Lead Tip #3:
What's A "Smart" Lead?

I know brokers and L.O.s are sick and tired of blowing their budgets on oversold, uninterested leads and bogus contact information. But you still need a cost-effective, convenient way to reach internet prospects. This is one of the reasons why ProspectZone has created Smart Leads™.

What's a "Smart Lead"? It's a solution for lead buyers who are frustrated with companies that OVER-PROMISE and UNDER-DELIVER.

Here’s what ProspectZone considers a "Smart Lead". See if you agree...

Anatomy Of A Smart Lead

1. Real Interest. Some companies "incentivize" their leads by offering free iPods, coupons and other special giveaways. These people aren't interested in a home loan, so they're worthless to lead buyers.
   
   A Smart Lead is never incentivized with offers. It's generated using a blend of aggressive search engine marketing, email campaigns, and carefully selected affiliate partnerships to target consumers who are actively searching for home loans. When a lead requests a quote, they know they're going to be contacted by a broker.

2. Real Data. Buyers often get stuck with leads full of bad contact information. Smart Leads are always verified by an impartial third party. These are companies whose sole work is to scrub data against records from the telecom industry and the U.S. Postal system. If your lead company offers this, you can bet they're interested in delivering leads with a high contact ratio.
   
   If your leads aren't screened against major telecom and U.S. Postal records, they're not worth your time.
   
   Should you weed out bad leads yourself, or should your lead company handle it for you?

3. Real-Time Interest. Lead buyers lose out when they can't get on leads while interest is hot. Smart Leads are sent the instant they enter the company's distribution system, whether generated online in real-time or after they've been screened by an internal verification team. And each one is timestamped to prove it.

4. Generous Return Policy. Too many L.O.s send checks to small-time lead companies and get invalid leads in return — if they get any at all. When they try to get their money back, no one answers the phone, returns their call, or replies to their email.
   
   A Smart Lead is always backed by a generous return policy. Good companies want to hear if you've received a bad lead. That's because they'll use your feedback to identify and eliminate weak sources — and improve lead quality overall.

5. Never Oversold. Some lead companies prefer to squeeze every last dime out of their leads rather than deliver quality. So they sell leads to every taker. These oversold leads are driven crazy by a tidal wave of phone calls, and are impossible to close.
   
   A Smart Lead is never oversold. As a general rule, no lead should be sold more than 4 times… unless you're looking for bargain-priced leads. Leads sold less than 1.5 times on average are considered "semi-exclusive." Your L.O.s have the best chance of closing a lead if it is truly semi-exclusive.

6. Snapshot Reporting. Without accurate reporting you can only guess how well your lead campaigns are doing… and you have a difficult time knowing how well your money is being spent.
   
   Smart Leads come with free Web-based tracking systems. Your system should automatically import all your purchased leads, along with the ones you generate from your own websites and online campaigns. Easy reporting tools let you quickly analyze the performance of all your campaigns.

7. Custom-Filtered. You know what kinds of prospects yield the highest return for your business. If a company doesn't offer filters, you have to eat the cost of leads not worth your time to work.
   
   Smart Leads are custom-filtered to let you target your ideal lead. Besides geographic filters, you can focus on Loan Amount, LTV, and Credit Rating attributes.

8. Real People. Many lead companies on the Web are faceless operations that can't be bothered with talking to you after the sale is made. Smart Leads have real people backing them — people with a real commitment to providing quality leads and first-rate service.

Boil all that down and you've got a higher contact ratio, interested prospects filtered for your business, innovative tools to help improve ROI, and a company that you can partner with for long-term success.

That's why we call them Smart Leads. Isn't it time you left behind the bad data and uninterested prospects, and started increasing apps submitted and approved with leads like these?

Jeremiah Desmarais is the Vice President of Marketing and oversees the educational and marketing efforts at ProspectZone. ProspectZone is a leading provider of internet leads to the mortgage industry, and the creators of Smart Leads™. He and his team are recipients of 3 awards in 2006 from the Web Marketing Association, Marketing Sherpa and the Interactive Marketing Association for their marketing and design initiatives online. He is author of several white papers and has been a contributor to national trade publications as well as a guest speaker at various national events and workshops. He is a member of the Society of Industry Leaders. Reach him at jdesmarais@prospectzone.com or 1-800-980-0902.

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Think you've "seen it all" when it comes to internet leads? I'd like to introduce you to a brand new kind of lead, and a brand new way to improve your sales. It's called Smart Leads, and it's only from ProspectZone. See Smart Leads in action on our new and improved website. Visit www.prospectzone.com to learn how to make the smartest lead buys and get a higher ROI. Browse through the library and learn effective online marketing strategies from our in-house online marketing experts. Check back often — we're always adding new resources. Scott Sullivan Vice President of Sales ssullivan@prospectzone.com