead generation and the value of lead companies I hear some random things that get me thinking it is not the case. After making that statement, I must tell people that while I am definitely on the sell side of the equation I spent a few years on the buy side of the equation too and understand the challenges all buyers go through. In fact, this blog grew out of the pains and frustrations of buying 100′s of leads per day in the mortgage industry.

The other day I came across an interesting discussion on the topic of lead gen and transparency. Yes, I know, “a well beaten horse” and frankly I am now in agreement with that statement.   It was a podcast put on by a couple of guys at the .eduMarketer Linkedin group and can be listened too here. There a few statements that raised my blood pressure a bit, but lets just discuss one.

The two hosts get on the topic of lead distribution and price at about the 10 minute mark. The topic of lead companies overselling leads has always been an issue and will continue to be as long as there are extremely low barriers of entry AND the cost of marketing is so high. In the example he says it may cost a generator $10 to create the lead. I have only had experience in one vertical where it cost $10 to generate a lead and  the EDU is definitely it. So, lets get that facts straight. It cost much more then $10 to create a quality EDU lead in today’s market. If that were the case, price points would be much less and companies would be generating their own leads.

With regards to multiple sales: There is no other vertical, other then EDU, that leads the consumer down a path that continues to urge the consumer to choose more and more options. I have tested just about every EDU lead form out there and most companies cross the line, in my opinion. My guess is they do this because it is extremely expensive to generate the majority of the leads they sell. I believe there should be a line drawn. Based on my experience I think the optimal amount of choices given to a consumer is 3. No more, no less. Any more they will become overwhelmed with the amount responses, even if the consumer willfully chooses too many options. Any less, they will continue to shop around because their needs were not satisfied with the few results. As a buyer, don’t fool yourself that exclusive leads are the best, they simply are not. First, no lead is ever exclusive and regardless of how much branded content you have on display, the consumer will likely continue to shop around. This doesn’t mean you get to bypass the placement of your content, it just simply means you shouldn’t assume that excessive content is going to result in quality leads.

So, this post is more a rant, then anything. Go figure, nothing new here. But I wanted to get it straight, of course in my opinion, it is challenging to generate leads that is why most companies outsource, most leads cost significantly more then $10 to generate, and there is a point where consumers can be overload with the wrong content just for the sake of showing them content.

Rant done.

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