How to Find Prospects That BUY!
by Robert Imbriale, Internet Marketing Expert

One of the questions that comes up most often in my business is this; "Where do you find high quality fresh, responsive prospects?" And then I hear the next series of questions; Do you buy them? Do you rent them? Who do you buy or rent them from? How do find out who has them in the first place?

Although the answers to these questions are not complicated, they can be a little overwhelming to the uninitiated. So, let's take it step-by-step and you'll see, there really is nothing to it!

There are dozens of ways to find prospects, and there are companies all over the place that would be more than willing to sell you as many prospects as you could ever want and/or need!

Prospecting is a "buyer beware" type of business so let me share with you some of the things you need to know about buying prospecting leads so that your money is well invested and that you get the results you are seeking.

Let's start by getting clear on what a "good" prospect really is. To begin with, I like to ask myself the question, "Who is already doing business with my prospects?" To answer that question means that I have to be crystal-clear on who my ideal prospects are.

When I bring this up in my seminars, I'll always ask, "Who is your ideal prospect?" And very often I get people telling me that "everybody" is their ideal prospect! Now, I can't speak for you, but what I do know is that there is not a single product or service in existence that everybody buys, has bought, or will buy! You may think that everybody "needs" your product or service, and while that might be partly true, remember, people only buy what they "want" not what they "need."

What you do want to find out is what publications your ideal prospects read? For instance, if you sell Internet Web sites, you may want to go after people who have a business, or who may be planning to start a business. You'll find these people read certain magazines, newsletters, and that many of them frequent certain types of web sites.

You may also find many of these people have certain other things in common. They may earn more than $100,000 per year, for example, or they may drive certain types of cars, they may own homes worth more than $250,000, etc. These items are known as "demographics."

This is a big word that really only means that we have created a group of names based on some data such as average household income, average age, average home purchase price, etc. Demographics, in short, are simply another way to segment out your perfect prospects.

When it comes to buying prospects, you have some choices to make. Do you want to spend a lot of money per name and get a better quality lead and likely a much higher response rate, or do you prefer to spend less money, get more names and get a lower response rate?

Here's the difference. You can rent a "compiled" list of prospects for very little money... usually about a nickel a name. These lists are compiled from many data sources, and may or may not be ideal for your offer. In other words, the list is compiled using a loose set of criteria and the names on that list may be very interested in your, or may only hold a casual interest, or even no interest at all. You will have no way of knowing this in advance without actually testing the list with your mailing.

My favorite lists are subscriber lists. Think about this. A person who pays money to a magazine to receive the publication each month is serious about that topic. So serious, they were willing to drop their own money to get access to the information contained in the publication. This very publication may well rent out their subscriber list to advertisers just like you.

Subscriber lists cost more money per name and deliver significantly better results because the names are simply qualified at a higher level. In other words, it's a very good bet that a person who subscribes to a home business magazine has a serious interest in working from home. Now if you sell a product or service that benefits a home office professional, you'll find that this list would be a very good choice for your mailing.