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Submitted my first job on Upwork - lead gen

I know what leads I'm targeting exactly, but finding those is a whole different thing. 💡

So after spending 2 hours generating a few mediocre ones, I'm giving professionals a chance. 👀

I usually prefer low-touch sales, but this time I'm really keen on verifying my hypothesis about the ideal customer profile.

Here's what went into the job ad:

📃 A detailed lead description.
🌍 Geography.
🗓 Company founded date range.
👥 Employees count + count estimate by role.
🧑‍💼 An example of a typical lead I'm after.
📝A Google form for submitting the new leads.

Any good experience with outsourced lead gen?

posted to Icon for group Lead Generation
Lead Generation
on February 1, 2021
  1. 1

    Are you looking to get a list built of your ICP or have someone on LinkedIn do outreach to generate leads?

    1. 1

      Just building a list. I prefer to do outreach by myself. 🙂

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        I've done this quite a bit. I would stick to people who have great reviews, I like to put a keyword in my post that they have to include in their reply so I know they read my post (attention to detail matters), and do a test run with 3 of the top people. Give them all the same criteria and see how they do. It's worth paying a little bit up front to see how it goes.

        Without knowing more about your ICP, I would try to give them as specific instructions as possible. The more the better.

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          Love the keyword idea. I've done something similar and it's mildly infuriating the number of people who don't read the posts they're applying to!

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            Yup, I think some have automated their replies to jobs because it's extremely competitive.

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          do a test run with 3 of the top people
          May I ask you how you do it? Same assignment and smaller scope? If so, how does it work in terms of the payment in that case?

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            Create 3 google sheets for each person. Have them get 10 leads each. Usually I like to start off new hires by giving them a lot of info to get started sourcing leads. Including company name, title, etc. This is more than what they'll get later on but it's a good way to train them on what you need too. Provide the instructions and set a deadline. Pick the person who gets it done properly and on time.

            Doing a test job is normal on Upwork. I would pay them per lead, for the test and the full work. Do not pay hourly. Depending on the work required, it could be anywhere from 10 cents to 65 per lead. You can hire multiple people for the same job posting.

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              This is similar to how I set it up this time (phew).

              I also asked them to submit ONE lead using a predefined Google form to understand if they got the requirements right.

              So far, only one freelancer qualified with a quote of $1 per lead (It's a tricky lead profile, though, so it might be fair 🤷‍♂️).

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                What's the profile and what do you expect as a deliverable? $1 per lead is high.

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                  The deliverable is submitting the leads via this Google Form: https://forms.gle/aEArRauqKXL9anjs5

                  The requirements are specified in the form description.

                  Does this make sense to you? 🙂

                  1. 1

                    sent you a DM on twitter :)

                  2. 1

                    $1 seems reasonable and I can see how a lot of lead gen people wouldn't bid. You're going to have them do a lot of work that leads to zero leads = zero pay. Your criteria is pretty strict.

                    1. 1

                      Thanks for sharing your view. Sounds reasonable. 👍

                      Btw, I had another one quoting for $5 per lead. But that one felt like too much.

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