Merchant Services Leads are Overrated

Yesterday after I sent out my article about lead nurturing to promote my Live Event, a sales professional emailed me asking from whom I would recommend purchasing hot leads.  I told him he could hire a telemarketer, and I also mentioned EquiLeads.com

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He had already used EquiLeads.com in an attempt to purchase merchant services leads and said he had been burned by them because the quality of their leads was terrible. I then spent a moment trying to think of an alternative to send him and had nothing! Keep in mind that I have personally spoken with thousands of sales reps in the merchant services industry; I am in regular contact with executives from the largest processing companies; and I don’t know of a single lead source to recommend to a fellow industry professional! What does that tell you about the quality of leads?

Everyone has frustrations with his or her job.  My biggest frustration for the last four years working with sales people has been this issue.  I know exactly how a sales professional can succeed.  I have tested my strategy in markets all over the U.S., and it seems to have a success rate of close to 100%.  Why is this so frustrating?  Because if I talk to twenty reps today, only ten of them will agree to implement this strategy And out of those ten only one of them will actually do it for sixty days straight.  The truly amazing thing is that one rep will invariably make fifteen to twenty sales per month while implementing this strategy. When I call to ask what he or she is doing and how he or she is accomplishing this incredible success, the surprised response is,  “I’m just using that strategy you told me about on our coaching call, and it works.”

Merchant Services Leads are overrated for one simple reason.  You can create better leads than you would purchase, and to do so doesn’t take you that long.  Let me see if I can sell you on my strategy by presenting it as an advertisement for a job.  Ask yourself if you would take this job.

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Wanted:  self-motivated sales professional willing to spend four hours per day prospecting for new business and another three to six hours per day following-up with clients and prospects.  This job pays $3,000 to $6,000 per month for the first six months and then increases by $400 per month.  After working this job for twelve months, you have a severance package worth $100,000, or you can continue receiving $3,000 per month indefinitely by working five hours per week to keep your customers happy.

Job Requirements:

#1 – You must walk into twenty businesses per working day where you have not yet met the owner.

#2 – Work starts no later than 9 a.m. and does not end until after 5 p.m.

#3 – You have ten vacation days per year and five sick days.

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Would you take this job? If you answered yes, YOU’RE HIRED!  YOU START TOMORROW!

The average merchant services sale pays out $200 to $300 in up-front compensation and $30 to $40 per month in residuals.  If you walk into twenty businesses every day five days per week, you will make ten to twenty sales per month.  That is how I came up with the compensation numbers.

Stop spending your days researching how to purchase the best lead list.  It is a waste of time and an even bigger waste of money.  Unless you have inbound leads from your own online presence, the leads will be highly overrated!

The best and quickest way to generate high quality leads is to get out in the field, walk into twenty businesses per day (which takes about three hours per day), and organize them into a CRM for two purposes.  First of all, you want to establish a “Next Action Step” for each prospect you enter so you can effectively follow-up.  Secondly, collect as many email addresses as possible and put them into a series of drip marketing campaigns so you never lose contact completely.  After twelve months of doing this, you will have well over 1,000 email subscribers and will spend your days talking to people you know are interested because of the way in which they interacted with your online presence. These are real leads!!!! And, as long as you are willing to put in the work, they are 100% free!

Have a great day in the field!

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