Should You Buy MLM Leads?

Should you buy MLM leads? Some people swear by it. Others say it’s a rip off.

Personally, I know several people who have built huge six and seven figure incomes in our industry by working purchased leads. I know others who have bought MLM leads several times, never gotten good results, and swear against it. To each their own. What works for one person might not work for someone else.

I buy MLM leads from time-to-time. I use several different lead vendors and buy MLM leads as ONE PART of my overall marketing mix. I don’t rely on them completely, but my purchased leads do help keep my sales pipeline full.

Here’s the truth. Everyone needs leads. After you’ve contacted your warm market, you need a game-plan to get more leads. Ultimately, the best leads are the leads you generate yourself. It’s the people who like, know, and trust you.

However, not everyone knows how to generate leads (outside of their warm market). It can be very time consuming and expensive. There is a steep learning curve.

Buying MLM leads can be a good option if you have a good phone script and are willing to call people. However, I’ve discovered that most people do not have the confidence or phone skills to call strangers and deal with the endless rejection. In fact, the idea of calling strangers on their 300-pound telephone scares most MLM Reps to death.

Here’s what I recommend you do instead.

# 1: Build your name list. Have you already written down your 1,000 to 2,000 person name list? Yes, you know that many people by name. If someone paid you $100 for each name you wrote down, you would easily come up with at least 1,000 names, if not more. Spend some time and build your name list. If you’re not sure where to start, write down all of your Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections, email contacts, and cell phone contacts. For most people that is at least 3,000 names.

# 2: Keep adding new people to your name’s list. Strive to meet new people each day and add several new people to your name list daily. Ask for referrals from everyone you talk with. If you do this, you will never run out of prospects.

# 3: Work in depth. If you have a team of 100 people and they each know 1,000 people by name, that means you have 100,000 potential prospects by helping your team recruit from their warm market. This is the smartest and easiest way to build your network marketing business. If you get nothing else out of this article, remember this important lesson.

# 4: Brainstorm different lead generation strategies. Take a few minutes and brainstorm several different lead generation strategies. There are HUNDREDS of ways to get MLM leads. Come up with 3-5 strategies you can see yourself doing and focus on those. If buying MLM leads is on that list, great. If not, no worries.

# 5: Purchase a small batch of MLM leads. Do an experiment. Call 1,000 leads over the period of 1-2 months and track your results. Keep track of how many people you called, how many appointments you scheduled, how many presentations you gave, and how many customers and reps you signed up. If nothing else, this is a great way to boost your phone skills and confidence. In addition, you’ll quickly discover if this is a strategy that will work for you.

Questions to Ask Your Lead Company

If you still want to buy MLM leads, here are some questions you should ask the lead company before you buy leads from them.

1) How many times has each lead been sold? Most lead companies sell the same leads to at least 5-10 different distributors. The more times the leads have been sold, the more times they have been contacted, and the less likely they are to join your business opportunity.

2) How fresh are the leads? Fresh leads are better than old leads (in most cases). You need to know how long ago the leads responded to the ad.

3) What type of offer did the lead respond to? This is the most important question you can ask the lead company. Most “network marketing” leads aren’t really network marketing leads. Instead, they are opportunity seeker leads. I say that because most network marketing leads sold by lead companies are people who requested information about working from home, not an ad about joining a network marketing business. There is a big difference between those two categories of people.

4) Is there any type of guarantee? It’s good to find out if there is any type of guarantee for bad leads, bad phone numbers, etc.  Good lead companies normally stand behind their product or service and offer a money back guarantee. If there isn’t a “lead replacement policy” for bad leads, find another lead company to work with.

5) Do you have any happy customers I can talk to? If possible, try to get the phone number of other folks who have used their service in the past, and give them a call. Find out what type of results they had with the lead company. One of the best things you can do is find a successful distributor you trust and ask them where they buy their leads.

6) How much do the leads cost?  The cheapest leads aren’t always the best leads. The most expensive leads aren’t always the best leads either. Shop around three to five lead companies to get an “average” price point for the type and amount of leads you are looking for. That way you will know if the price is fair, cheap, or overpriced. I personally would never pay more than one dollar for a good lead (just my own two cents).

Once you get answers to these questions, and you feel comfortable buying MLM leads, it’s important to test your results. As I mentioned a moment ago, sometimes, the cheapest leads aren’t always the best leads. And sometimes the most expensive leads aren’t the best leads either.

Instead, you need to test your results with several different lead companies to determine which MLM Lead Company gives you the best return on your time and money investment.

Best Type of MLM Leads

What are the best MLM leads to buy?

My favorite type of MLM leads are genealogy leads. These are people with prior network marketing experience. I like these leads because (1) they have experience in the industry, (2) they believe in the industry, (3) they’ve already received some training, and (4) they know other network marketers.

If I had to choose between opportunity seeker leads and MLM Genealogy Leads, I would pick the genealogy leads 10 times out of 10. Food for thought.

Reasons NOT to Buy MLM Leads

Just to keep this article interesting, here are a few reasons NOT to buy MLM leads.

They Don’t Like, Know or Trust You

People like to do business with people they like, know, and trust. If you think your warm market is tough, just wait until you start calling strangers. Just realize your closing rate will be substantially lower with leads you buy, compared to people you know.

Intrusive

How do you feel when someone you don’t know calls you out of the blue to sell you something while you are eating dinner? Calling strangers is intrusive.

Price

Leads are expensive. Not everyone can afford it. Not everyone can invest $100 to $300 per month with leads, but everyone can contact their warm market.

Do Not Call List

You must be careful with the do not call laws. You must verify each phone number is not on the do not call list BEFORE you contact them. The last thing you want to do is end up in legal trouble.

Rejection

The amount of rejection you will experience with leads you buy will be extremely high. Most MLM Reps cannot handle this amount of rejection.

No Phone Script

If you don’t have a good phone script, any confidence, or skills, do not call strangers. It will be a recipe for frustration and failure.

Not Duplicatable

The average person on your team WILL NOT pick up the telephone and call strangers. The average person on your team will not invest money in leads. These are facts.

Where to Buy MLM Leads

Here are some places to buy MLM leads. As a disclaimer, I am NOT an affiliate with any of these companies.

Apache Leads

I buy most of my leads through Apache Leads. They are a trusted source, in business for nearly 20 years now.

MLM Lead Specialist

I’ve purchased MLM leads from MLM Leads Specialist several times in the past. I was happy with the results.

Google Search

You can just visit Google or Bing and do a search for buy MLM leads and you will find plenty of vendors to choose from.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, these are my thoughts on whether you should buy MLM leads. There is not a right or wrong answer. You must do what works best for you.

However, I highly recommend you start with your warm market prior to buying MLM leads. I also recommend you help your team members work through their warm market before you have them buy MLM leads.

What are your thoughts about buying MLM leads? Leave a comment below to let me know what you think. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,






Chuck Holmes
20+ Year Network Marketing Professional
Top Earner & Top Recruiter
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com

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