Bullet-proofing your lead generation

Hotkey transfer is nothing new and I’m sure most of you reading this will be fully aware of both its function and benefits.

However, I can’t help but ask myself why then aren’t more companies taking advantage of this highly effective and profitable service?

Hotkey transfer is very much the top end of the market, the next step forward in lead generation, some might say. When explaining its benefits to my clients, I often use the analogy of a funnel, where at the top you have a large volume of unqualified leads and as it gets narrower, the quality improves but the overall volume decreases. Hotkey transfer operates very much at the narrowest end of the funnel, providing companies with the strongest possible leads to convert into sales.

What differentiates this type of lead generation from other techniques is quality – or rather high quality. Instead of buying large volumes of unqualified leads and then working your way through the list to identify those prospects with an interest for your product, hotkey transfers only provide you with consumers that have expressed a positive desire/need for your product and wish to talk with an agent to find out more or to buy.

It really is a no brainer – you either pay the associated overhead costs and try to find the proverbial needle in a haystack yourself or you outsource this whole process and only pay for positive leads. In economically difficult times, what you’re effectively doing is bullet-proofing your lead generation strategy and taking the sting out of the whole process.

By only paying for leads that meet predetermined criteria, you ultimately remove the risk of your data not performing. I am not saying that you stop buying data – your own sales team is far better equipped to convert raw data into sales. But I would say use this in conjunction with your normal marketing process to see how it performs and if it can add more sales to the end of the monthly figures.

Paying only for positive leads in this way does not only reduce overheads, but since every lead has been qualified to the client’s own set criteria, conversion rates are dramatically improved and, as a result, such data commonly outperforms standard lists. Furthermore, companies’ own sales teams are the best placed people to sell their products. So why not give them the opportunity to convert the warmest available leads?

Naturally, the leads generated from hotkey transfer attract a premium due to the costs associated with generating and qualifying the lead and this can put off short-sighted clients. However, the benefits of higher conversion rates, improved ROI and increased sales far exceed the additional costs. As with all things, you get what you pay for.

It can work for almost any industry, sector, product or service, but in particular any product that is centred on a specific consumer need or niche market can especially benefit. It’s just about identifying the right audience, making sure you speak to the right people to start with and asking the right questions.

At the end of the day, most clients don’t just want volume, they want better qualified leads that convert at a higher level. It’s here that managing the whole lead generating process, from the point of interest through to point of sale, really begins to pay dividends. The list of benefits of hotkey transfers presents a compelling argument for its use, which I’m sure even the most sceptical clients would be hard pushed to find fault with.

By John Pooley, managing director, The Data Partnership