1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:03.600 So super excited because we have a very special person 2 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:06.400 with us today. So go ahead introduce yourself 3 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:09.300 and who you're with my name is Portia Brooks. 4 00:00:09.300 --> 00:00:12.500 I am with Lynn pick. That's my company. I'm the CEO. 5 00:00:12.500 --> 00:00:15.500 We're an online Marketplace that connects business owners 6 00:00:15.500 --> 00:00:18.600 to lenders all across the country that actually approves 7 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:21.400 them for funding specifically today. We're gonna talk about leads. 8 00:00:21.400 --> 00:00:24.300 So for people that 9 00:00:24.300 --> 00:00:27.500 don't know what is the lead and how would you define a 10 00:00:27.500 --> 00:00:30.400 lead in this business atmosphere? So I would 11 00:00:30.400 --> 00:00:33.200 say a lead is how you're going 12 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:36.900 to get a sale and so it's your potential client. Now the 13 00:00:36.900 --> 00:00:39.900 way we define leads we have two approaches to Source 14 00:00:39.900 --> 00:00:42.600 leads. It can be the organic approach or 15 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:46.700 the non-organic approach. Now as far as your non-organic 16 00:00:45.700 --> 00:00:48.800 approaches, that's your that's purchasing 17 00:00:48.800 --> 00:00:52.100 leads. So that's purchasing ads or purchasing 18 00:00:51.100 --> 00:00:54.700 names and phone numbers really and 19 00:00:54.700 --> 00:00:57.100 then you have your organic approach. I can list those, you know 20 00:00:57.100 --> 00:00:59.700 some of those off as well but with organically 21 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:04.400 About social media you're talking about SEO networking referral 22 00:01:03.400 --> 00:01:07.000 partners and also publicity. Everyone 23 00:01:06.300 --> 00:01:09.300 wants to know. How much is this gonna cost? What is 24 00:01:09.300 --> 00:01:12.400 the cost that you actually have to kind of average out 25 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:15.400 to get an opportunity to get leads? 26 00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:19.600 So I hear a lot of you know Brokers and people 27 00:01:19.600 --> 00:01:22.100 in this industry say how much it costs 28 00:01:22.100 --> 00:01:25.400 to get started within this industry. And to 29 00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:28.600 be honest. If we're talking about leads. We're talking about getting a 30 00:01:28.600 --> 00:01:31.400 sale. It doesn't cost that much. It's not a 31 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:34.400 lot. So it depends which route you're going. Right so you can go the 32 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:37.400 purchase route or you can go the, you know, organic route 33 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:40.700 organically, like for instance. If you're gonna set something up on social media it 34 00:01:40.700 --> 00:01:43.400 costs you nothing to do that. You can actually get a sale through 35 00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:46.700 setting up a page and start branding your you know, your business do 36 00:01:46.700 --> 00:01:49.900 social media or you can with most 37 00:01:49.900 --> 00:01:53.000 of the industry does you can actually, you know purchase names 38 00:01:52.300 --> 00:01:55.500 and phone numbers and you can do that for as 39 00:01:55.500 --> 00:01:58.400 little as potentially $500 maybe a thousand 40 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:01.300 dollars just to get started. So for you and 41 00:02:01.300 --> 00:02:02.900 your business, where do where do your leads come from? 42 00:02:03.800 --> 00:02:05.700 Good Question Johnny, so 43 00:02:06.600 --> 00:02:07.000 far as 44 00:02:11.900 --> 00:02:14.400 we're way to get leads would be our referral partners. 45 00:02:15.200 --> 00:02:18.200 For example, we have referral Partnerships set up with 46 00:02:18.200 --> 00:02:21.700 MCA companies. They send us leads and we get them SBA 47 00:02:21.700 --> 00:02:24.600 Loans. We have referral Partners set up with other Brokers 48 00:02:24.600 --> 00:02:27.300 as well. And so those Brokers they'll send us leads because 49 00:02:27.300 --> 00:02:30.300 they know that we're going to get their clients options. We're 50 00:02:30.300 --> 00:02:33.800 going to get them fast approvals and we're going to get them accurate approvals 51 00:02:33.800 --> 00:02:36.900 as well. So referral Partners, you know through Linkedin as 52 00:02:36.900 --> 00:02:39.500 well as potentially networking too. 53 00:02:39.500 --> 00:02:42.400 So that's our best way in our favorite way 54 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:43.300 to get leads. 55 00:02:44.200 --> 00:02:47.400 So let's talk about a good conversion rate for you. 56 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:50.200 Is there a hard fast rule that 57 00:02:50.200 --> 00:02:53.300 you live by when it comes to conversion rate? So conversion rates 58 00:02:53.300 --> 00:02:56.800 of funny within this industry too, right? Because they're low normally with 59 00:02:56.800 --> 00:02:59.500 most I would say most companies 60 00:02:59.500 --> 00:03:01.300 the conversion rate is about 61 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:05.100 Two to four percent somewhere. You know, 62 00:03:05.100 --> 00:03:08.400 I mean, I think 4% might be on a higher side actually with us. 63 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:11.500 We like to close like 64 00:03:11.500 --> 00:03:14.500 if we're talking to 50 individuals. I 65 00:03:14.500 --> 00:03:17.800 want to close, you know, at least five of those individuals. I 66 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:20.100 do believe it's all about how much you can 67 00:03:20.100 --> 00:03:23.400 fulfill the customers needs that you're attracting. If you're 68 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:26.800 purchasing leads on the other hand, you know, it depends you 69 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:29.500 have almost no idea, you know really what 70 00:03:29.500 --> 00:03:32.800 that person wants, you know, your purchasing something they went 71 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:35.400 on someone's site. They feel something then that they 72 00:03:35.400 --> 00:03:38.700 may want business loans, but I think those ratios 73 00:03:38.700 --> 00:03:41.700 and those clothes and rates are a little bit lower than when 74 00:03:41.700 --> 00:03:44.500 your brand and yourself and people are finding you versus you 75 00:03:44.500 --> 00:03:45.900 having to find that individual. 76 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:49.200 I think for a lot of Brokers the one question is how 77 00:03:49.200 --> 00:03:52.700 much time do you spend on these leads on conversion? 78 00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:56.400 I mean, that's the Cornerstone to a business. That's the 79 00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:58.100 few to the fire. Right? So I 80 00:03:59.300 --> 00:04:02.200 I mean when you're talking about leads you're talking about 81 00:04:02.200 --> 00:04:05.000 sales and we've spent a lot of time, you know 82 00:04:05.600 --> 00:04:08.400 getting leads in because we spend a lot of time working on 83 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:11.800 our content our branding, you 84 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:14.500 know our marketing. So when you're spending a lot of time on 85 00:04:14.500 --> 00:04:17.200 marketing essentially you're spending a lot of time trying to 86 00:04:17.200 --> 00:04:20.100 get leads in and you know, that's so really that's that's 87 00:04:20.100 --> 00:04:24.200 what we're doing. And then as far as converting those two actual sales, you 88 00:04:23.200 --> 00:04:26.200 know, we are we're spending a 89 00:04:26.200 --> 00:04:30.100 lot of time doing that too because that makes your business eating there's 90 00:04:29.100 --> 00:04:31.300 anything as an exclusive lead. 91 00:04:33.700 --> 00:04:35.900 Like a weed that's strictly yours. 92 00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:39.700 Good question. If you're not purchasing leads, 93 00:04:39.700 --> 00:04:42.400 yes, I believe you know, it is now when you're 94 00:04:42.400 --> 00:04:45.700 purchasing it. It's it's a little tricky if you are purchasing 95 00:04:45.700 --> 00:04:48.500 leads, if you're purchasing phone numbers and emails, they're definitely 96 00:04:48.500 --> 00:04:50.600 being sent out to a lot of people so that's not exclusive. 97 00:04:51.400 --> 00:04:54.400 I would say why we like referral so 98 00:04:54.400 --> 00:04:57.300 much is because that is that's the exclusive route right 99 00:04:57.300 --> 00:05:00.600 there. Right? And so now when you're getting someone, you know, 100 00:05:00.600 --> 00:05:02.700 that is referring you leads. 101 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:06.400 Most likely they trust that individual or you know, who knows 102 00:05:06.400 --> 00:05:09.300 who knows where they found that referral from 103 00:05:09.300 --> 00:05:12.100 that can be an exclusively doesn't always have to 104 00:05:12.100 --> 00:05:15.200 be but it can be I think it's the exception Johnny. I think 105 00:05:15.200 --> 00:05:18.700 the exception is, you know, exclusively leads versus 106 00:05:18.700 --> 00:05:21.000 people going out and trying to you know 107 00:05:21.100 --> 00:05:23.800 barter with every type of broker and lender. 108 00:05:24.900 --> 00:05:27.900 Let me ask you this. What kind of leads have yield 109 00:05:27.900 --> 00:05:30.900 you and your business to the worst conversations 110 00:05:30.900 --> 00:05:32.300 or the worst conversion rates? 111 00:05:33.400 --> 00:05:34.900 diverse the worst conversion 112 00:05:36.200 --> 00:05:39.900 Let's see. What kind of we adds 113 00:05:39.900 --> 00:05:42.600 adds Johnny. Oh my goodness, right 114 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:43.200 and so like 115 00:05:44.500 --> 00:05:47.000 some people are very successful at you know, 116 00:05:47.500 --> 00:05:50.400 running ads and there's the Facebook ads there's you 117 00:05:50.400 --> 00:05:53.200 know, the Instagram but very much associated with Facebook ads and 118 00:05:53.200 --> 00:05:57.000 other types of ads but the ad game is hard 119 00:05:56.300 --> 00:05:59.200 to nail. I've actually I spoke to someone 120 00:05:59.200 --> 00:06:02.400 who said they spent 45 thousand dollars on Facebook 121 00:06:02.400 --> 00:06:05.300 ads and didn't close one sale. Now that 122 00:06:05.300 --> 00:06:09.000 wasn't us right, you know, but with that ads for 123 00:06:08.200 --> 00:06:11.800 us have not had the greatest turnover. So 124 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:15.000 we you know really do focus on the organic 125 00:06:14.600 --> 00:06:17.300 approach that's like our best bet. 126 00:06:18.200 --> 00:06:21.100 Do you ever spend money on some type of 127 00:06:21.100 --> 00:06:24.700 lead Channel just to experiment with it. Have 128 00:06:24.700 --> 00:06:27.200 you ever done that? Absolutely what's been the 129 00:06:27.200 --> 00:06:27.600 outcome of that? 130 00:06:28.100 --> 00:06:28.200 so 131 00:06:29.100 --> 00:06:30.100 You first when you have. 132 00:06:30.100 --> 00:06:33.300 To experiment within a business you have to there's it's all about trial and error 133 00:06:33.300 --> 00:06:36.600 So within the organic and the non-organic you 134 00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:39.300 kind of have to try out everything to see you know, really what 135 00:06:39.300 --> 00:06:42.200 works sometimes it's about putting money into something and not 136 00:06:42.200 --> 00:06:45.200 getting anything back. It happens. You want to 137 00:06:45.200 --> 00:06:48.900 continue to move forward and learn from your mistakes. And and so 138 00:06:48.900 --> 00:06:52.000 with us, we don't look at really any of these as mistakes. 139 00:06:51.800 --> 00:06:54.300 It's a learning process. Yes, you're gonna 140 00:06:54.300 --> 00:06:55.000 put money into 141 00:06:56.400 --> 00:06:59.200 sources and it's not going to work out, but then 142 00:06:59.200 --> 00:07:00.800 you just continue to go and move. 143 00:07:02.300 --> 00:07:05.900 What advice would you have to Brokers about just getting leads 144 00:07:05.900 --> 00:07:08.200 in general if you if you had to give one 145 00:07:08.200 --> 00:07:12.300 piece of advice in one sentence? What would that be trial and 146 00:07:12.300 --> 00:07:15.500 error try it all so I would say build your 147 00:07:15.500 --> 00:07:15.800 brand. 148 00:07:16.900 --> 00:07:19.900 Definitely do that, but that's not gonna take off immediately. So 149 00:07:19.900 --> 00:07:23.000 you're probably have to do some of the paid advertisement 150 00:07:22.400 --> 00:07:23.500 as well. 151 00:07:24.600 --> 00:07:27.400 Some portion. Thank you so much for joining us and I 152 00:07:27.400 --> 00:07:30.100 know your advice and what we talked about is something that 153 00:07:30.100 --> 00:07:33.100 Brokers want to know and Brokers they are 154 00:07:33.100 --> 00:07:36.200 focused on getting leads and making money because as you know, and as 155 00:07:36.200 --> 00:07:39.600 you've said it money can be made in this industry. Yes, they 156 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:42.100 can be awesome. Well, thank you so much Portia for 157 00:07:42.100 --> 00:07:45.400 joining us. Appreciate it. Thank you for having me. No problem. Well, it's 158 00:07:45.400 --> 00:07:45.900 gonna pleasure.