I returned home earlier this week from Ad:tech San Francisco 2007.

It was a great tradeshow with great energy. Some tend to evaluate tradeshows on the personas and speakers appearing at the event. I personally tend to evaluate tradeshows at the exhibitor levels. The exhibition floors of most tradeshows often remind me of Malls – a few mega anchor tenants, connected by countless and varied mini merchants. I tend to evaluate both groups separately as this is where the proverbial foot-traffic-rubber hits the road. The mega anchor tenants of this show were… actually… no one. That is, “no one” if you’re thinking about the size of Macy’s at your local Mall relative to the Subway next door to it, there was nothing this big (or this small) relatively speaking. That said, Google was there. ValueClick was there. Microsoft was there. However, none of these companies stood out prominently. Ostensibly, the days of the MEGA-SPONSOR seems to have been put on pause (does anyone else remember being virtually assaulted by Intel mega-booth jockeys at the main entrance of virtually EVERY tech trade event in 1999?). So what DID stand out?… Well, a number of things… CPM vs. CPA What stood out the most for me is that very few net-new companies in the CPA ecosystem exhibited, but (surprisingly) quite a few net-new companies in the CPM ecosystem. I must have witnessed at least 10 net-new Ad Networks exhibiting at Ad:tech SF. Each new exhibiting tended to have a “spin” on the conventional Ad Network pitch that began last century, but all their economics essentially continues to pull-down to CPM. One ad network specialized in European and International traffic, another ad network specialize in the health care vertical. Yet another ad network specialized in TOTAL transparency from their supply side of publisher to their demand side of advertisers. So, why the sudden shift back to concepts such as ads and CPM? My guess would be that we are witnessing a reaction to massive amounts of net-new dollars pouring online, and CPM deals will always be the quickest and easiest deals to cut. As these new dollars mature, we should expect to witness them flowing upstream to higher-value delivery models such as CPC, CPA, CPL, and ultimately per LIVE Hot Transfer. Exchanges to the Rescue Exchanges also created quite a buzz. An exchange is like eBay – a market-maker that connects buyers and sellers (internally referred to as supply and demand). I personally witness at least a half dozen Exchanges at Ad:tech SF 2007:

CPM (etc.) Exchanges

• Adbrite
• RightMedia
• DoubleClick Exchange
• CPX

CPA Exchanges

• LeadPoint
• LeadPile
• No One Else*

*I found it interesting that Root Markets did not exhibit nor attend. I have always tended to resist referring to CustomLeads as an Exchange, since what the input is on the supply is not literally the same as what is pushed out to the demand side – there is indeed a valuable transformation process. In any case, I cannot say enough good things about Ad:tech 2007 and I look forward to seeing everyone again when CustomLeads exhibits at Ad:tech NYC in November.

Are Exclusive Leads A Myth?

There’s no such thing as an exclusive internet lead. Sound crazy? There are a LOT of lead companies out there selling them, including Customleadsdirect.

Yes, you can buy exclusive leads. But there’s a little confusion of what you’re getting for your money.

Exclusive leads are NOT:

• An iron clad guarantee you will be the only L.O. the prospect speaks to.
• A guarantee that the prospect won’t contact other lenders/brokers during their online search for a mortgage.

It’s the nature of the internet. Comparison-shopping consumers might visit a couple sites in their hunt for a mortgage. No lead company can claim that their site is the only one a prospect has submitted their information to.

Exclusive leads ARE:

• A guarantee that your company won’t share the lead with other L.O.s.
• A safer bet for L.O.s who don’t want to compete with anyone else for a prospect’s attention, or for those that may take days before contacting new leads.

No matter which leads you buy, shared or exclusive, the faster you respond to a new lead, the better your chance of contacting them and stopping them from looking elsewhere.

Before you sign up for exclusive leads, ask your rep what the average times sold for your state(s). If you’re in a less competitive market, your leads may only be sold one or two times. And in situations like that, it could be more cost-effective to stick with shared leads.

Don't Get Stuck With Bunk Leads

It’s a fact with ANY company you get online leads from: some leads you just can’t contact or pull an app on.

Online prospects don’t submit the right information 100% of the time. They mistype their phone number. Or they enter bogus info on purpose because they may have bad credit or a mobile home and they know that a lender just wont take the time to work with them under these circumstances.

Do you have to pay for those?

No way. At least, you shouldn’t have to. Some companies refuse to acknowledge that bogus leads happen, and have zero intention of replacing them.

Others make it a headache to get the return credit you deserve. When you try to get your money back, no one answers the phone, returns your call or replies to your email — until you just give up.

Don’t get burned by a company that holds your money hostage — refusing to credit you for their invalid leads and then pulling a disappearing act.

Your lead company is only as good as their return policy AND as good as their source!

Anyone can promise quality leads, but the test is if they make good on their word. Before you partner with a company, you need to know you won’t eat the cost of invalid leads.

Ask these questions to find out how they handle returns:

• How do you report an invalid lead? You’re too busy to hop on the phone and haggle for credit over every single bad lead. Find out if your company has an easy online system that lets you report on your leads 24/7. Some companies offer a Lead Feedback System, which lets you rate both your good leads and the bad ones that have invalid contact information.
• Are invalid leads monitored individually by a real person? A computerized system that automatically rejects your bad leads isn’t giving you the credit you deserve. Make sure your company has a Quality Assurance team that manually verifies each bad lead you’ve reported on and issues credit appropriately.
• Do they give you a generous window to report invalid leads? This is a BIG one. Any L.O. knows you can’t always get a lead on the phone the first time you call. But some companies only give you a day or two to rate bad leads. That’s not always enough time to figure out if a lead’s truly invalid, and then you’re stuck paying for it.
• How do they define an “invalid lead”? Not all companies have the same definition. Some won’t issue credit if just one piece of information is correct. That means if you’ve got a good email address but a bad phone number, you can’t return it. Clutch marketers need complete information — including phone, email address and mailing address — so they can plug each lead into all their ongoing campaigns.
• How are replacement credits issued? Make sure you have a clear understanding of how your account is credited.

Avoid getting stuck with a pile of worthless leads you can’t work and can’t get credit on. Before you make your next lead buy, get the details on your company’s return policy. This wil pay-off in the long run when spending you're hard earned cash on Mortgage Leads! To see an example of the right kind of lead management system check out CustomLeadsDirect; just use the word 'demo' for the client name and password..

Avoid “Stale” Leads

It’s a no-brainer. Get on a lead while their interest is still hot, and your chance of taking an app goes way up.

The folks at MyLoan123 have even proved this. They found interest begins to slip with every 30-minute lag after a prospect submits their info online.

So when you’re paying full price for a lead, you expect one of two things:

1. You get the lead seconds after they requested a quote online, OR

2. You get it seconds after the lead’s interest was verified over the phone.

But that’s not the kind of lead some companies are selling. They might be charging you “real-time” prices… but they’re busy filling your order with names scraped from old databases. Or they’re dipping into leads they already sold — last week.

And they’re not televerifying leads to make sure they’re still interested in hearing from you.

A lot of L.O.’s are winding up with these “stale” leads… and their ROI is tanking.

Before you buy, try to find out how long a company waits before they send your leads.

Ask them:

Are the leads timestamped? And what does that prove?

Timestamping leads is a type of quality control… IF you know what that number really stands for. Usually the timestamp reflects when the lead entered the company’s distribution system.

Now it may only take seconds between when a lead requests to be contacted online, enters the distribution system and when it is electronically verified and sent on to you.

These kinds of leads are as real-time as it gets. BUT… does your lead company forward 100% of your leads that way? Or are any held back and sent later?

Are the leads televerifed if they aren’t sent in real-time?

Believe it or not, sometimes a lead that’s a little delayed is every bit as fresh as a real-time one — as long as it’s televerified.

I’ll explain. A good company electronically verifies contact info for incoming leads in real time. But some leads are flagged for having questionable info. Instead of passing these leads on to you, the company holds them back so their info and interest can be confirmed over the phone by a company rep.

Once televerified, that lead is put back into distribution and is delivered to buyers like you. The timestamp might be off, but it’s still super fresh. In fact, it’s even been warmed up for your phone call. The lead has literally just said, “Yes, I’m interested”, and is waiting to hear from L.O.s.

Your company should also make taking advantage of their real-time delivery as convenient as possible. When leads come straight to your email, wireless phone, PDA or laptop, you can get on them while their interest is hottest.

Watch out for companies that won’t explain in detail what happens to your lead BEFORE it’s sent to you.

And remember: if a company sells “aged” or “vintage” leads, these are not real-time — and should always come with a hefty discount! For a great example of a site that shows the age of the leads available to you check out

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Custom Leads Guide to Purchasing Online Mortgage Leads

The Internet has revolutionized the way consumers shop. Enter a search for any product or service, like “online mortgage leads”, into any search engine and you’ll find millions of results. So how do differentiate between the hundreds of online mortgage leads companies out there? That’s what this article aims to answer.

Every day thousands of homeowners fill out forms on vast networks of mortgage lead generation websites with an interest in finding more information on home mortgage loans or requesting quotes from mortgage lenders. This information is then organized and distributed by online mortgage lead companies such as Custom Leads. The nature of the Internet allows nationwide competition. Hundreds of mortgage lead brokers and lead generation companies are competing for the business of lenders or brokers such as yourselves.

In our mortgage leads purchasing guide, we aim to explore four fundamental issues any mortgage broker or loan officer should consider:

1. What do I look for in high quality internet mortgage leads? 2. What are reasonable expectations of an internet mortgage lead company? 3. What are the best ways to close these internet mortgage leads? 4. Questions to ask and things to look for in any mortgage broker

1. What do I look for in high quality internet mortgage leads?

Determining quality leads is like running a fast-food restaurant. You want freshness, speed, and accuracy in your orders to best satisfy your customers - or in this case, home owners.

High quality mortgage leads are fresh

Food fresh off the grill is always better than something that’s been sitting the fridge for a few days. When considering the quality of a mortgage lead, you need to know exactly how long ago they were generated. The best option for fresh leads is real-time leads, where the lead is delivered instantly right after someone has completed filling out a form online. Some lenders have different tastes and budgets in mortgage leads, and opt to go with slightly aged data. At the minimum, you want mortgage leads to be no older than 48 hours (Custom Leads offers these in the form of batch leads). The more time that passes between filling out the form and receiving a call, the less likely the lead is to close. The case often arises where clients even deny filling out a form because they’ve simply forgotten about it by the time a lender gets back to them. So long story short, get it while it’s hot.

High quality mortgage leads are accurate

Mortgage lead companies invest most of their budget into generating quality leads that are accurate. Leaps and bounds have been made in obtaining accurate information from homeowners, but no company can completely stop users from entering inaccurate or fraudulent data. Custom Leads compares borrower entered information against a database to make sure data is accurate. Zip codes match cities, no “555″ numbers, no fictional names (Apparently Mickey Mouse owns a home in 46 states). Better yet, avoid the hassle and consider call verified leads (also known as telemarketing leads) for guaranteed contact info. The best leads possible are live transfers, where the lead company actually calls the client, verifies all of their information and interest the mortgage, then transfers the call directly to the lender for them to close. (Custom Leads offers call verified and live transfers as well).

The lead is actually a real lead

What’s a real lead? A lead generated by someone who has a real interest in obtaining a mortgage. Be sure to avoid “incentivized leads” such as offers for a free iPod or gift certificate for filling out a form. These leads are absolutely worthless. Mortgage leads should be generated from borrowers who voluntarily enter their information.

2. What are reasonable expectations of an internet mortgage lead company?

Closing Rates

Lead brokers are just that - lead brokers. Just like any kind of sales leads, you can’t expect all of them to close. Close rates of 8% to 14% are common, and go as high as 20%. Expect a better close rates on live transfers.

Direct Contact with your Account Executive

You’re busy. You don’t have time to punch through phone menus and listen to music while on hold. Look for a mortgage leads company that offers a direct line to your account representative for the fastest service possible. A few minutes could be the difference between closing and losing that big loan.

Generous Lead Returns and Crediting

You’re bound to run into a few bad leads. Expect your lead company to accept returns for legitimate reasons like bad phone number or disconnects, and credit you appropriately.

3. What are the best ways to close these internet mortgage leads?

This is a very simple concept. The faster you contact the lead, the better your chances of the closing the lead. After you make contact, find out exactly what they’re looking for and offer them your best quote. Remember that you may be competing with a handful of other lenders. Follow up as quick as you can and answer any questions or objections your lead has. It all comes down to speed.

4. Questions to ask and things to look for in any mortgage broker

Internet seals of approval

The Internet is full of misleading websites and con-artists. Look for widely used seals of approval and associations on their home page:

National Association of Mortgage Brokers Better Business Bureau Dun & Bradstreet Verified

How many times are your leads sold?

When purchasing leads, make sure your lead company isn’t overselling leads they generate. The best leads are exclusive, where you are the only person bidding on the potential mortgage. However, there is nothing to stop borrowers from filling out forms on other websites for the same mortgage. Semi-exclusive leads are more common, where leads are sold to only a handful of brokers.

How are the leads delivered?

Find out what format your mortgage leads are delivered in. The best companies can accommodate any format that you’re most comfortable with. Choices include email as an Adobe Acrobat file or on an excel sheet, as a text file, or viewable through their website.

How do you generate your leads?

Find out exactly how your leads company is generating their Internet mortgage leads. Make sure there is absolutely no incentivizing.