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The Absolutely BEST lead generator bar NONE

by Rus Sells
32 replies
Your local yellow pages.

Now get to it!
#absolutely #bar #generator #lead
  • Profile picture of the author Jeremy James
    Absolutely!
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  • Profile picture of the author shivon
    So many people toss the yellow pages to the side. Instead of utilizing this as a marketing tool. That's right Rus is always on point.
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  • Profile picture of the author TimCastleman
    Originally Posted by Rus Sells View Post

    Your local yellow pages.

    Now get to it!

    Rus -

    In other news ... water is wet.

    Look the yellow pages are awesome - they are by far the best free lead tactic but not the only one you can use.

    TV
    Radio
    Newspaper
    Craigslist
    Online advertising
    PPC
    Google Places

    All of those are free and you can use them to find and contact clients.

    Speaking of which - off to a meeting.
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  • Profile picture of the author AidenChong
    Now if you're already providing any other online services, there's an easy way to get your existing clients to be your "LEADS" and then make that client into a returning customer too!

    Existing online clients! (if you already have one)

    It's just an easy way to get offline B&M clients. Much more easier than doing SEO (I hate it as much as I hate cow dung!)...

    I've just type that entry in here: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ine-world.html

    Aiden Chong
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan Shaw
    yes; look for companys SPENDING money on ads!
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    • Profile picture of the author redlegrich
      Those coupons you get from Valpak and other are useful as well. You will find many of the coupon advertisers have either a crappy website and/or are poorly ranked for search results (mostly and, seldom or). And like the Yellow Pages, they are spending money on advertising to generate leads.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    The great thing about Yellow pages that I never thought of!

    A guy I am coaching in face 2 face sales decided to take the Yellow Pages and walk into the owners establishment and show them their ad and how worthless it is! LOL It worked great for him as the ice breaker!
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    • Profile picture of the author shopjohn
      In using the YP for leads, do you generally follow the premise of the bigger the ad is, the more likely to become a client? In other words, do you just target 1-page and 1/2-page ads?
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      • Profile picture of the author 4morereferrals
        Rus -

        In other news ... water is wet.
        LOL @ Russ ...

        Anyone get a license # on that bus?
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  • Profile picture of the author Dexx
    Personally, I'd say "The Absolutely BEST lead generator bar NONE" would be your warm market of contacts. (I've found this to be the case at least, including one of my friends telling his chiropractor about me, and now I might be speaking to a workshop of chiros as a result!)

    But once that is either exhausted, or not available, then sure Yellow Pages is up there (though really any source of paid advertising would work for generating leads...basically find businesses wasting money on ineffective advertising and approach them with a profitable solution)

    But ya...either way...moral of the story "finding leads isn't hard, so get out there!" haha!

    Cheers,

    ~Dexx
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  • Profile picture of the author peter.max
    YP is lying on my desk. Agreed, best lead resource ever. I would like to share how I picked up a new (large) financial services client last week.

    I met one of the partners of a financial services business at a school function (aka concert) a while ago and we got chatting and eventually exchanged business cards. I posted on a forum earlier last week on how to get into Fin Services companies by helping set a training auto responder series on new products. They then promote the training to their existing customers through their newsletter (easier to sell to existing customers).

    I thought of this partner on Friday and here is the short email I sent him:
    Hi Brad

    How's your Friday? I am busy with a newsletter for our existing clients at the moment. Do you do one for your existing clients? If so, will you include me in it.

    Cheers

    Peter
    Here is his reply a little later

    Hi Peter

    Unfortunately we do not send exisiting clients a newsletter.

    Ill give you a buz zlater to discuss

    Cheers
    Brad
    The typos are his as well

    Saw him earlier today and signed them up to help with a range services starting with their Newsletter and lead generation.

    BTW I use the attached Mindmap to give them a roadmap of services that they should consider over time. I don't show the whole map, but expand it as the discussion progress
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    • Profile picture of the author SusieJones
      Hi,

      I found another great source of leads in the "I;m Local" directory - they are already paying for advertising that is being dropped in a mail box - online is the next step.

      I have a cunning plan to help them "step up"......but will have to test it first before speaking.
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    • Profile picture of the author teaball
      Originally Posted by peter.max View Post

      YP is lying on my desk. Agreed, best lead resource ever. I would like to share how I picked up a new (large) financial services client last week.

      I met one of the partners of a financial services business at a school function (aka concert) a while ago and we got chatting and eventually exchanged business cards. I posted on a forum earlier last week on how to get into Fin Services companies by helping set a training auto responder series on new products. They then promote the training to their existing customers through their newsletter (easier to sell to existing customers).

      I thought of this partner on Friday and here is the short email I sent him:


      Here is his reply a little later



      The typos are his as well

      Saw him earlier today and signed them up to help with a range services starting with their Newsletter and lead generation.

      BTW I use the attached Mindmap to give them a roadmap of services that they should consider over time. I don't show the whole map, but expand it as the discussion progress

      Grrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeaaaattttttttttt mind map !

      Now if people will just work on its sections one at a time, they'll have customers for life.

      Great GIFT to those who will use it.

      Thanks

      TB
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Lee
    What a true statement... I just realized that I didn't get one this year!
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  • Profile picture of the author vatonyt
    Bottom line is companies that spend money on advertising advertise. Any local company you see in any advertisements are spending money.
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  • Profile picture of the author BrainCopy
    If I'm not mistaken, there is actually a yellow pages scraper that
    scrapes business leads. Just choose your market or what not and
    BAM! you got yourself some good leads.

    Best Regards,
    Anthony La Tour
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    • Profile picture of the author SusieJones
      Thank you for this idea - I will check it out next.

      The new YP came yesterday - and even though I felt "dirty" opening the plastic cover, I have discovered that of the first 7 of the businesses on this "brand new business list" only one is in the print yellow pages and only one has a web site. So my first move is to send a snail mail Ted Nichols style letter to them about the state of things. Including what has been said in the article mentioned above.

      I have a 7 part series mail out - as these are brand new businesses I am hoping to get them while they are still keen and hungry!

      Your suggestions have been fabulous - thank you all.
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  • Profile picture of the author J. R. Hendrix
    Search for online classified ad sites for the local area your business is in.
    If they are already advertising there, then they probably have a need for your services...
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    • Profile picture of the author David_Preston
      I've always said the yellow pages only work for us!

      I started out looking for websites listed in the ads
      and well, you know the rest.

      I also hit Google and look under an industry and my city
      to see who is spending on the ppc ads. Those are a great
      target market as they are already spending $$$$ on the net :-)

      Hope that helps some...

      David
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  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    Yeah, with each passing day that 77% of adults is going to diminish. As the baby boomer get older and the younger generation moves into being a more mainstream consumer the yellow pages will eventually be just another thing to stand on to reach the glasses in the cupboard.

    My point is that once can take the yellow pages to find leads and then use the prospects print ad to make your point with them present.
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    • Profile picture of the author cscarpero
      Yes, I'm using the phone book to build my "top 100" list right now as a matter of fact. I did the following:

      Wrote down everyone who has a display ads
      Wrote down who has ppc ads
      Wrote down who has the sponsored links in yp.com

      Interestingly, I'm finding that the good ol 80-20 rule applies to advertisers. About 20% of all businesses are spending any real money. This seems to apply across multiple niches.

      Also, interestingly, I'm finding when I look at the newspaper, local sports arena, billboards, etc, its the VERY SAME businesses that I've already identified. Crazy, isn't it?

      Speaking of the phone book, there was a great article today in the local paper about the white pages going away. You can read it here:

      Phone book is history?


      Here's my favorite part of the article...

      Telephone companies argue that most consumers now check the Internet
      ...rather than flip through pages when they want to reach out and touch
      someone.

      Note from me: Ouch!

      Gotta love this quote below in the article..

      "Anybody who doesn't have access to some kind of online way to
      look things up now is probably too old to be able to read the print in
      the white pages anyway," joked Robert Thompson, a pop culture professor
      at Syracuse University.
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      I'm an online marketer and mortgage loan officer.

      Connect with me at www.Scarpero.com

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  • Profile picture of the author WebmasterX
    How much is the going rate for helping an offline business rank #1 for their desired keyphrases? I have great success in doing this for myself but not sure if others will pay what I would want for the service.

    Cheers
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    • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
      The yellow pages is a great source of leads and you should use every source at your disposal...especially when you're starting out.

      The more business owners you speak to and the more time you invest speaking to them the more skills you'll develop and the more likely it is that you'll get hired.

      But I wouldn't just focus on the yellow pages. Look at other avenues as well.

      Everyone is in a different city or town with a different set of skills and background and it's difficult to predict exactly what strategy or action will work for you.

      If you do enough you will get some results and you'll be able to refine what you're doing.

      Generally speaking the the best source of highly qualified leads who are most likely to become paying clients is referrals...especially referrals from other business owners.

      Kindest regards,
      Andrew Cavanagh
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      Old School Copy Like This Is BACK & Converting Like Crazy!
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  • Profile picture of the author mclpro
    well yellow pages is pretty aggressive in calling themselves the best, i'd really doubt they are the best with ALL THE MARKETING MEANS OUT THERE!
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    Dan Verhaeghe
    Marketing Specialist
    McLoughlin Promotions
    http://www.mcloughlin.ca/insights
     http://www.twitter.com/mclpro

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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    Exactly Russ. What do I already have that I can leverage? Everyone has a phone book, and its perfect. You want to reach biz owners right? The kind who want to advertise?

    Excellent Post! You have said so much with so few words.
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    • Profile picture of the author SusieJones
      I used the phone book to see which businesses had a banner ad but no website and compared that with a list I have to see if I had more contact info - I sent out 10 snail mail letters last week (the 18th) - one page - balanced white space to 5 new businesses (off a different list) and 5 out of the yellow pages as a test - I just received a phone call from one of the businesses - no website and wants help! Yay - 10% is a great start !

      I think it is a matter of trying everything - article marketing, yellow pages, videos, content, etc. that way if one area falters you are backed up in other areas - then you can see the shift and make changes to accomodate the shift - sort of like sailing!
      Thank you for your input.
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      • Profile picture of the author cscarpero
        Here's another great lead generator I've found for web design. In my local paper, they have a "service directory," which are little tiny display ads all on one page. It's all little mom and pop businesses, usually doing things like moving, roofing and other services. Very few of them have websites. I simply called them up and said, "Hey I saw your ad in the local paper, but I noticed that you don't have a website. Have you ever thought about getting one?"

        The great thing is I either got voice mail or the owner. No secretaries!

        Took me a couple hours to call the whole directory and I generated 8 leads.
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        I'm an online marketer and mortgage loan officer.

        Connect with me at www.Scarpero.com

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  • Profile picture of the author Pointer
    Yes, the Yellow Pages are great because the ads aren't cheap. Targeting businesses who are actively spending money there greatly qualifies them as potential prospects. Go after the businesses who are already spending money, and forget about the others.

    My wife laughs at me when I take the Yellow Pages to my office. She says no one uses them, but I tell her that's the point- businesses are still spending money to advertise in them!
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  • Profile picture of the author fvandy
    Great advice. Dont forget about clients spending money on Adwords.
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