I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this from people, looking for something to blame. The easiest thing to blame is the leads. Here’s how it works:

Jim and Mary attend their annual convention and get all fired up about building their business. They get home and go to Google and type in, “MLM Leads.” The find a company with some good prices, spend about $50-$75 on some leads, and begin calling them. Full of hope and excitement, they are quickly defeated with few people answer the phone, won’t return messages, and no one wants to listen to their stories of how scientifically validated their nutritional products are. They conclude:

These MLM Leads Suck!!

If that were true, which it’s not, then why are so many people building huge businesses, making money like they never have before, all using the same leads that Jim and Mary just bombed with? Maybe it isn’t the leads that suck… maybe it’s Jim and Mary (although that’s not very nice of me to say).

If you don’t believe me, just browse on over to Dani Johnson’s website and review the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of testimonies on her site of people from every network marketing company under the sun who are absolutely killing it with leads. Go check it out. I’m sure they’re happy the Jim and Mary didn’t do so well because it’s less competition for them.

Maybe the missing ingredient has nothing to do with the leads (although the quality of leads is a separate issue for another day), but it has everything, and I mean everything to do with the person who is buying the leads and calling the leads.

While I’m not promoting any particular person out there, go get some training from a real trainer. Your upline does not count as a trainer. You need to take your upline with you. Go find someone like Dani Johnson and get some training. I’m not saying that leads are the answer for everyone, but I am saying that training is for everyone who ever desires to make more than $50-$500 with their home business. No excuses. Get some training in 2011 before it becomes 2012.

The world of marketing is coming full circle. No one trusts emails anymore… unless they trust you already… not many trust telemarketers… but there is something different about getting a piece of mail in the mailbox.

I’m 37 years old, and I still look at every item I get in the mail. I open almost every envelope. I read every postcard. And I read every flyer. I just like mail.

To contrast this, I delete 90% of my emails without ever reading or opening one of them. They are spam, crap, junk emails. I read the first line, if that, of the remaining 10% and immediately delete 80% of those. I read and respond or take action on the rest. What that means is about 98% of the crap that comes through my inbox is pure trash, and is worthless in every way.

Furthermore, when my phone rings and the caller ID says “Unavailable” or is from an area code out of state that I don’t recognize, I will either ignore it or I answer the phone grouchy and HIGHLY skeptical. I hate almost all phone calls.

But, going to the mailbox is still something I have to fight my wife and kids over to do. We all love to go to the mailbox!

So, why not capitalize on that by getting back to roots of postcard marketing and mailing out postcards to build your business? I sure would. Sure, people will throw in the trash, but almost all of them will have at least read it, and maybe took some kind of action, like calling the 800# for more information or visiting the website you have listed. My uneducated, yet experienced mind says that no other form of marketing has a greater action-rate than postcard marketing.  None.

Also, it is probably one of the most duplicatible forms of marketing. Do you think it would be easier to recruit someone and tell them to buy some leads, put some stamps on postcards, and mail them out, or pick up the phone and dial 500 strangers every week for the next 3 months, or set up an elaborate email server and blast out millions of emails to spam the crap out of them, and hopefully not get shut down or cussed out by angry recipients?

You will have to do a bit of research – most companies have some kind of postcard, but you may need to create one on your own and have a place print them for you, or find a company that has some good options to making them for you.

Here’s the bottom line – if I was building an MLM business, or any other kind of home business, I would have a postcard made for me (it doesn’t have to be expensive), buy some post card leads, put on a stamp, and repeat that every week, all year long, and teach everyone else to do the same thing.

That’s my opinion, but hey what do I know. Many moons ago I build my entire business using postcards. I was with a company called ProStep. We used this yellow postcards with black type, and a bit of red on them. Nothing complex. Just a simple yellow postcard, and we made thousands.

If you have any suggestions or know of any postcard companies, leave a comment here on this blog post and share with the community.

Many people these days are Ga-Ga over using telephone interviewed leads. In some cases, rightfully so, but in many cases, it turns out pretty bad. The main reason (in my opinion anyway), it is because this type of lead is either a good match for you, or in most cases, it is not. Let’s look at that just a minute.

The big misconception is that phone interviewed leads are like manna from heaven, and all you have to do is dial, grunt over the phone, and the person signs up.  The misconception all begins with the advertising of these leads. The second misconceptions begins with you – being gullible enough to believe these leads are the manna you have always longed for. I don’t mean to be rude, but you need to wake up and realize, phone interviewed leads have their place, but in most cases, and probably your case, you need to stick with regular leads and give up phone interviewed leads for good.

I’ve read on other sites that most interviewed leads are not really interviewed anyway, it’s just some kind of autodialer. That’s a problem. It’s been said that 90-95% of the MLM Leads companies out there are selling you interviewed leads that have never spoken to one person before you do. That’s a problem. And, by the way, if you call one of these companies and talk to their owner or customer service, they are all going to say they are interviewed. You’re being lied to. If they cannot give you the name of the interviewer, then go somewhere else to spend your money.

Next, you need to realize of the few companies that are actually selling a real, interviewed lead, that even though it may say “real time interviewed,” it is anything but real time. It is an older lead… maybe a few days, a week, or even a month old before the call center actually makes contact with them to do the interview. In other words, these call centers use aged leads to make it more affordable for their telemarketers to call thru, and then they are called, interviewed, and sent to you. The only reason it is called “real time” is because you receive the lead shortly after the interview has taken place.

Now, don’t go get your panties all in a wad about this. You need to understand this:

1. most of these leads are not interviewed, they are somehow verified or contacted by a machine, not a person
2. all of these leads are aged leads that were generated days, weeks, or maybe months before the interview

But, even with all that, here is the benefit of using them. Even though these are aged leads before they are interviewed, if the MLM Leads company is doing its job and really doing a good interview, then these leads are “revived,” or “renewed” by the interview process when the prospect conveys their ongoing interest in a home business and agrees to be contacted by someone new.

Now the prospect may not remember filling anything out online, because it’s an aged lead, but they should remember the interview, and you should receive the name of the one who conducted the interview.

Even with all that, this lead is really only good for those who have some level of experience with leads. Stay away from them if you are new. Most new leads customers get into a false mindset that these leads are magical in some way.  They are leads. Period. If you want an actual real time lead, then buy those instead. Just avoid the interviewed leads.

And, if you really want to be a pro about this, and not some whiner or spineless sap, then buy a batch of 100 real time interviewed leads (real interviews, not the bad ones) and a batch of 100 real time leads and call through all of them. Keep notes on your calls, results, conversations, enrollments, etc. What was better? Use those leads instead.

We are looking for more feedback on customers who have used MLMLeadsSpecialists.com

Our initial review is as follows:

Positive:

Great prices.  They have some of the best prices for their leads

Negative:

The leads are horrible as a whole. So, despite the good prices, the bottom line is that the money you save is not worth the cost.  Here are some comments about these leads:

“I sold their leads a long time ago when they were MLMLeadGenie.  I thought I would try them again as MLMLeadSpecialist.  What a mistake.  It has been nothing but a mistake.  I have not had this much damage control to do from the customers that have bought these leads from me.” ~ Anonymous Reseller

“The leads were shocked that I called them. Everyone is surprised I am calling them! I was calling these with a group of people and I was embarrassed. There were duplicate leads and many angry people.  I did not speak with one person who knew what I was talking about.  Horrible.”  ~ P.K., Monavie

“What a mess. I hate to bash a company, but these leads are some of the worst I have ever called. ” ~ A.N., Iowa

“I don’t think I have ever requested a refund from a leads company before, but I did with them.  Not very impressed.” ~ R.C., Mannatech

While I don’ t really want to put down a leads company, it is amazing the number of negative feedback emails we have received. I would like to post something positive, but we never received any.

The purpose of this blog post is not to bash MLMLeadSpecialists, but to make our readers aware of what other customers are saying.

Affiliate programs are nothing new, but not too many lead companies have them anymore.  I miss the days of ProStep… for those of you who remember when ProStep was an MLM company.  I actually made quite a bit of money with them.

Today, most lead companies have some kind of a referral bonus… hey we’ll send you some free leads if you refer someone.  That’s nice, but I’d still rather have cash over leads… or both for that matter.

There are a couple of them out there, and I do understand that it’s not about getting wealthy off of a leads affiliate program, but I do intend to make at least $300-$500 per month with the Pro Email Leads affiliate program.  Here’s their banner. Just sign up for free and start promoting their leads.  It is a 2-tier affiliate program.  If you get 5 – 10 people a month who buy leads through your link, or if they are on your first or second tier, it won’t be hard to make a nice bit of money with their 30% payout.

While it is certainly no ProStep (RIP), it is a decent way to make a few extra bucks.  This may be one of the better kept secrets out there. Check it out while it’s still not flooded with affiliates.