FirstExact Blog

I am positioning FirstExact more and more as a lead generation company rather than a marketing company.  What I do isn’t about brand building, or spending money on pretty website and banner ads- it’s about working with companies to help them understand the value of a customer, to work out their conversion metrics, and by doing so to show them the value of their lead sources.  Then we build a plan to produce leads, and to monitor lead flow/quality and most importantly ROI.  The fact that I know PPC, or SEO, or web usability is pretty irrelevant- those are tools which enable me to help customers receive more leads at an acceptable cost, and to convert those leads into sales.

Recently I’ve experimented with online lead generation companies, to see what value these guys offer over and above other sources of leads.  There are a few of these around- most notably buyguideonline and approved index.  Having tried both and received a number of leads, I think I’m in a pretty good position to share my thoughts on them and the market in general.

The way these lead companies work is that they advertise through a mixture of pay per click and SEO, and offer the searcher the benefit of getting a number of quotes from companies without having to contact them individually.  They then charge the supplier companies per lead.  Note I say ‘companies’- the way they make their money is by selling the same lead out multiple times- usually between 4 and 6.  Initially this looks like easy money for the lead company- all they have to do is bid on adwords to rank higher than the suppliers, take the lead, and then sell it out 6 times at £35 a lead.  They will always be able to bid higher than the end suppliers as they are receiving 6x the lead cost back.   And this money is taken regardless of whether any of the suppliers actually convert the lead.

In this way, it’s a competitor to good old cold calling, or other direct methods of lead generation, and I was really keen to find out how it all worked. I signed up first with Approved Index, and they sent me leads straight away, at a cost of £28 a time.  The lead quality at the time seemed pretty high, though every time I called a prospect I was informed that many other companies had called already.  However, I didn’t convert any prospects I paid for during my time with Approved Index, and I put this down to not having had a clear tactical plan for these leads, which do differ from average cold call leads or phone-ins.  Having spoken to some of the prospects again later on, it seems as though some providers really have honed a great process to close these leads, and I realised that if I was to use Approved Index again I would have to work out how best to do this if I was to win any deals.  As a footnote, I phoned all of the leads again a year later to see how things had gone for them- the majority of the companies had gone out of business, two still hadn’t made a decision, and only 0one was very happy with the deal they’d agreed (this was the guy who told me I had come second at the proposal stage- maddening!)

More recently I tried buyguideonline.  These guys are the other big players in the market, and are quite organised in their own approach to getting suppliers on board, offering a free trial, a lead rejection guarantee for low quality leads, and sneakily sending through leads with the details blanked out in order to get you to sign up.  The sign up process is complex and their admin system is out of the ark, which makes the whole setting up process pretty painful.  They are adamant that for quality purposes you have to add at least a logo and a case study to their site.  I was told my logo was in the wrong format, then the wrong size, and I started to lose interest pretty quickly.  An email to my account manager telling him I was thinking of jumping ship and suddenly leads started to arrive without me having to do anything.  Unfortunately their minimum lead flow per week was 10, and this was way over what I needed to test their system, so 5 or 6 leads in I asked them to pause the account.  After a few more leads came through they did this, but then I was locked out of the account completely so couldn’t see the leads at all.  Once I was allowed back in, and followed up the leads, I found them of very variable quality.  The main problem was that for online marketing, their budget categories do not take into account ad spend vs management fees.  What this meant was that I was receiving leads with a budget of £250-£500 a month, but when I phoned it was clear that this was their entire budget, it always tended to be at the £250 end rather than £500, and that there was little scope for any service charges, let alone any profit.  And for this I was paying £35 a lead.  After phoning the leads, it was clear that these leads were very low value, many were of no use at all, and almost all were disappointing.  However, I did sign up one company on a £300 a month 3 month deal, the profit from which was enough (just) to cover the cost of the other leads.  I also found out from this company and another I went to see that they had originally phoned up for telemarketing, and it was then I realised that not only were the lead company selling leads 4, 5, or 6x to different suppliers, but they were upselling and cross selling on the phone.  What this meant was that a 6x sold lead could be sold 12x, and for the unfortunate company who was pitching for the secondary need, it was likely that a less warm welcome was assured.  In fact when I went to visit a law firm in London who had come through as a lead, they hadn’t been motivated to want online marketing at all- they were after IT support, and had mentioned online marketing in passing- a fact I only found out after travelling to see them.

Eventually, I complained about the quality of the leads, and having heard nothing back, I emailed the MD of Buyguideonline.  He called me back, and we had a long conversation, after which I received a credit for most of the leads.  After having spoken to him I understand that the leads go through a rigorous process of validation, during which they are contacted personally and spoken to for some time- mostly to weed out competitors and no hopers.  The MD seemed passionate about lead quality, but I couldn’t help thinking that his belief was quite being channeled in the actual phone calls made by the foot soldiers.  I’d certainly like to be able to have listened in to some of the leads I was given.

Overall I think these lead companies suffer from not really understanding requirement from media companies where adspend is distinct from management and consultancy fees, and they should find this out early in the lead qualification process.  If nothing else, buyguideonline would do well to have a category of leads with above £500 a month to spend (to be fair they do have a higher category but it’s way above this figure, and each lead costs a lot more).  It’s a shame how it works now, because there are some real gems worth fighting for hidden among the no hopers, deat-beats, and people wanting something for nothing.

I make no secret of the fact that I’m physically addicted to web access.  Even when away out of the country the first thing I ask in any hotel is the availability of internet access.  Who cares about the minibar if I can’t get a line out.  I’ve administered adwords campaigns in Jordan, have managed web builds while in Israel, and recently spent the whole day moving around the Castro area of San Francisco in contact search of new and better web (hint, the cool San Francisco web cafe thing is a myth).  At home I find it difficult to even leave the house without knowing I’m still online, and my blackberry has for a long time been my constant companion.  You won’t be surprised therefore to know that I was an early adapter of mobile broadband, and have continued to subscribe from those early days of 3g datacards, to 3g dongles, and now an internal 3g modem in my netbook.  I started on O2 3g (slow), t-mobile HSDPA (very fast) and am now on Vodafone (somewhere in the middle).  Speeds have definitely dropped, but I put this down to living away from a city centre, and the massive takeup of mobile broadband in general, which I know is causing bandwidth issues, especially with o2 and the Iphone. I’ve now moved to a little village just outside Bath, and I’ve experienced another drop in service, due possibly to the fact that Bath is in a big valley, and the village I live in “will never have 3g” (vodafone’s words).  I’m cool with that- the point of mobile broadband isn’t to use it at home but when I’m out and about.  But now I’ve come to the end of my contract with Vodafone I’m looking around at what’s available.  There’s a couple of new issues to consider- firstly I have an Ipod touch, on which I’d like to be able to use the web stuff while out and about- I don’t want an Iphone as I love my Blackbery Bold too much, but the Ipod touch is great, and would be even better if I could use it as a mini iphone while out and about.  That leads me to the idea of a Mifi, which is something 3 offers, consisting of a special modem and a SIM, which combine to create a mini wifi hotspot.  This means that I could connect my laptop and my Ipod touch to the web at the same time when out, all good if say I’m on the train.  The downside is that it’s another bit of kit to carry around and charge, and it’s £60 to buy the unit itself unless I sign up to some long contract.

So It comes down to whether the Mifi is a game-winner, and cost.  On the normal (non-mifi) deals Vodafone are offering me £9 a month to keep on with their deal after the contract runs out, which is 5gb- far more than I use.  O2 works out at about £6 a month with cashback, and t-mobile and Orange don’t look that great at all.   Both of these come with a long contract though, and I’m starting to think I would be better going PAYG, as I only use the service when out and about, in London or on the train.  The 3 PAYG Mifi deal is looking better and better- £49.99 for the modem and then I can top up to get online, though topups only last 30 days.  3 also do a package with 3 months prepaid web, for £69.99, so that works out at £6.66 a month for 1gb usage, and after that time you pay £10 per GB.  3 also did very well in the Register mobile broadband shootout, so I feel a little more confident changing from Vodafone.

Outcome- I think I’m going to cancel Vodafone, and go with the 3 prepaid MIFI deal- another gadget to charge and carry around, but it will work with my laptop and my Ipod touch, and save me money- even at full price it’s £10 a month, and I currently spend £30.

This guy is truly a legend. If you’ve ever found it tough working on your own, and wondered why you aren’t growing your business, you’d do a lot better listening to what Brad has to say. He’s pretty full-on at the best of times (he’s clearly struggling to keep a lid on it during this interview), but he speaks with experience about being great at something and finding it tough to tell the world.  Unlike most business gurus he’s lived what he preaches – most notably he reached rock bottom in his business when he had to take a part time job as a pizza delivery boy just to pay the bills- all and because he couldn’t find a way to share his talents with the world.

Eventually he started 4networking, which is a business networking group with a difference- each group meets together as one and then breaks into a series of 1 to 1 groups; each of which acts as a 10 minute mini appointments. Suddenly he solved the whole problem of having people to meet with and to share his skills and passion for business with- now with 3 mini appointments per breakfast, and with hundreds of groups around the country it’s possible to spend your whole week meeting new people before the working day has even started.

Brad has lived his vision- as his groups have grown, he still tours the country for breakfast, still meets with people for 10 minute meetings, and even carries a pizza box with him to every meeting simply to remind himself of where he was and how far he’s come. Brad’s pretty full on, sometimes confrontational, always outspoken, but if you are a small business owner struggling to tell the world what you are brilliant at then you need to listen to what he says.

And about time too.  In a world of Twitter, Facebook and good old face to face networking, it’s time to go back to basics and restart the FirstExact blog.  I have lost count of the number of times I have wanted to blog about all manner of web and marketing related happenings, and each time I’ve had nowhere to do it.  I am known as being someone who is enormously well-read on all things web tech and web marketing, so I think a blog can create real value for its readers.  And there’s a strategic driver too- I find that in this new world of shifting search results, seemingly daily Adwords policy changes and confusion about the role of social media, companies are still being sold ‘an SEO campaign’ or ‘a PPC campaign’ when I firmly believe that when executed in isolation these tactics are misguided at best, and at worst potentially disastrous.  By sticking to my firm beliefs I have lost a number of deals over the past few months, and I think that this is due to misinformation- and that can be rectified by sharing what I know, and proving that things are changing fast, and someone like me coordinating and executing a strategic plan is a far better use of budget than throwing money at SEO or PPC.

Keep watching the site- bookmark or make use of the RSS feed- even if you never intend to make use of my services then you will be able to take away what I’ve found and how I feel about these emerging trends, changing policies and industry news

Tom