How To Choose a Lead Generation Company

Mar 25, 2010

Wes Schaeffer

Lead Generation Marketing Automation

How To Choose a Lead Generation Company

You may have asked yourself this question and never gotten an answer:

What are the key factors to consider in choosing a lead generation partner for technology leads. We are an IT services company aiming at the SME market. We have heard many horror stories of relationships that do not work out?!"

Lead generation, marketing, prospecting...whatever name you give it, this is the most important thing a business owner must do to grow the business.

To get granular for a moment I would say that a business owner's job is to market, a sales manager's job is to recruit and a salesperson's job is to prospect.

The better the business owner is a marketing the easier the recruiting and prospecting, but those are topics for another message.

Back to the lead generation question. This is how I answered:

This can really open Pandora's Box.

What is your budget?
What is your time line and time horizon? By that I mean are you looking for a "quick fix" that can be generated with a direct mail and/or PPC / SEM campaign and/or are you looking to develop a more organic/holistic approach via SEO, webinars, seminars, etc?
How much are you willing to do in qualifying the leads? Do you want a firm to make outbound calls for you and turn over warm leads to you or do you want them to make calls and then direct the prospect to a website where they sign up for a free whitepaper or report and then they are put into a drip campaign that coordinates a multi-media, multi-step approach to nurturing them along?

I can't think of an outsourced telemarketing firm that has lasted long term with any of the firms I've ever worked with so be tough when you interview a so-called lead-gen company.

Ask if they charge by the hour, by the call, by the appointment or by revenue generated.

Ask and verify their referrals and testimonials.

Make sure they have a track record both in your industry and with firms your size and even in your part of the country if you are not national.

Ask them how their success has been in the last 12 months since this recession really took hold. (We're seeing who has good business models and leadership in place now that people aren't spending like drunken politicians...er...I mean, sailors, these days.)
Ask them if they provide any type of trial period or even money-back guarantee.

And prepare all of these questions ahead of time and have them written down before you go in to negotiate.

Then put on your sales manager's hat and "recruit!" By that I mean retain two or even three of them and have them start at the same time and see who performs the best. After a week fire the worst one. After the second week keep the best one and then recruit another.

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