Leadpile’s Blog

Landing a fish is just like landing a customer. Why do some businesses fail when others succeed? Here are 10 ways to keep your business afloat.
1. Know what you’re after: Know your products demographics, typically 20% of your audience will generate 80% of your revenue.
2. Know where to fish for your customers: Now that you know your customer find out where they spend their time. Find the blogs they read, the social networking sites they frequent, and their sites of interest.
3. Be aware of your competition: Do some investigating of your competition. See what design style, copy, images are working for them. Don’t necessarily copy but know what’s out there so you can learn.
4. Use good bait: Your product isn’t the only one. Make sure you use compelling graphics, catchy copy and have some value to your site to make your product stand out amongst the rest.
5. Setting the hook: Make sure once your customer bites you have an amazing offer they can’t pass up. It’s your job to get them threw the door once they’ve come a knockin.
6. Forget catch and release: Remember is a lot more cost efficient to re-sell to an existing customer. Re-marketing, high-quality affiliate offers and up-sells are great ways to retain customers.
7. Test the waters: Try different marketing campaigns, A/B test landing pages, test time and/or day of the week. Find when your product best performs and increase your ROI.
8. Don’t get discouraged: You’re not going to know everything over night. Continue to educate yourself on your competition and bettering your offer, you’ll land your big fish soon enough.
9. Partner up to get a bigger catch: Partner up with sites that can help you real in a bigger catch, having an offer that compliments yours on your site and referring traffic can be a great idea.
10. Enjoy the trip: Be proud of what you’ve learned, not everyone will succeed but enjoy the journey of trying.

In recent news Amazon.com rolled out that they will be using customer feedback to help market products on their website.  According to DMNews, “The company announced this week it has formed a “Holiday Customer Review Team,” comprised of six of its top customer reviewers.” These reviewers are going to provide helpful tools to fellow Amazon.com customers. This is something that caught my eye because you don’t normally see companies utilizing the very same people that are also customers. Customers listen to other customers, so this could be a good thing for Amazon.
Today will officially start the Cyber Monday, which refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday, the kick-off of the holiday online shopping season in the United States between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hopefully, with the kickoff of the shopping season, we will see more customer feedback being used to help guide customers on shopping “smarter”.
Besides shopping websites, sites such as Leadpile Lead Exchange use things such as testimonials to help provide feedback. Testimonials, customer feedback and other forms of “product review” are great ways for companies to know what’s working and what’s not working in their company. Nobody knows a company better than the people actually using it!

With all the demand for autos to become more eco-friendly, high performance AND attractive looking, Tesla Motors feels like they have what people are maybe looking for. This high demanded car is the Tesla Roadster. The battery operated car is a 2 seater sports car that you can customize fully. Unfortunately, the price tag is not affordable to most consumers at $109,000. According to their website, there is a 12 month wait to get one built. Their goal is to roll out a 4 door sedan at around $60, 000, which is much higher then the GM’s sedan (Volt)they will be rolling out in 2010. GM is estimating the cost of their battery operated sedan to be around $40,000. I will say there is a very interesting fact about the chairman of Tesla Motors, and that is that he was the co-founder of Paypal. Time will tell if this Silicon Valley start-up can get the auto world headed in the right direction towards a more eco-friendly world.
Leadpile Lead Exchange generates a lot of auto finance leads. Unfortunately, I am not sure we are going to come across advertisers/dealers in our marketplace able to provide this new beauty…..yet. However, we do welcome any company able to generate auto finance leads!

How many of you read the fine print at the bottom of your credit card or loan applications? I know I don’t always do that, and I am learning that maybe we ALL need to pay closer attention to the fine print of agreements we sign. The reason we want to make sure and do this is with a practice called “universal default”. According to Bankrate.com, if you are late to ANYONE (lenders) you have the potential of having your interest rate adjust really high, potentially affecting your payment amounts, and maybe even affect your credit. Bankrate states that the complaints about this happening is increasing because more and more customers are feeling the affects of it. In years past some credit card companies and lenders would not implement this practice. However, with tougher times affecting all businesses, they are resorting to “old” practices such as universal default.
An example of this would be if you had a debt owed to creditor A, and you fell 30 days late on it. Creditor A could call up creditor B to inform them that you fell behind on their debt. Because of what creditor A said, creditor B (who you are currently paying on time) could increase the interest rate you are being charged. This is legal because of the tiny print in your creditor agreement where it talks about universal default. Basically it gives the creditors a right to adjust the interest rate on any of your creditors if you are 30 days or more late on another one. In years past this provision was in loan agreements, but not always enforced.
Word to the wise….. read all the fine print and ask lots of questions before doing any new loans or debts.
Leadile Lead Exchange can help those customers that maybe get in the situation where they get behind on their accounts, because of situations like this.

We all say…. ” I would never get a payday loan”, however do you realize who the standard payday loan customer really is? According to paydayfacts.org, there are some common factors about those taking out a payday loan.

1. The majority of payday advance customers earn between $25,000 and $50,000 annually.
2. Sixty-eight percent are under 45 years old and only 4 percent are over the age of 65.
3. Ninety-four percent have a high school diploma or better, and 56 percent have some college or a degree.
4. Forty-two percent own their own homes.
5. The majority are married and 64 percent have children in the household.
6. One hundred percent have steady incomes and active bank accounts, because both are required to receive a payday loan.

Do any of these statistics surprise you? At one point of another we will all go through some sort of hardship, and potentially a payday loan or other short term loan might be your saving grace.
Leadpile Lead Exchange understands there are many people who need a little extra “help”, in receiving a payday loan. We generate thousands of payday loan leads each day, and these people I am sure really need the assistance.

Need AUTO FINANCE leads?
How about PAYDAY LOAN leads?
DEBT leads by chance?
What about CREDIT REPAIR leads?
No wait, how about BUSINESS CASH ADVANCE leads?

No matter what type of lead you are looking for, Leadpile is probably generating it…or can potentially generate it for you. Leadpile Lead Exchange is made up of buyers and sellers of real time web based leads. We are always looking for new buyers of leads to join our marketplace. Where else can you:

1. Get various leads types in one place?
2. Set your pricing you are comfortable with?
3. Define exactly what filters you want?
4. Get top notch customer service to answer your questions and provide support?
5. Work with a company that “does the right thing”, and is always wanting to have our buyers and sellers that are “doing the right thing”.
6. Have the ability to have leads posted to your website, redirected to your site, delivered on email or able to downloaded reports at any time!

What are you waiting for? Try out the Leadpile experience!
For those of you that are already buying or selling leads.. THANK YOU!!

“Customer Service is a function of how well an organization is able to constantly and consistently exceed the needs of the customer.”    

I had to go shopping for a new car this week and went to 2 different known dealerships in town. One I had never been to before and one I had been to many times.

We started out at a Chevy dealership because of an ad that I saw in the paper that read “Employee Pricing on all new cars.” I thought I could look at the new cars, see what I qualify for and then if I needed to get a used car. I told them the model that I wanted to see then proceeded to look at 4 different makes and models of car that I really did not want and they were all used. The salesman had decided to show us all used cars even though I told them about the ad and what I wanted. We left that lot and went down the road to a Dodge dealer.

At the Dodge dealer I told the salesman exaclty which model I wanted and we went straight for the ones that were on the lot. They were the new 2009 models and I liked them all except the color. They had 1 used car in the color I liked, decent miles and was in excelent condition so I ended up getting that one.

If the salesman at the Chevy dealer would have just shown me what I wanted I may have ended up getting one of the used cars, who knows. He made a decision to show me what he wanted to show me and not what I wanted to see. He called a couple days later and I informed him that I bought another car that same night down the street. He wished me luck and I did the same. Now I know that I should just stick with who gives me great service everytime we go there and don’t try using someone else because they advertise a good looking deal.

We here at Leadpile strive to make your experiences with us easy and enjoyable and do what we can to keep you coming back again and again.  I believe that we at Leadpile have the Best Customer Service you can find!

In today’s internet savvy world, consumers are going to online search engines to find businesses in their area. Years ago local businesses would advertise in the local newspaper or even post flyers around the town. However, to be successful, businesses are having to maximize their online presence too.
According to DMNews, “80% of an indi­vidual’s income is spent within about 50 miles of their home. With 95% of the potential local search advertising market today remaining untouched, this is a huge opportunity for businesses.” Local search traffic is very targeted, however the bottom-line is the advertiser is getting a very targeted customer AND at a cheaper cost.
Since print publications are becoming less and less prevalent, companies must come up with ways to get customers in other ways. Using methods such as local search will allow these companies to find the customers they are looking for. Companies should also be looking at purchasing leads from lead companies such as Leadpile.
Leapile Lead Exchange understands that advertisers are looking for geo-targeted leads. In combination with our publishers, Leadpile is generating nationwide leads that can potentially meet the needs of all sorts of advertisers, in all areas of the country. For this reason, advertisers utilizing companies such as Leadpile, is ideal to increase the company’s ROI.

Many in the world would be so jealous of a particular women who had a lot of debt (20k), created a website, and asked for help. This equaled HUGE success for a lady named Karyn. You have to hear about this success story and really how effective the internet is…. and that there are lots of other people in the world with lots of debt! The difference is: Karyn asked for help and got it!

Debt is a common part of what each person in America has, but have you ever thought about taking control of it by asking for help through “other” means? Most of us have not, however what we do do is either continue to struggle paying the minimum payments each month, or we just stop paying them. However, maybe more of us need to get creative and use some different resources to get help.
Then again, there is the traditional way and that is to try and work with specialized debt consolidation/debt settlement companies that help customers in this situation. I know a lot of people are submitting their request for more information about debt help, because the debt lead type is a HUGE lead type in the Leadpile Lead Exchange. Not all of us are as bold and entrepreneurial as Karyn! Either way, I give her props because she is now debt free and continuing her life now as a successful author.
IF YOU WANT IT… GO OUT & GET IT!

The Following is a from Bankrate.com by Laura Bruce, September 12^th, 2005. I thought this would be an interesting post for People following Online Payday at the Lead Exchaneg Blog.

It’s a tempting alternative to walking into the check-cashing store on the corner. Online payday lenders are popping up on the Internet, offering fast, short-term loans to cash-strapped consumers, in the anonymous comfort of cyberspace.

But if you borrow from these businesses, you might have more to worry about than the astronomical interest rates traditionally associated with payday lenders in general.

For starters, you’ll provide an amazing amount of personal data — Social Security number, driver’s license number, mother’s maiden name and, of course, your name, address and employment information — to the Web site.

You’ll also give your checking account number and bank routing number, so the lender will have access to your account. The lender will deposit your loan into your checking account and dip into your account to extract interest, fees and the principal. Some require that you fax them your latest pay stub, most recent bank statement, photo ID and a voided check.

But to whom are you giving this information? More than likely you won’t have a clue. Many Web sites that pop up when you do a search for something such as “payday loans” aren’t lenders at all. Take Advance Cash Loans, which states at the bottom of its home page, “Advance Cash Loans is not an online provider of online payday cash advances. We simply connect people seeking fast cash advances with online providers of instant cash advances so they can get the advance cash that they need, as soon as possible.”

A Consumer Federation of America (CFA) survey, of 100 online payday lenders and referrals sites, found that many are run from outside the United States and, perhaps, out of reach of American laws.

“You don’t know where your information is going,” says Jean Ann Fox, director of consumer protection at CFA.

“Many times you can’t find who the domain is registered to. There are Internet payday lenders outside the country, in Canada and on islands in the Caribbean that you can’t find with a magnifying glass. It’s like handing a stranger a blank check.”

Bankrate.com tried to contact three payday lenders. Only one could be contacted, and no one there would answer questions or return calls.

Are these businesses fly-by-night scammers that will steal your identity, trap you into budget-busting, long-term borrowing habits, or illegally siphon money out of your bank account? Nope, not necessarily. But you should think long and hard before sending your information to companies that are so stingy about their own information, Fox says.

“If you borrow from them, you’re not seen in line at the corner payday lender, so there’s privacy and that might be a selling point. But I hope it’s offset by sending all that personal information over the Internet. It’s a financial strip search. They want every piece of your financial information. People should be afraid to provide that information. I wouldn’t want to give that to someone over the counter, much less over the Internet.”

Traditional payday lenders — the so-called brick-and-mortar shops — are represented by Community Financial Services of America, a trade association. Online payday lenders have no such organization and, therefore, have no one to represent them. But Andy Jacob, CEO of Leadpile.com, a company that seeks leads for salespeople in the cash-advance business and other industries, calls the growth in online payday lending “explosive.”

“What’s happening in online is happening fast and furious. The major players are trying to position themselves to be the leader online. It’s a bifurcated space right now. There are many players that are lead generators that aren’t in the payday loan space and they’re attempting to secure the lead to themselves. Many payday-loan companies are late to the game. It’s challenging to figure out which company is doing what right now.”

The growth of online payday lending is presenting problems for state law enforcement officials and consumer advocates. Earlier this year, the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation ordered 91 companies marketing Internet payday loans to stop. The companies were reportedly charging annual percentage rates averaging 300 percent and fees averaging $30. The state says none of the companies were licensed to offer loans to residents.

Some of the letters we sent to these companies were returned when the post office was unable to find the address,” says David Cotney, senior deputy commissioner at the Massachusetts Division of Banks. “That reinforces our concern about consumers handing over personal information. That’s one of the reasons licensing is required; it gives the consumer some recourse.”

James Brusselback, enforcement chief at Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, says his division is investigating some 10 online payday lenders.

“The difficulty with the online outfits is in locating them, and then some of them claim that our state law doesn’t apply to them, so we have that issue of trying to bring them under our state law. I guess part of their argument is that they’re not located in the state and that their home-state law is sufficient to protect their customers. The requirements in those states — Nevada and Utah — are far less than what we require.”

Karolyn Klohe, financial legal examiner in Brusselback’s department, says consumers can have a tough time stopping online payday lenders from taking money out of their accounts.

“A common complaint against online payday lenders is that the customer is required to give banking information, whereas if they walk into a payday lender store they give them a postdated check. But what’s happening online is the payday lender uses the bank information to make unauthorized withdrawals from the consumer’s account. They say they’re collecting funds owed to them. They can make these withdrawals in a way they can’t with a postdated check.”

Turning to a payday lender — online or on the corner — is almost universally discouraged by consumer advocates. But the alternatives can seem thin to someone who needs cash to see them through to the next paycheck. Many banks offer bounced-check protection plans that consumer advocates often equate with payday lending. A notable difference, perhaps, is that the consumer is less likely to be able to overdraw several times and end up owing money they probably can’t repay.

“The long-term solutions include getting a good spending plan and building a nest egg of savings,” says Fox. If you can afford to pay $45 every payday to keep a $300 loan from bouncing, then you can afford to save it so you don’t need to borrow in the future.

“Pawn shops are cheaper than payday loans. On rare occasions you can ask your employer for an advance. Negotiate directly with whomever you owe. Get a second job. Put off purchases until you can pay. None of these are comfortable. It’s appealing to write the check without having money in your checking account and walk out with cash, but it comes at a high price.”

In their survey of Internet payday loan sites, CFA found that loans of $200 to $2,500 were available, but $500 was the most-frequently offered. Finance charges ranged from $10 per $100 up to $30 per $100 borrowed. The most common rate of $25 per $100 translates into an annual percentage rate of approximately 650 percent if the loan is repaid in two weeks.

Many states have passed laws regulating payday and small loan laws. Consumer Federation of America has compiled important information that consumers should be familiar with before borrowing.

Webster’s says that Customer service is “Assistance and other resources that a company provides to the people who buy or use its products or services.” It also says that a Customer “Is a person who purchases goods or services from another; buyer; patron.”

 So how do we handle the different types of customers? First, we define them.

1. The Satisfied Customer – Everything always works out and is in perfect order all the time.
2. The Never Satisfied Customer – No matter what happens nothing is ever right and nothing can ever fix it.
3. The Impatient Customer – Wants everything done now, even if the people and services are not available. MAKE IT HAPPEN! NOW!
4. The Trying to Get Stuff for Free Customer – They want something for nothing and will try to get a free “whatever” from you to make them happy.

 These are all types of customers that we all may or may not have seen, dealt with or been at one time or another and all know what they are like. What we need to do is act like Customer Service Representatives and treat them all as individual types and not all the same. You don’t treat an Impatient Customer like a Trying to Get Something for Free and offer them something else when all they want is what they came in for.  Use the skills that you have been trained to use and then you can make every customer feel special and appreciated.  

 Read Customer Service Tips… We should all know. This should help to know what skills are needed.

 At Leadpile we are dedicated to giving the best Customer Service possible so that every customer is a Satisfied Customer.  We want to make your experience with us the best that it can be.