Truthfully, everybody’s name is available to the public.  Some people would like to think that they are protecting themselves from solicitors by registering with the Do Not Call Registry.  However, the truth is that if a person has EVER given their name or their telephone number to another person in public, that information finds its way to a lead broker, sooner or later.
That’s true.  Think about it, have you ever given your telephone number to a pizza parlor?  What about signing up for all those free “give-aways” and prize drawings at the state fair?  Have you ever signed up for advertising mailers to come to you from a particular store?  That information goes into someone’s database. Think of the banking services, the utilities services, the medical services, and many more types of service industries who have access to your information. To eliminate your name from all public lists and databases, is to cease functioning.  Well, reality is, it will take far, far more time for your name to be removed from all databases than it will be for your belongings to be disposed of after your death.  Actually, now I think about vital statistics collection, your name will NEVER be removed from a database somewhere.

You may ask what the big deal is about a database.    Lead brokers buy databases and turn them into marketing lists. Marketers buy that information from list brokers.  Marketers then market more  products to that lead list, and then the process starts all over again. Ask any marketer what the most valuable asset is of their business.  Their database would be in the top two mentioned assets.

A responsive database is gold to a marketer. Your buying habits are reflected in the type of a list that you are on. My next post will explain the different types of files that you will find from list brokers.

I will also explore ways to mine the gold that is likely collecting dust in your database. If you are wondering how a person can even acquire their own list, stay tuned, I’ll give you some answers to that question as well.

Be sure to watch for your basic Marketing Lead List 101 training!

Tags: lead broker, lead list, list broker, marketing lead lists, marketing lists

Maybe I should have posted this entry before I started ranting about cold leads and lead brokers.  But it’s better to be late than never!

Before anyone can dial a residence in the U.S. with the intention of marketing a product or service, the organization doing the dialing must be first registered on the Do Not Call (DNC) Registry which is operated under the office of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The national Federal Do Not Call (DNC) Registry has been in use in the United States for 5 years now.  For marketers to comply with the FTC Do Not Call guidelines, a marketer needs to acquire a SAN number.  This is the golden key to the treasure offered by lead brokers.  They are required to comply with the rules that they can only sell leads to a marketer who has acquired permission to dial in a particular area code.

In order for a person to placed on the DNC list, they have to first go to the government site and register as a person who does not wish to receive calls from telemarketers.  The good news for me is that this registry has accomplished the first round of the qualifying my prospect.  You see, I do not wish to speak with anyone who does not want to talk with me.  And the DNC registry has taken care of that first qualifying step that is necessary for me to find my prospects.  There are well over 166,000,000 phone numbers in the US.  And there are around 60,000,000 people reistered with the DNC.  That means that there are 106,000,000 people who have consciously decided that it is OK for a telemarketer to contact them.  They have told me that by their very refusal to have themselves registered.

When a marketer goes to a lead brokers to purchase leads, the lead broker will require proof of a SAN number at the time of purchase.  A SAN number is the number that the FTC assigns to you that acknowledges their permission for you to dial.  In order to get that number, you need to go to www.telemarketing.donotcall.gov and register.  The government lets you register for 5 area codes for free.  After that, you need to pay $54 for each area code you receive permission to dial within.

There are some exceptions to the SAN number requirement.  One of those is that businesses cannot be registered on the DNC.  That’s because it’s vital for business survival to receive business to business marketing calls.  If you are contacting people who are on a genealogy list, you do not need to have a SAN number.  That’s because when a person signs up as a distributor with a multi-level marketing company, they are technically opening a home-based business.

Another exception to the DNC registry, is that if the prospect has given you permission to contact them.  That permission overrides the DNC registry. That is what happens when someone “opts-in” to your data capture page.  Sometimes a prospect will give you permission after they have taken a survey, because they want further information about a new technology.

So, don’t let the Do Not Call list keep you away from mastering your phone skills.  As long as you let the DNC registry work as a screening tool for your prospects, then it is your marketing friend, not a foe.

Tags: DNC Registry, do not call list, lead brokers, telemarketing

Lead brokers are a wiley bunch.  If you are not confident about your needs, you might end up with that prime property in Arizona that is guaranteed to have a mesmerizing view of the ocean.  That will work for you until the point that you try to walk out on the beach with your flip-flops and towel, only to discover that any point in Arizona is at least 60 miles away and at most 450 miles away from an ocean beach.

That’s the disappointment you’ll feel when you start dialing those fancy, verified, double opt-in, real time, MLM leads.  Hopefully, the previous posts have educated you about the dangers of those leads. In this post, I’ll be educating you about the qualifying process you need to adopt when making a decision about the lead brokers themselves.

Again, questions will be your best tool for this evaluation process. But before I get to the questions, I’ll explain how to find a lead broker.

First, go to the Yellow Pages or the internet.  Look up mailing lists, lead brokers, list brokers, telemarketing lists, lead lists, buyer files,  and any other derivative of these terms.  Call each of them and ask to speak to a lead brokers.  Think of them like they are a real estate agent and you want to buy a house.  You would tell the agent some of the characteristics you want:  price, number of bedrooms, multi-level vs. rambler, size of lot, etc.  You’ll tell the broker that you are marketing a product that appeals to:  (what are the characteristics of your ideal customer?). Then you’ll tell them what kind of product you have, ie:  health product, beauty care product, insurance plan, consumer discount packages, discount travel benefits, etc.

That broker will then do some checking and come back and tell you about a particular list they found.  This is where you start asking them questions.  Remember the 5 “W” questions you were taught back in school to answer when you are writing a report?  Some of them apply here.  Ask Where did you get this list? Who are the people on this list? What kind of a file is this (a buyer, response, or demographic file)? When did you get this list (how old is it)? Why do you have this file? Now, it’s not likely that the broker will answer all of those questions.  But they should answer enough of them to give you a good idea of what you are getting.

Here’s a word of caution, do not buy the files that have 1000s of names in them for less than $100.  They are far too old and will be a waste of time and money.  You do want to make sure that they will have their lists scrubbed against the DNC registry. (The Do Not Call federal list) You do want to make sure that they will give you a guarantee that there will be no more than a 20% disconnect and wrong number rate.

I promise to cover more details of the lead purchasing “art” later.  For now, be certain to start making a good long list of lead brokers names and numbers.  It’s best to talk with them on the phone as opposed to ordering online.  Make sure to have 10 or 12 as a good sampling.

Happy hunting!

Tags: double opt-in leads, lead broker, lead lists, list brokers, mailing lists, MLM leads, real time leads, verified leads

Answer: The names in the telephone book are better qualified! And the telephone book names are free (free is a pretty good price).

You see, we were each born as opportunity-seekers, looking for a way to improve our situation and get our wants and needs met.  You’ve got to admit, an infant is a pretty demanding opportunity seeker.  We are all hard-wired to look for opportunities. It’s what keeps us alive! With that understanding, I can guarantee that the right opportunity would raise the eyebrows of any person in the phone book, providing it appealed to their individual interest.

The reason that the phone book names are more qualified is because they haven’t been contacted by dozens of eager network marketers over a few weeks wanting to have them listen to one more “sizzle call.” You see, I’ve had the privilege (sarcastic, I know) of being the # “umpteenth” marketer to contact a few disgruntled entrepreneur wanna-bes.  Trust me, by the time # “umpteenth” said “hello” to them, they were in love with their J-O-Bs all over again.  Punching a time clock was a refreshing alternative to being pestered by one more marketer!

So the trick is to find the specific human interest that your opportunity and product would satisfy.  With the answer to that question, you will be taking your first steps to profiling your ideal customer.  This is also called identifying the characteristics of your target market. Now the best way to determine the right target market is to ask some hard questions about your product. That is a topic for another posting.

You see, marketing is truly an art and a science. Hopefully, these postings will give you the “lines” for your art projects.  There is great value to learning to color within the lines before you can artfully step outside of the box.

Tags: network marketers, opportunit-seekers, target market

—PART B—

So, back to my soap-box rant. I spent four diligent months dialing business opportunity seeker lists.  Thank goodness, I came across invaluable information from Gino Niccoli and Terry Duff that kept me from wasting any more time on those names. I’m even ashamed to admit that one poor woman whose name was on that list, was called by me over 20 times, to convince her to join my business! Eventually, she joined.  However, she soon quit.  Duh…!

Here are the last three of the five major reasons that these leads are a lousy business investment.

#3  This concept really made my jaw drop when I heard it.  Ask yourself this, if these business opportunity seekers truly are just waiting with money in hand to join a business, why would the lead brokers waste their time and efforts selling that information to you, instead of enrolling those hot prospects in some fantastic money-making  opportunity themselves? Do they know something you don’t? Hello????

#4 Those business opportunity lists are sold over and over again to a whole variety of network marketers. By the time you get hold of the prospects, they’ve already been hit up about so many different businesses that they don’t want to hear one more word from even one more person! In fact some of them will even tell you that if they had known they would have to go through this much hassle they would have turned down the freebie they got for filling out the survey.

Have you ever heard that response?  I have–multiple times!

Yes, I’m sure you are thinking about the promise your lead broker gave you that your lead list is exclusive, it’s only being sold to you.  If you believe
that,  I’ve got some great ocean-front property in Arizona to sell you!
#5  MLM Leads are over-priced–hugely over-priced!  I know people who have paid anywhere from $7 to $150 a name for those leads.  Honestly! Of course, they did not receive a return on that investment.  You only need to pay 10 cents to 25 cents a name for a quality targeted list.

You see, a cold file is something that you use to test your script and to give you marketing data to determine if you’ve got the right message and are targeting the right group of people.  You have to go through the numbers in this stage of your marketing campaign.  When you’ve got the list right, you’ll be sending 3-5% of the leads to your information.  Now, do you want to reject 95% of the data that costs you $7 a name or 95% of the data that costs you 10 cents a name?

I hate to be so blunt. But you’ve got to understand the good, the bad, and the ugly about the lead industry if you want to make sound investments for your business growth.

Stay tuned, I’m passionate about this, remember.  I’ve got more “beans to spill.”

Tags: business opportunity seekers, Gino Niccoli, lead broker, lead list, MLM leads, Terry Duff

—-PART A—-

Here I am, posting about one of my favorite topics, business opportunity leads, or “biz opp leads” for short. Anybody that’s worked an MLM business longer than three months has run into the challenge of a warm prospect list turning cold. They are usually advised by well-meaning sponsors and company leaders to purchase MLM Biz Opp leads. In the lead industry, these leads are better known as “MLM Leads.”

The people whose names are on this list are supposed to be anxiously waiting for just the right home-based business opportunity to come along so they can invest their time and money into it.  In fact, most of these lead lists even have the amount of money that the prospect is willing to invest and the times that you can contact them at their home, and the hours of week that they are willing to work.

Those kind of qualifications would be music to the ears of an inexperienced network marketer who is certain that their first million dollars is only a few weeks away. They just need to convince a few “go-getters” from the lead lists to catch the same vision that the zealous marketer has.

Some lead brokers will promise you that these people have been contacted by a live person who reconfirmed, in a personal conversation, the fact that these prospects are ready to invest, immediately.

Now this is where I can get real winded. I need to put the verbal reins on, I know.  There is just so much to learn about leads!  So, to be easy on you,I’ll limit this post to just the first two reasons that Biz Opp Leads are a waste of money.

#1 The usual method of getting this data from prospects is to lure them to complete an online survey of some kind with the promise of a gift certificate to Home Depot or a free airline ticket, or a hotel room at some resort.  So their motives are not credible. You’ve probably all found yourself in the middle of some long list of questions about your interest, at one time or another, just so that you could get whatever was promised.

#2 Realize that everybody that breathes wants an opportunity to improve their life!  So it’s not a true qualifying factor to ask if someone wants to have financial freedom and to quit their j-o-b. Everyone wants that!  Even Bill Gates, as we speak right now,  is still developing new opportunities. He just came out with Windows Vista,  and the guy is a multi-billionaire! If somebody joins with you in business, strictly for the opportunity, then they are always a candidate for the next great opportunity around the corner.

It’s time to wrap this post up. But I am passionate about helping you understand how the lead industry works so you can hold on to your hard-earned cash.  You see, lead brokers like to promise that, not only do these prospects have gold to invest, but they will bless your like with glittering gold, as well.

So, before you buy your next lead list, be sure to read what the next three reasons are that MLM leads are just a guaranteed way to suck money from your bank account.

Tags: bip opp leads, business opportunity leads, lead brokers, MLM biz opp leads, MLM business, MLM leads

Reclaim Your Dignity And Live Guilt-Free

As a marketing technique, the “3-Foot Rule” sometimes known as “The Walking And Talking Market”, STINKS!

Did you ever feel guilty because you didn’t have the courage to talk with everyone in the check-out line about your business opportunity?  I have.

I hated going to the grocery store because I always drove home feeling like I’d let myself down.  You see, I could never bring myself to chit-chat about the even the weather, with my fellow shoppers, let alone, my business opportunity!

I admit it, the cat is out of the bag. I think I’m really shy at the core of my personality. But I’ve since learned that I didn’t miss out on much. You see, I know many people who DID talk to fellow shoppers (and waiters, and clerks, and mailmen, and, well…you get the idea) and they drove home feeling guilty just as much as I did!

It was because they knew they had annoyed others who really had no interest whatsoever in their business opportunity.  But the  over-zealous marketer proceeded to blab anyway.

The “3-Foot Rule” is about selling and not marketing. “Selling” mean convincing, begging, pleading, and cajoling someone to buy into your idea, product or business, all for your own self-interest.  People have a natural aversion to that marketing approach.

However, “marketing” is the scientific art of finding a group of people who have a specific need, want, or desire, and then giving it to them. It is the skill of finding a person’s problem and then offering (not begging) a solution with the intent of exchanging that solution for a price. That’s when both parties “win”, the marketer and the prospect.

You see, humans are natural consumers. We do love to buy. It is a process that keeps our needs and wants satisfied.

Just don’t try to “sell” us anything. Especially don’t do it when we happen to be shopping at the same store, in the same aisle, at the same time as Marty/Mary MLM Marketer is approaching us with CD’s and brochures!

It’s guaranteed that if you dare to use that marketing approach too many times, you’ll soon be driving home from the grocery store awash with guilt as well—not a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Tags: marketing technique, MLM marketer

It’s Time For A Revolution!

I’m talking about a marketing revolution. Big income MLM businesses are NOT being built today the same way your parents struggled with their MLMs. That’s because we live in a faster age of technology. MLM growth and MLM downlines are built and sustained when you find those people who already want to have the benefits of your product. (yes, it’s that simple, Marketing 101.)

“What!?”, you say. “That’s not what my MLM company is teaching me. “

Exactly. That’s where I come in.

My name is DiAnna McDowell. I’ve been mentoring MLM distributors for the past 4 and a half years. When I first entered the MLM business marathon, I realized pretty quick that I needed to contact more than my original “200 Names List” of acquaintances, friends, and family. After one year of diligently applying what my company taught and keeping “the dream” alive, I realized that I lacked sufficient knowledge. I suddenly understood why universities offered degrees in marketing. I had no idea what the study of “marketing” meant back when I started college, so I followed other interests.

My business “light-bulb moment” told me that I needed to know how to market. Period. End of story. Without that training, my dreams were only puffs of smoke, quickly vaporizing.

So I went to the greatest repository of information that the world has ever known: the internet. There I found direction. I was fortunate to link up to a network marketing training that is unparalleled in the industry. This MLM training is known as the “Dream Team”, it’s official name is “On Stage Marketing.” That’s when I became personally acquainted with the co-founders, Gino Niccoli and Terry Duff. These are two gentlemen that have successfully applied their marketing system of common sense, proven marketing techniques to grow million dollar enterprises in two different MLM organizations.

They offered to teach me what they’ve learned over 35 years of combined marketing experience. I was relieved to discover that their MLM success was created from scratch. They didn’t “swing over” large organizations from a previous MLM in order to grow a new one. They did not earn their MLM checks by marketing sales literature or CDs to thousands of the company’s distributors, nor did they enroll all of their friends and family. They didn’t even do it by camping out in a shopping center parking lot so they could pass out flyers.

You know, I always wondered why I never heard about or saw my upline’s upline’s upline (the really big one) with a large group of family members around them. Since she often talked about the large family she was raised in, I was certain that she should have a family reunion up on the stage every convention.

Now I understand why she was alone. I’ll explore the reason for that in future posts.

My goal here is to keep you updated on powerful common sense marketing wisdom that can serve as your Marketing 101 Class of an entrepreneur’s internet university.

Stay tuned for further training!

Tags: marketing system, mlm, MLM business, MLM distributors, MLM downlines, MLM organization, MLM success, MLM training, network marketing training, proven marketing techniques