Wednesday, March 28, 2007

 

Should Small Companies Blog?

Fast Company as recently (ironically?) blogged about this question (posted below).

It's an interesting question and challenges us to think about how and why blogs are or are not an important tool for companies. Fast Company argues that blogs are just one more way to gain some visibility. That is certainly a reality today, however the analysis leaves out two important points. One, that blogs are obviously more useful to companies that can sell their products across the country or across the world than companies which are inherently local (as in the Fast Company example). Also, Leads360 recognizes that a blog is a more appropriate forum to have a more wide-ranging conversation with our customers than our website. A friendly conversation with your a car salesman about the NCAA tournament might brighten your outlook and deepen your connection to the product but it would not be appropriate on the manufacturers main website or advertisement. Blogs are accepted as an "informal" mode of communication which can be valuable to any business that values their customers.


Should Small Companies Blog?

I scrolled through Technorati today looking for a blog topic, and I simply typed “technology” to see what would come up. Not surprisingly, the search engine produced a wide variety of sites from a guitarist offering online guitar lessons to a blog about online college degrees.

Nothing intrigued me enough and I continued to look down the page and I noticed a blog titled “Meet Dr. William Boothe.” Unless you’re from Dallas, TX or in the eye-care industry, you might not have had any reason to click on the title. But I grew up in Dallas, and Dr. Boothe’s name is plastered on billboards, his commercials are all over the radio, and he even sponsored prizes at Dallas Mavericks games. My thunder-sticks could not escape his campaign. In Dallas, no one could flee his advertising conquest, but now I can read about him in a blog! Yes, a little slice of home from my work computer in New York.

So, obviously, I click on the site to see what someone had written about the man who helped pioneer the LASIK eye-care industry, but, to my dismay, Dr. Booth wrote his own blog, about himself. A slight self-call, but not unusual in the “blogosphere,” although, somewhat unusual as an advertising technique I assumed.

Blogs have become a tool small businesses must use, according to allbusiness.com, a site that gives advice to small businesses and entrepreneurs. While, I slightly disagree with the comment because I do not think many people will read a blog about a floral company, produced by that floral company, I do think this tactic would work well with those in private practices, like Dr. Boothe. Lawyers would also be great candidates for blogs as well.

In Dr. Boothe’s case, his blog reads more like a resume, or an informational section on his website, but I can’t find a link to his blog from his website. Slightly strange, but then I click on the section titled “About Dr. Boothe,” and I realize he just copied and pasted the words from his website to a separate site for a blog. In effect, he realized that having the blog on the website did very little because those people on the website can read the website to learn about his company. By making the blog separate, he connects to other people who would not have heard of him, or had any reason to look for his name.

This strategy reflects his overall advertising technique in Dallas. Advertise everywhere available. His name pops up on Google as the first choice when you search directly for him, but not when you search under “technology.” He has created a new way for other people, worldwide, to know him and access his accomplishments by creating a blog. People, who have no reason to look up LASIK eye-care can see his name simply by looking under “technology” on technorati.

Of course, does all this work? I don’t know; I used Dr. George Joseph.

http://blog.fastcompany.com/archives/2007/03/28/should_small_companies_blog.html



 

Sub-Prime Mortage Turmoil

As the discussion of embattled Sub-Prime mortgage lenders heats up, we are often asked about how Leads360 is affected by the market as a whole. Thankfully, our Lead Management software is increasingly valuable as competition heats up amongst lenders. Lead Manager software is what successful lenders are using to maintain their effectiveness in the increasingly tight business climate.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

 

When Your Customers Use Leads360, Everyone Wins!.

We value our partners as much as our clients. When your customers use Leads360 they increase contact ratios and close more deals. Ultimately your customers purchase more leads or services, and remain customers for longer. Quite simply, that means more money in your pocket. Click here to learn about our program or go directly to the referral form.

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Wednesday, March 07, 2007

 

Heartland Home Finance Deters Lead Theft with LeadGuardian

New Software Solution Also Serves as Valuable Training Tool

Challenge:
• Wanted a reliable method to prevent loan officers from stealing leads
• Wanted a method to monitor loan officers’ phone and email communication with leads
• Needed a system that would provide insight into activities at multiple loan offices

Solution:
• Implemented Leads360’s LeadGuardian® software to reveal if lead theft is occurring.
• Alerts are emailed to company management to see if employees are contacting leads legitimately
• Recording of outgoing emails and voice mail messages scrutinizes whether loan officers are correctly following company policy
• Improved performance of new employees, who use previously recorded interactions between employees and clients as a sales training tool

Results:
• Lead theft reduced
• Management now has a valuable deterrent against losing leads when loan officers depart.

As a result of implementing Leads360’s LeadGuardian® software, we began to see a lot of missed opportunities to close sales. Through the system I was able to peer into a specific branch office right down to the loan officer level to see what they were doing on a daily basis. Most small companies don’t have the technology to be able to do this. Leads360 made it very cost-effective to have this advantage. Now even smaller companies can achieve security and high performance like a much larger company.

Jay Dunsing, President, Heartland Home Finance

After more than 20 years in the mortgage business, Jay Dunsing knows what works and what doesn’t. As president of Heartland Home Finance, he’s been very active in his company’s development, and relies on Leads360 to keep Heartland at the forefront of technology and customer service.

“I am a huge Leads360 fan. Their products have really changed my company for the better, and their ability to listen to my needs and address them is by far the best of any vendor I’ve dealt with,” Dunsing said. “They are absolutely fantastic.”



So it wasn’t surprising that Dunsing would turn to Leads360 to address a chronic problem in the mortgage business – the loss of company-acquired leads through employee theft.

“In my business turnover is rampant,” Dunsing reported. “Our company has 200% turnover every year at the loan officer level. Some of our loan officers leave and join other mortgage companies and steal all the leads I developed for them, and close them at another company. My goal was to detect that theft by integrating fake leads into the system, which would hopefully deter other employees from attempting the same pilfering. “

Leads360 created LeadGuardian®, a module of Leads360’s LeadManager® lead management software application. The new software, which operates seamlessly with a mortgage company’s lead database, randomly places “check” leads within the database that are integrated with an e-mail and voicemail system that records messages and caller information. Alerts are emailed to company management who can hear mp3 files or read emails to see if their employees are contacting leads legitimately or if lead theft is occurring.

“The counterfeit leads are very easy to create, and each one has a unique email address and a unique 10 digit phone number. There’s no way my loan officers can detect that it’s a fake lead,” Dunsing said. “I then assign it directly to one of my loan officers; they make the call, which goes into a voicemail that is digitally recorded. That process has already shown me that I have a problem with how people leave voicemail messages, when they leave them at all.” Dunsing responded by creating a focus on proper phone procedure, to avoid any further missed opportunities.

“My fabricated client then calls back to that loan officer, and their conversation is recorded, so I can find out if they are they handling the conversation in a way that conforms to what corporate wants them to do.” LeadGuardian® also records all email communication, allowing Dunsing an opportunity to discover whether his employees are sending out automatic emails, or responding with an email that is specifically related to that customer’s circumstances.

“ LeadGuardian® will have a significant impact as a training tool for our loan officers,” Dunsing said. “When I bring a new officer on board, they’ll be able to hear prior conversations other officers have had with clients so they know what to expect when they get on the phone.”

The addition of LeadGuardian® to Heartland Home Finance’s LeadManager® software application has proven “invaluable,” according to Dunsing. “To try to determine ROI on the overall concept is impossible, but for us, we couldn’t function without it. I have 30 branches around the country, and this is the only way I can understand what’s going on in all of them. I can’t be in two places at once, much less 30 places, but I can with Leads360.”

 

We came. We saw. We conquered. We moved.

Leads360 is happy to announce that we have moved into a new building! We are thrilled with our new space and we look forward to being able to host our customers.

1265 S. Cochran Avenue
, Los Angeles, CA 90019

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