No business can survive without new customers and network marketing growth depends in new distributors joining the ranks to increase sales. In order to attract both, multilevel network marketing requires leads and they can come from many different sources. There are many companies that gather and sell leads of people interested in joining multilevel marketing plans along with contact information for those who do not know they are interested in getting involved in sales.
Most of the lead sellers are not particular where the leads come from, as they are more interested in the number of leads they can generate and sell. Many lead generators sell names and active email address for up to $4 each, or more while many go for a lot less. The legality of how they gather those leads is open for debate in some circles, but as long as they do not outright break any laws, there is nothing that be done to stop the practice.
The quality of the lead is important to those who buy them, but only to a point, as they basically go for the number. If they send out emails and have a two or three percent return rate, most of them are happy. If they send out a thousand leads and receive no responses, their return on their investment is zero and they will probably take their lead buying business elsewhere. For the unsuspecting web user signing up to win free merchandise or vacations, it can be a problems when they begin to receive thousands of spam emails from companies they have never heard about before.
Typically, a company will offer an incentive for someone to leave their contact information on a registration form. It could promise a free vacation, a new car or cash. The form probably gives them the opportunity to not receive additional promotional materials or advertisements from them or their associated companies, but it is often overlooked in the excitement of winning something.
Once the company separates those who did not opt out their mailing list, it can be sold, usually as many as 30 or 40 times to companies that need a continuous supply of new leads. Since the do not call registry became effective in 2003, telemarketing, sometimes referred to as trolling for leads, has been stifled. Generating leads from the internet, provided they offer a way of stipulating the registrant wants no further contact with them, is considered legal.
Those filling out the forms usually opt to receive more information based on the mistaken belief that it will improve their chances of being the luck one in five million to win a $50 music player. However, those hoping to win a cheap music player will not fit into the demographics many companies are looking for and unless the lead generating company specifies how the leads were harvested, the buying company has no way to determine if they are quality leads until they see the return on their investment. Unfortunately, for them and the customers inundated with emails, by that time it is too late.
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