Google today announced the availability of a browser add-on to block Google Analytics from tracking your web browsing history. Google Analytics is a popular, free web traffic tracking tool widely used by small and medium business and entrepreneurs. Though the tracking is completely impersonal without any personally identifiable information, Google says it is giving the choice to the web users.

“We take privacy very seriously and we’re committed to providing users with more choice. Though Google Analytics collects information anonymously and in aggregate only, the add-on gives users the choice to opt-out of the Google Analytics Javascript (ga.js) sending information to Google Analytics,” Google spokesman Brian Richardson said in an e-mail to LA Times. “We’re constantly working to both enhance the privacy options for users and provide website owners with valuable data to improve their websites.”

How many people will install and use this add-on is still uncertain. Google’s other tools, such as Ads Preferences Manager and the DoubleClick opt-out plug-in, have not been wildly popular with the web users. Google may be releasing this product in order to the privacy concerns related buzz for the past few weeks.

If you are using Google Analytics as the web traffic tracking tool on your website(s), you need to take the analytics counts with a pinch of salt!

You can download the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on here and try it out.

If you are a small and medium business owner or online marketer looking to increase leads and sales, you must be either using a sales lead capture, tracking and management system already or evaluating the lead solutions available in the market. When deploying a lead tracking and marketing automation system, make sure that your websites are integrated with the same in order to capture leads automatically.

Websites as Lead Generation Sources

We all know that internet is becoming the primary source of sales lead generation and prospects land on one or more websites to seek your products or services. if you are driving a ton of traffic to your websites and the prospects are brought to the landing pages, converting the visitors into leads and following up with them is critical for success. It does not matter whether you are in B2B or B2C marketplace, automating the lead capture is an essential step to expedite the lead follow-up processes.

Automating Lead Capture from Landing Pages

I have come across many small business clients who use our LeadPro247 lead management software system, but are yet to integrate their websites where leads are generated. Majority of the customers still capture the lead information on basic forms and email the data to one or more inside sales / marketing team members. They take up their own time and then enter the leads into the lead distribution, tracking and management system.

It is critical to automate the lead capture process by integrating the landing pages (or signup forms or registration forms) with the lead management system. Many consider this integration process a tedious and complex one.

Lead Capture Methods

The leads captured on the websites can be emailed and then entered manually into the system as mentioned earlier. Precious time is wasted in this process delaying the follow-up activity. Any manual entry leads to errors and inaccuracies. And some leads might slip through the cracks and never get into the lead management system!

The simplest and easy method of lead capture by embedding a small code provided by your lead tracking and management system into the landing page. If you do not have the in-house capability to embed the code into the sign-up form, take help from the lead management service provider. Most providers do this for a small fee as it does not take much time. If you are using third party web developers or consultants, some tend to discourage this practice and push back. Don’t fall for their pressure! If they cannot incorporate your request or do not know how to do it with little efforts, then it may be time to look for an alternate service provider!

The industry term used for lead capture specifications is lead posting instructions. There are slight variations in this lead push process. Check with your lead tracking system provider; they would be more than happy to provide you the details.

If you have multiple landing pages or websites, you can pass on the “lead source” from each page to the lead system. The lead source information would be useful in the lead followup process. For example, you can plan different drip email messages to leads collected from each source.

Lead tracking systems will also support capturing leads generated through multiple pages (i.e. sign up form split into multiple pages). Most service providers would be able to help you with custom services in such cases.

If you are lead generation company capturing leads to resell the same to one or more lead buyers, automating the lead capture is first step. You may refer to our blog for more information on lead generation capture and distribution software solutions.

Leverage the lead capture features of your lead tracking system and convert more prospects to customers. Happy selling!

Obviously, you are buying internet leads right now or planning to buy leads in the near future. Otherwise you may not be on this lead management resources blog post. I keep hearing all the horror stories of buying leads and getting burnt. In fact, some of them who took a plunge by pumping lot of money into buying leads may have realized that running a business with leads generated on the internet is not an easy task. I hope that these stories are exceptions rather than wide spread events.

Just like any other business initiative, buying leads from external lead generation service providers also comes with its own inherent risks. However, the rewards are multi-fold, if you know what your are doing, have done the research, and following the rules.

Here are 10 secrets that everyone buying internet leads from lead providers or on the verge of getting into the game should know, understand and practice methodically.

1. Learn to generate some of your own leads: Well, unless you have been in the trenches, you would not have known the tricks of the trade. Whatever theoretical knowledge that you gain may not give you the depth of the understanding that you gain from actually doing lead generation. This is not to advise you to deviate from your core business practice and get into internet programming or avoid outsourcing. Once you understand the basic technology and issues in internet lead generation, you will become a pro in lead buying.
2. Evaluate the Lead Providers: Before handing over big chunks of money to lead providers, do evaluate a select list of providers. There are several resources both online and offline. Keep in mind that Big need not be Better always. In fact some small providers may be nimble, proactive and cheap!
3. Research on the Internet: Do your homework using the Internet. Compare the lead providers in your vertical. Whether you are in Debt settlement, Loan modification, Mortgage services, Insurance, Education or some other niche you can find many competing service providers.
4. Assess Lead Provider Website Resources: Most lead providers will have lots of information on their websites. Spend some time on these sites and understand the differences within various companies.
5. Study Lead Generation Methods: As mentioned in Step 1, if you know what it takes to generate leads, you can ask all the right questions. Review their lead generation sites, landing pages and registration forms. Understand the implications of collecting leads using various methods such as co-registration and incentivization.
6. Analyze the Landing Pages: Make sure that the content and instructions provided on the landing pages work for your business. Analyze the data collected as part of the lead capture and assess if it will work for your business scenario.
7. Focus on Quality of Leads: Unless the leads you buy convert in significant ratio, there is no meaning in buying boat loads of leads; your sales team will be frustrated and overwhelmed. Evaluate if you can buy pre-qualified leads and see if it will be cost effective. Understand the validations and verification procedures employed, if any, by the lead provider.
8. Decide: Exclusive or Shared leads? Exclusive leads will be pricey, but the conversion rates may be higher. Note that many lead providers such as mortgage, debt and insurance lead providers may not provide exclusive leads and may force you to choose Shared leads.
9. Recognize and utilize Good Lead Providers: You may have noticed some of the lead providers, even if they are new or small, will be better than others, easy to work with, flexible and provide great service. Recognize them and try to leverage their knowledge in lead generation industry and their experience with other customers.
10. Track and Manage Leads effectively: Do not start buying leads, unless a you have a internet sales lead tracking software system in place and understood what you can do with it. With lead management system, you can collect leads from lead providers directly, assign to your sales agents / reps, track the sales progress, and measure the performance in term of  lead conversion, agent productivity, and business results.

]]> http://www.leadmanagementresources.com/2009/10-secrets-of-successful-internet-lead-buying-to-achieve-great-conversion-rates/feed/ 1 http://www.leadmanagementresources.com/2009/lead-tracking-increases-sales-conversion-rates/ http://www.leadmanagementresources.com/2009/lead-tracking-increases-sales-conversion-rates/#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:56:26 +0000 Paddu http://www.leadmanagementresources.com/?p=48

Following sales lead tracking best practices using Lead Tracking Software solutions such as LeadPro247 significantly increases the chance of converting the Lead into a Sale. It is a known fact that over 70% of the prospects are never followed up in time. While employing a lead management software helps to reduce this rate to some extent, using the lead tracking best practices results in high lead conversion rates and increased prospect satisfaction.

Lead Tracking Process

Lead Tracking is nothing but the methodical way of following up with the prospects and recording the lead follow-up activities in the lead management database.

If the sales personnel are not in a position to log the follow-up actions and the results, especially in the case of small businesses, a lead administrator or lead coordinator can update the same in the central database. This practice helps the sale representative in getting an unified view of the lead during the next call or on site visit. Once the sales personnel realize the benefits of of centralized lead tracking, they will start following the process for their own betterment.

Tracking Log

The sales lead tracking log will include the following components, among others:

• Lead Origination / Capture Info
• Lead Assignment Info
• Drip Emails sent to the prospect
• Lead Reassignment or Transfer to another sales rep, if any
• Demo Requests from prospects
• Onsite Visits
• Telephone calls made and received
• Call Back reminders
• Gist of Email communications
• Snail Mails sent
• Marketing Literature fulfillment, if any
• Samples delivered, if applicable
• Movement of Sales Tracking Stage

Visibility to all this tracking information will save considerable time for the sales personnel. The sales support staff (at the back office) can also alert the sales reps based on follow-up triggers.

While many marketers and businesses have started realizing the importance of contacting the prospect at the quickest possible time from the point of lead capture, further follow-up activities have not caught up as required. Deploying a suitable lead management system and adopting simple best practices for lead tracking is imperative in today’s internet centric marketing era.

Welcome to LeadManagementResources.Com! Our objective is to make this blog as a resource center for marketing professionals, small business owners, entrepreneurs and home based businesses. For anyone involved in business, marketing is the core of success and lead management a critical component of marketing.

Research studies and surveys show that over 70% of the leads are not followed up properly and allowed to slip through the cracks. Hence tracking and managing the leads and increasing the lead conversion rate should be the prime motive of  successful marketers.

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