We've all seen the offers in the various affiliate networks for lead generation. A lot of companies pay, and pay nicely, for a qualified lead. I'm sure a few of you reading this are using this method to put money in your pocket every day. But there is a lot of money to be made if you expand outside of the affiliate networks.
Ever considered generating qualified leads online for resale to an offline company? I can tell you that this can be very profitable! This takes a lot more work and you will definitely need some salesmanship, but if you are able to build this type of relationship with a company than you can turn a very nice profit!
How does it work? Well let's look at an imaginary example...
Say you meet a dentist who is looking to improve his client base. He know he can find customers online but has no clue how to go about it. He obviously has no clue how to generate qualified leads online and doesn't have the time, or desire, to start learning how. How can you help?
Well, since you are an internet marketer you will be able to bring your skill set to the table and start providing qualified leads for a fee. You can usually get a much nicer payout than on the affiliate networks but the downside is that the dentist probably doesn't have the money off hand to pay you for as many leads as you can bring to the table.
Any company that has a sales and marketing department. Any company with an established sales department will usually pay for qualified leads. You can also focus on individual sales people themselves, for example an insurance salesman. You can charge per lead or go for some sort of revenue sharing. There are many options and they will depend on the company, people you deal with, profit potential, conversion rates, average sale amount, etc.
You will have to be a bit of a salesman yourself to land this type of deal. A lot of these companies will be skeptical because they are not familiar with internet marketing. It would probably be a good idea to throw them some leads for free to prove you are able to give them what they are looking for. If you are able to continuously provide qualified, highly targeted, leads then their sales department should be able to close at a nice percentage.
As mentioned above a lot of these companies may not be able to afford a high number of leads. So how do you make sure it's worth the trouble? Well, focus on companies that are selling higher priced items. They will usually pay more for a good lead or be willing to do a revenue share. A good example might be a plastic surgery center. If you are able to land a revenue sharing deal then they can handle as many leads as you can bring and your profit will sky rocket as long as they have a decent sales floor.
I know someone who makes $500-$600 a day, every day, selling leads to 2 local businesses. The total cost of generating those leads is less than $15 per day. So, if you can find a good niche and work out a deal with a local company that fills it, you can make a very nice chunk of change.