0 to 10 million leads : lessons learned from the lead gen trenches
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Presented by
Ian SmithPowered by
![Page 2: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
My name is Ian Smith
• I work for QuoteWizard• And I want to talk to you about the anatomy
of a successful lead gen company
![Page 3: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Dillon, MT
![Page 4: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Seattle, WA
![Page 5: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Three topics
• How to build great lead gen funnels• How to build great teams• How to innovate at scale
![Page 6: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
About Ian Smith
Industry Veteran• 8 years of experience• Helped sell over 10,000,000 leads• First employee at QuoteWizard• As VP of Technology: Built our platform• As VP of Operations: Drive continuous
improvement of our business
![Page 7: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
How to build great lead gen funnels
Step 1: Learn to ride the rapidsStep 2: Test your heart out
![Page 8: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Learn to ride the rapids
![Page 9: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Learn to ride the rapids
Two hardest things in lead gen:• Getting consumers to start• Getting consumers to share their phone #
![Page 10: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Learn to ride the rapids
![Page 11: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
What can go wrong
• Not debugging• Building defensively• Assuming the visitor knows what to do• Failing to iterate
![Page 12: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Test your heart out
• Your funnel can always be better• You need to test• You need to be bold• And be prepared to be surprised
![Page 13: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
Example
• We challenged our design team to make QuoteWizard look cool
![Page 14: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Our old home insurance lander
![Page 15: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Our new insurance lander
![Page 16: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Which one will work better?
A. B.
![Page 17: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Which one will work better?
-26%
![Page 18: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Why?
![Page 19: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
Looking at the heat map for A
![Page 20: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Looking at the heat map for B
![Page 21: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
What can go wrong
• You make assumptions• You trust your assumptions• You fail to test your assumptions
• But testing and empirical decision making isn’t everyone’s strong suit
![Page 22: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
What can go wrong
• You make assumptions• You trust your assumptions• You fail to test your assumptions
• But testing and empirical decision making isn’t everyone’s strong suit : you’ll need a team
![Page 23: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
How to build great teams
Step 1: Know who you needStep 2: Hire slowStep 3: Fight crazies
![Page 24: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
QuoteWizard’s Team
![Page 25: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
QuoteWizard’s Team
![Page 26: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
The four people you need
• Data Scientists– To ask: Does this really work?
• Marketers– To ask: What if…?
• Developers– To ask: How?
• Sales People– To ask: Would you like to try?
![Page 27: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
How to find good people
1. Hire slow2. Ask good questions3. Stress test
![Page 28: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
Good people are like time machines
![Page 29: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
Ask good questions
• Start with the job post– What questions do you have about our company?– What relevant experience do you have?– Do you prefer SQL or Excel to solve a problem?
• Multiple in person interviews– Describe a time when you had to deliver bad news.– Describe an interaction with a difficult customer.– Describe a project that was going badly and you
helped turn around.
![Page 30: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
Stress Test
Potential candidates should be able to demonstrate the required skills:• Sales person: Do a test call• Developer: Write code to solve a problem• Analyst: Derive findings from sample data• Client Services: Answer an email
Get messy : multiple tests, followups, white boardsGive feedback and see how they respond
![Page 31: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
Fighting crazies
1. Set expectations2. Aggressively check-in3. Serve people
![Page 32: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
Bad people are like groundhog day
![Page 33: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
Set expectations
• Verbal is not enough!• Write it down:– Job Description– Key Results Areas– Career Development Goals
![Page 34: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
Aggressively check-in
• Project and task follow-up• Regular 1 on 1s• Written weekly reports– Why should I be happy you were here this week?– High for the week:– Low for the week:
• Written corrections when something is wrong
![Page 35: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
Serve people
• Your job as a leader is to serve the people who work for you
• Often the best service you can provide is showing certain people the door
You will never say to yourself : “Man, I fired that person too quickly”
![Page 36: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
How to innovate at scale
• You got a funnel. You got customers. You got a team.
![Page 37: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)
How to innovate at scale
• You got a funnel. You got customers. You got a team. Now your problems scale exponentially.
• So how do you keep focus and innovate at scale?
![Page 38: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
How to innovate at scale
• Step 1: Create a funnel for ideas• Step 2: Pick priorities• Step 3: Keep learning
![Page 39: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
Funnel for Ideas
• Your goal: Make your team compete on execution, not origination
• We use the PreKickoff
![Page 40: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
PreKickoff Basics
Anyone can have an idea30 minute meeting with 4 or 5 interested parties to ask:• What do you want to do?• What are alternatives?• What are the business objectives?• What metrics will be used to track the project?• What is the simplest test to prove the value of this
idea?• What are likely internal objections to this idea?
![Page 41: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
Pitch and Pick
1. The PreKickoff is a barrier to entry• 90% of ideas self select out before the PreKickoff
2. 50% of PreKickoffs end with the consensus not to advance a pitch
3. Every 6 weeks the executive team meets for a Pitch and Pick
![Page 42: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/42.jpg)
Pitch and Pick
• 3 Minutes to pitch your idea• 2 Minutes for questions• Runoff voting – CEO votes last• Top 2 to 4 projects advance into the Tech /
Design queue
![Page 43: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/43.jpg)
You keep learning
![Page 44: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/44.jpg)
Resources are limited
• Every project is vetted by multiple groups of stake holders
• Business objectives are clearly established and refined
• The executive team provides clear direction as to priorities
• Every project is an opportunity to learn, refine, and improve the process
![Page 45: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/45.jpg)
In Summary
“Victory in the next war will depend on EXECUTION not PLANS and the execution will depend on some means of making the infantry move under fire.” - General George S Patton
![Page 47: 0 to 10 Million Leads : Lessons learned from the lead gen trenches](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051818/54b554284a7959b92c8b46be/html5/thumbnails/47.jpg)
Thank You!