Questions for the lead gen people that work on commission...
 

So, I know a lot of small business owners, and most are scared or too financially strapped to put much money out ahead of the sale. They don't want to invest and then have something that doesn't work. Yeah, I know these aren't the most lucrative guys to work with, but they are people that I know and want to help. I could offer to do marketing for them for a percentage of any sales that they get, let's say 10%. I know that some on here use this model at times.

Here's my questions:

1. How do you track your leads? Even if the business owner is your friend and is honest, he or she may just be disorganized and you may not always get the real story on a lead that you submit.

2. What if your lead doesn't buy today, but buys thousands of dollars worth of work to their home in a few months? Do you get commission? How, again, would you track that?

This is where I get hung up. The upside to the commission model is that it is an easy sell for some, as the customer only pays if you bring them real value, and if you bring good leads your commissions could bring in more money than a lead based model. The downside is tracking, and the reliance on the business owner to be a good salesman and not waste your leads.

So, is anyone here successful with this model. I love small business, have been in it myself for many years, and these are my people. I'd love to help them, even if it doesn't make me rich, as long as I can find ways to make it worthwhile. I know that many here are driven to search out those with the most money or margins, but I'm kind of driven toward the people I know because I'm one of them.

Re: Questions for the lead gen people that work on commission...
 

No way would I go the commission route. There is just no way to really track the leads you generated that bought and the commission due to you. It would have to be on the honor system with the "keeping up with it" falling 100% on the shoulders of the client.

Getting paid for leads I generate? That is easy. We make allowances for wrong numbers, etc by not charging for calls lasting less than 20 seconds.

Yeah, I know you can potentially make more by going the commission route but in God we trust... all others pay cash.

Re: Questions for the lead gen people that work on commission...
 

This has been a source of pain for offline commission-based marketers for some time now. The first big name to do this successfully will have their foot in a big door - in fact there are a few companies rolling systems out right now and we'll see in time if they stand the test of time.

The basic premise is to use a mix of an api along with a unique identifier (credit cards are the most ideal because most ppl have them). This way you get the lead, give some incentive to use a particular business (discount/reward), and you get notification when the card is used via api. There will be many companies who use this model in the near future, and I'm sure one or two will emerge as leaders.

Re: Questions for the lead gen people that work on commission...
 

Hilarious! Love that line...lmbo.

Re: Questions for the lead gen people that work on commission...
 

Hi there,

You haven't said whether you're getting a commission per lead, or per sale.

Per lead is pretty easy to track - use specific phone numbers using Kall8 or some service like that.

Per sale requires a special price, or code for your leads and is harder to track, but maybe you could come up with a premium to add to the sale - a free report/manual/something. When buyers call they'll want the free widget and you could track that way.

Good luck with it!

Best

Sasha.

Re: Questions for the lead gen people that work on commission...
 

In addition to tracking difficulties, I don't want my income affected by a business owner/salesman's ability (or inability) to close.

I do lead generation for 6 locations of a nationwide company. I use the exact same method for generating leads in each of the 6 cities. Four of the locations think my leads are great, one thinks they're OK, and one thinks their poor and are considering dropping the program.

Since I generate all the leads in exactly the same fashion for the same business, I believe the difference in their point of views is their ability to close. My guess is the four that love my leads have good closers. The other two...not so much. I'd hate to have my income tied to their performance.

Re: Questions for the lead gen people that work on commission...
 

Hey man, that is the holy grail. Bridging online and offline.

It used to be groupon, but that whole coupon thing is loser marketing.

One day though .. when every smart phone on the planet have some chip, which a customer only have to swipe their phone to make a purchase. That is trackable.

Re: Questions for the lead gen people that work on commission...
 

Customers will NEVER let you know 100% of what is going on with their business; not even the ones who trust you fully. Something about human nature. They will change things on you, screw things up and then come back and say shame-facedly "Oops, I did this and it didn't work out...can you fix it?"

Now go back to the selling situation. If your clients don't tell you the truth, what can you expect from a prospect?