Home made leads cost less and make more
Posted May 29, 2007 15:22 by Hoard Client Systems CEO.
About Hoard Client Systems CEO
Hoard Client Systems CEO's affinity for investing and financial matters began more than 20 years ago when he began investing in the stock market through a class in high school. Now, in 2006, he is being looked to for his innovation in altering the efficiency in which financial professionals communicate with clients.
I am bombarded with lead offers daily…Join us and we’ll give you free leads (I can get free “leads” right out of the phone book)…We will get you a 10% response rate (ask them about their guarantees of a 10% response rate for a good laugh)…blah…blah…blah.
I don’t know how they get by calling them leads when for the most part they are not leads. These are not leads in the sense that the prospects have indicated a need or desire to talk to you, though they are sold as such.
Think about these numbers. A lead generation company will send out 1,000 mailers to the general public offering some sort of FREE information, report or trinket. So out of 1,000 mailers, they’ll get say 100 people saying they want something for free…mind you, NOT to talk to someone… but that they want this FREE thing that is being offered.
So the lead generation company spent:
Initial mailing: 29 cents for the mailer X 1,000 pieces = $290
Sending information: $1.25 mailed report X 100 people that requested it = $125
Total Cost = $415
Cost per “lead” = $4.15
Four dollars and 15 cents for these lead generation companies to generate a “lead.” A “lead” that did not want to talk to someone but merely wanted to receive something for FREE. A “lead” that when you call them up, get angry at you for calling or claim that they never asked for any information in the first place.
How much do they sell this crappy lead for? A lot more than $4.15 a piece and what is it worth? Butkus.
You would be far better off creating your own leads. As usual, if you want something done right, do it yourself. By using a 10:1 ratio technique you can generate REAL leads…leads that want to talk to you…leads that are interested in what you have to say…leads that might actually LEAD to a sale for God’s sake!
What is the cost? About the same as the lead generation company “leads” if you do it yourself. About $15 a Great Lead if you want someone else to generate them for you. Buying “leads” that aren’t really leads are never, I repeat, NEVER a bargain. However, creating your own leads will build a business that is profitable, ethical and enviable!
10:1 Ratio to Riches Technique
If you contact your prospects with nice, friendly, and NON-FINANCIAL touches 10 times they think that you are a nice, helpful person. Then when you touch them with a helpful, financial message, they know you are doing it to be “nice and helpful,” not doing it to sell them something.
You can use this ratio over and over and people will never think you are being pushy. Instead they will know you are helpful, friendly, and a caring person.
How often can you send a financial message*? After every 10 NON-FINANCIAL or what I call caring contacts.
Would you spend $5 - $13 to have a prospect WANT to talk to you?10 handwritten cards -- $5 dollars if you want to write them yourself
$13 if Hoard does it for you
If you send out 10 handwritten notes and follow-up with a financial offer* via mail, you will get a 7% response rate. If you are motivated enough to phone after the financial offer, you will get a 90% response rate (these are people that are going to say, “I was wondering who was sending me the cards. They are wonderful! Thank you! How did you get my name? You simply say, “Some of my best friends who are also my best client live near you so I thought I would get to know the people in their neighborhood. I hope you don’t mind?”)
*The financial offer that occurs after the 9th or 10th caring contact would your professional request from the client. That could be:
- A request for referrals
- An invitation to a special seminar
- A new product or solution you are offering
- A timely product due to interest rate environments or some such
- Anything where you could begin or extend your professional relationship with them.
If you want to hit them up for a financial offer every 6 months, then give them 2 contacts a month and on the 6th month make an offer.
| 2 Caring Contacts per Month 2 Financial Contacts per year | ||
| Mo. | contacts per mo. | Contact Type |
| 1 | 1st | newsletter w/handwritten note |
| 2nd | postcard or card | |
| 2 | 1st | newsletter w/handwritten note |
| 2nd | postcard or card | |
| 3 | 1st | newsletter w/handwritten note |
| 2nd | postcard or card | |
| 4 | 1st | newsletter w/handwritten note |
| 2nd | postcard or card | |
| 5 | 1st | newsletter w/handwritten note |
| 2nd | postcard or card | |
| 10 | Total monthly contacts | |
| 6 | 1 | financial postcard or phone call* |
Why leads rarely work – Finances is a VERY private thing. Most people do not want to discuss their finances with strangers (definition of a stranger: people you don’t know or trust.)
People know that you are smart-- People know that if they ask you for some good ideas that you would give them lots of good ideas…Then why don’t they respond to our marketing or ask us for our ideas?
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care -- People that sell for a living know this…they may ignore it, but they know it.
You can’t demonstrate how much you care in a marketing piece -- You can say you care but what do you think when someone says, “Trust me.”? Do you?
You can show that you know a lot…BUT SO WHAT!—So does every other financial advisor as far as the public cares. They really don’t think that one financial advisor is smarter than the other…the only way to demonstrate the difference is to show how much you care.How does your mother know if you care? -- Simple, by how much contact you have with her (more is better) and what kind of contact. If the only time you contact her is to borrow money what does she think you think of her?
If all that you do is talk about money to a client or prospect, what do they think you care about: them as a person or getting at their money?
Create a friend and you have a client—What do friends and family want from you? They want you to demonstrate that you care about them. What is the easiest way to demonstrate it? Phone call or email maybe? Aha! In this case easy is bad!
We’ll all do something for someone when it’s easy. Only if you really care about someone will you do something more difficult.
Email:
- No cost
- Simple
- Easy and effortless
Versus the perceived difficulty and time involved with a card:
Sending a card: (Unless you use Hoard)
· You have to go out and look at cards and choose one
· You have to buy it. You know, actually spend money
· You have to sit down and think about what you want to write because once you write it with a pen you can’t simply delete and fix it
· You have to write it
· Address the envelope, lick and affix a stamp
· Drop it into a mail box
Who responds to Lead Generation pieces? – 2% to 3% of all lead generation pieces sent out respond that they want more information. That sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?
Bad News for you—Most leads you purchased are worthless. 87% of all people that respond to lead generation pieces have responded to at least 3 other lead generation pieces in the past—that means that collecting free stuff is their “hobby.” They aren’t interested in making changes or talking to someone.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT BABY!
How much would you spend to have a prospect who:
- Feels like they know you
- Likes you
- Wants you to contact them again
- Talks to their friends and neighbors about you
- Are happy when you call
- Actually pick up the phone to call you just because they want to meet you
Well for the time and pennies it takes to write and send ten postcards over the time period you choose, 82% of the people you send these handwritten cards to will feel all of those things for you. They sure did for me.
I used to spend 6 hours a week writing handwritten notes. That may seem like a lot of time but IT WAS WORTH IT! But what if you don’t want to spend 6 hours a week doing it yourself? You can simply use the Hoard system (www.hoardclients.com). The Hoard system will reduce 6 hours a week down to just 5 minutes.
With Hoard, you write your notes once. The system takes your handwritten notes, addresses and personalizes them, and sends them out for you. These notes are so authentic that even your own mother would think that you sat down and personally wrote it to her. And since it’s so easy to do, you can even send out more notes than you did before in less time!
While the handwritten system costs you pennies, you can utilize the Hoard system for nickels. Your time commitment? It really just depends on the amount of time you are willing to spend: 5 minutes vs. 6 hours. Either you invest the 6 hours in your practice or use the Hoard technology to explode your business. You have no excuse not to use this handwritten note system to double your business or increase 2,000% like I did going from $50,000 a year to over $1 million a year.
Simple instructions
Do it yourself:
- List of your target market with phone numbers
- 10 Creative postcards and or articles about such things as interesting facts, special days or months, funny little stories or a eye-catching picture on the front (see below)
- Pen
- Postage stamps
- Your offer (see One Time Mailing) and card for your 11th mailing. Your 11th mailing will be exactly like the mailing you utilized for the One Time Mailing technique we talked about previously with a few differences.
- This time when you send it out, your response rate will triple to over 10%!
- If you are motivated enough to call the other 90% you are going to find people that are very happy to talk to you!
Discuss
Comments
449 days ago Karen Downs wrote:
Good ideas. How long have you been doing this? It looks like you've had some success from the testimonials on the website. What do your clients say they see the most of - referrals or additional investments coming in or just clients they have been calling on finally coming around?
454 days ago BOB PIVAR wrote: