I had to choose between hiring a full-time marketing person or spending that same $65k on targeted ads for the year.

I went with the ads, and after 6 months, our qualified lead volume is up 40% but I'm now drowning in the follow-up work myself, so has anyone else faced this and found a good middle ground?

3 comments

3 Comments

betty_barnes1mo ago

My friend at a tech startup did this and their 40% lead jump turned into a mess because the sales team got picky and ignored the "B" tier leads. @miabennett is right about a system, but you also need a clear rule for what makes a lead worth YOUR time right now, or you'll burn out sorting them. Maybe a cheap intern could filter them first?

walker.robert1mo ago

Totally, that's the real trap. You get excited about the big number but then you're stuck doing admin work instead of selling. A cheap intern or VA sounds good, but they need that exact rule book you mentioned, or they'll just push all the junk to you anyway. It's gotta be a stupid simple filter, like "must have a company email and mentioned our product name" or something, so the sorting is automatic. Otherwise you're just paying someone to make a second messy list for you to deal with later.

miabennett1mo ago

Feel that deep in my soul. Ran a similar ad push last year and ended up with a spreadsheet of leads I couldn't even look at by lunchtime. Have you looked at a simple CRM to sort and track them? Or maybe a part-time virtual assistant just for lead intake and setting first calls? The ads did their job, but now you need a system to catch what they're bringing in.