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[P132]Pay Per Lead Program

by Robert Williams, Rob

With this, affiliates earn commissions for every lead they send to a business or business owner. This can be advantageous to both the business and the affiliate.

Affiliates can bring in targeted leads already familiar with the products or services being offered. This may of course lead to more prospects buying the product and can also increase in sales.

If the business uses a pay per lead program, affiliates are paid for every lead they send, whether the lead becomes a sale or not. If leads that come in are not particularly profitable, this could make the business lose money.

There are some ways one can prevent this from happening. One way is to implement an invitation-only program. With an invitation-only program, the affiliate manager would look over the affiliate list he or she has and would then review each affiliates blog or website to see if he or she is reaching the desired target market.

After the affiliate manager reviews each website, he or she may choose an affiliate or several to send an e-mail to if the affiliate is thought to be a quality representative and producer. The affiliate is then sent an e-mail with a link that would allow him or her to sign up for the program.

Another way to do an affiliate participation program is to have leads cover the cost of the affiliate commissions. Most people would be perfectly amenable to paying small fees for information programs. These fees would then cover the cost of affiliate commission.

As an example, if someone who is marketing on the Internet launches a new information product, he or she may decide to hold an information teleseminar and then would charge participants each a dollar to attend. The person running the teleseminar may also record it as an MP3 and then allow participants to download and listen to it later. This is especially valuable because it allows those not attending the seminar to listen to it, and may therefore increase the seminar's perceived value.

An Internet marketer can also easily increase interest in a teleseminar by allowing affiliates to promote the call with 100% commission for everyone who signs up. This creates a win-win situation for the Internet marketer. Affiliates are very happy to earn a dollar for each lead, while the Internet marketer creates a mailing list of legitimate and interested targets for the launch of the new product or service.

America's annuity agents have spoken. LeadZILLA, a direct mail annuity lead program offered by Life Sales, wins the Readers? Choice Award in a survey of independent annuity producers polled by Senior Market Advisor Magazine. The votes are in, but after mailing out 44,800 pieces in 224 separate drops, do I see LeadZILLA as king of the jungle or a big bag of gas?

No doubt I was thrilled to read about LeadZILLA taking top honors for best direct mail annuity lead program in the Senior Market Advisor Readers? Choice Awards. After all, I am a principal AFMO in the marketing organization, Life Sales, the lead program's proprietor. And knowing the votes were cast by independent annuity agents nationwide made the victory even sweeter. But having invested thousands of my own dollars into LeadZILLA to generate leads for my own general agents to use, I've learned a few lessons along the way.

The numbers speak for themselves. My first mail drop was on September 23, 2005 and, as of this writing, I have used LeadZILLA continuously for the past fourteen months. I have mailed out 44,800 pieces in 224 drops and received 1,295 direct response cards back in the mail. This is a response rate of 2.89% and an average of 5.77 lead cards for each 200 piece drop.

Life Sales boasts an average of 6 lead cards returned for every 200-piece drop. My average of 5.77 cards is close enough that I'm not going to whine over the .23% difference. As we in the insurance industry know, pools of statistics paint with a broad brush. I've seen return rates ranging from zero cards back to 20 back, each from 200 pieces mailed out. Individual return rates are one of those mysteries of life, but I always advise my agents to select zip codes on the outskirts of town and away from affluent neighborhoods.

The good news is that LeadZILLA is part of Life Sales? Marketing Allowance Program (MAP), which makes it free with production. For every (roughly) $40,000 in annuity premium issued by one of its four carriers ? Allianz, American Equity, Sun Life Financial, and ING ? Life Sales gives the agent a 200-piece mail drop. On average, each piece of business leads to six additional hot prospects, which in turn leads to more business and more prospects in a self-perpetuating cycle.

But this cycle is quickly broken when the agent tries to take the lazy way out. Do not (I repeat, DO NOT!) destroy a perfectly good direct response lead by picking up the telephone and becoming a cold-call telemarketer. You'll be lucky to set an appointment with one in six prospects, and you'll quickly join the ranks of the 90% of insurance agents who fail. Instead, route out your cards, get in your car and spend an afternoon using the Drop-By System.

Here are the steps to remember with the Drop-By System. Park your car directly in front of your prospect's home or in their driveway. Leave the engine running and the door open. Get out of your car, turn and wave at the front window as if someone saw you drive up. (In case someone did see you drive up, they're busted!) Knock on the door and stand sideways a few feet away. When your prospect comes to the door, glance at your watch and say, ?Hello, may I speak with Mr./Mrs. (Name on card)? I'm (Your name) and I only have a minute, but I was passing by your street and thought I might stop by to set up an appointment to go over this information you requested (show them the lead card they filled out and signed). Is Thursday morning at 10 good, or is Friday morning at 9 better?? Let the conversation go where it will. Some of my biggest annuity sales started out discussing Mr. and Mrs. Prospect's cat.

They can't very well hang up on you. They can, however, see that you are a living human being with ?evidence? in your hand, a smile on your face, and a simple duty to fulfill their request for information. You'll set appointments with four out of six prospects. What's more, when you return for the appointment you won't be a stranger. Odds are you'll leave with deal in hand.

Call me for more information. LeadZILLA is, after all, one of the best direct mail annuity lead programs I have used in my decades of direct sales. Popular vote says it's the best. Who would argue with the king of the jungle?

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Both Robert Williams & Gary Le Mon are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Robert Williams has sinced written about articles on various topics from Web Development, Affiliate Programs and Fundraising. Robert Paul Williams is the Editor of Work At Website. Come Visit Often To Stay Informed of the Latest. Robert Williams's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.

Gary Le Mon has sinced written about articles on various topics from Flea Pest Control, Life Insurance Annuity and Sales and Negotiation. Gary Le Mon is a wholesale distributor of fixed indexed annuities for Allianz, American Equity, Sun Life Financial, and ING.. Gary Le Mon's top article generates over 60500 views. to your Favourites.