You can't do an Internet search on lead generation marketing without coming across an abundance of companies offering Internet sales leads. The reality of most of these businesses is that they are basically brokers offering no more than a regurgitated list of names they pass off as leads to unsuspecting buyers.

Lead Generation Company Promise: We Generate Leads

• In actual fact, very few of these companies actually generate the lead themselves and these leads tend to be very low in quality. Most of these companies purchase their leads from other companies and pass them off as their own. Here begins the cycle of regurgitation.

Lead Generation Company Promise: Our Leads Are Fresh

• True, the lead may be fresh........to the lead generation company. The lead may be new to them, but who knows how long the lead existed beforehand. It could be from a list that is months, even years old.

Lead Generation Company Promise: Our Leads Are Genuine

• Most often, some sort of incentive is required to generate a lead. There needs to be something offered in exchange for marketing information. Usually, these firms offer up cash and prizes for participation in surveys to generate the lead. The problem with this is that most are completed solely for the reward and are often not even part of your target market.

Lead Generation Company Promise: Our Leads Are Target Market Specific

• The truth is, a majority of these leads are generated from a pop-up advertisement that is not target specific. Pop-ups such as “Want to earn an extra 10K a year?” are marketing ploys used to gather leads. A person opts in to learn more out of curiosity and there you go, a new lead is generated. For what though? This type of lead is far from target specific.

So what does this all tell you?

Lead generation companies will tell you whatever they can to get your business. This is not to say that they are all bad, as there are reputable lead generation companies out there. I guess the old saying of buyer beware applies.

The best way to overcome this obstacle is to take the lead generation marketing efforts into your own hands and start generating your own leads. If you generate leads from your own website, they will be fresh, target specific, and you can control the types of incentives offered to ensure that your leads will be qualified.