INSIGHT
LEADS ARE DEAD...
LONG LIVE LEADS
The outdated ways the financials industry still thinks about leads are holding it back from creating the
right tools for the right prospects and ushering in a new era of online marketing, argues Ran Cohen,
founder and CEO of FX Leads and Traders Education.
LET ME BE CLEAR, this article isn’t
about lead generation, at least not in the
conventional sense. It’s not about some
vague cloud of would-be conversions
that your business has to track down and
exhaust. Lately the word “lead” has been
overused into meaninglessness, which is
why I’m having to start this article with
what it’s not about. Basically, if you paid a
dollar for it, then it’s probably not the kind
of lead I’m talking about.
Maybe what marketeers refer to as a
“qualified lead” is what I’m referring to
here. But then again, what makes a lead
qualified for Business A may not hold
true for Business B. The issue seems to
be that there’s no “basis grade” for a
lead’s quality as there is in commodities
trading. If I tried to sell you a phone
directory dressed up as 100,000 quality
broker never takes place. It’s these leads
that I’m interested in. Why do they fail
to convert? Maybe all she really wanted
was to read the ebook you were pushing
and her interest ended there. Perhaps your
heavy handed salesperson who called him
27 seconds after he pressed “sign me up”,
scared him off. Who knows, there are many
things your business can get wrong after
having gained a lead’s attention. My point
is that having a perfectly willing prospect
is not enough, you must also have ways
of quickly understanding what he or she
wants from you.
Know your traffic sources
Paying attention to the origin of your
traffic is one of the easiest ways to start
understanding your leads, especially if
you’re tracking how they relate to your
“Contrary to popular belief, your primo, top-drawer, all-star,
V.I.P leads, are always the ones that you’ve already somehow
connected with”
leads, you’d be justified in having me
thrown out of your office, right? Well,
each day businesses waste time and
money collecting and pursuing leads that
are every bit as useless to them as that
phone directory.
So, what makes a quality lead?
Well, broadly speaking, in our industry
a lead of quality can be described a