This is the anatomy of a small company that provides a service, how it attempts to make its clients more successful using that service and how it manages its online reputation. If you are a small business owner running a service business, where the "value" of the service depends on the client's proper use, we are eager to see your comments at the end of the post.

Javelin Marketing was incorporated in 2006 and started by purchasing the lead generation operations of a company that had ceased operations. There were 4 original founders and shareholders. The original visions was to supply insurance leads and investment leads to financial advisors (stockbrokers, financial planners, investment advisors, life agents) at a very reasonable cost making the service very affordable and making it inexcusable that anyone in financial sales should have a lack of prospects. Of course, the largest hurdle in sales, the fact that the prospect is either too skeptical that something will work or just the pure inertia to do nothing, is always a challenge, The founders at Javelin Marketing realized this but attempted to create an irresistible product and offer:

• leads for $18 each
• comprehensive training to follow up each lead (weekly coaching calls)
• documented sales guide and recorded follow up calls
• drip letters for prospects who are not responsive

In other words, the idea held by Javelin Marketing was not merely to generate leads and sell them, but to increase the financial professional's probability of success and income from the leads. This goal is not only great for the financial advisors but also for the company. The more successful the advisor, the longer he stays a client, the more leads her buys, the more advisors he refers, etc.

Javelin Marketing designs and runs Internet ads offering mature consumers financial booklets on various financial topics which appeal to the 50+ crowd:

• Annuity Owner Mistakes
• Six Ways to Cut Your Taxes in Retirement
• How to Avoid Mistakes When Buying Long Term Care
• How to Avoid Mistakes in Selecting Mutual Funds
• How to Cut Taxes on Your IRA Distributions
• CD Shoppers Guide—How to Get More Interest
• Retirement Planning —Will Your Money Last?
• Six Best and Worst IRA Rollover Decisions
• The Best Ways to Buy, Sell, or Replace Your Life Insurance

The consumer finds these ads either by doing a search or visiting a page where they see a text link or co-registration offer. In order to get the booklet, the consumer enters their contact information: name, physical address, email address and phone. This data is electronically passed along to a financial advisor in the consumer's immediate area to send the booklet. Javelin Marketing supplies these retirement guides to the advisor at no additional cost. The financial advisor uses the Javelin Marketing software to personalize the booklet with the advisor's name, photo, credential on the front cover and background information inside and then mails to the consumer.

The booklet is a critical part of the process as it established the advisor as a professional and not just another sales person. Consequently, the consumer is far more likely to engage in a conversation when the advisor calls and far more willing to set an appointment with the advisor. This result is typical (audio file):
http://seniorleads.com/audio/jessel/jessel-3.mp3

Realizing that the advisors who use the lead generation service are of different abilities, the company provides several modes of training.

Consulting calls take place every Tuesday and Thursday at 9 am pacific. These web based calls comprise a 30 minute presentation by a consultant and then a 30 minute Q&A sessions. There may be 20-50 financial advisors on each call,. Some have recently joined the service and get their important initial "dos and donts for success" and others realize the value of returning to these calls to ask questions and hear good ideas from other advisors. More as time passes, the Q&A sessions are run by advisors using the service so that new advisors using the system can hear the success of their peers and don't need to rely on the company's representations as to "what works."

The company distributes to advisors the 25 page guide "How to Follow Up On Leads." This is an incredibly valuable guide developed on the research documented in Spin Selling by Neil Rackham. The advisor is taught to ask questions rather than talking at the prospect and also taught that the initial call is a "sale" of the appointment with the advisor.
Mock calls to the prospect have been audio recorded and are provided to the financial advisor as a training tool.

Currently in the works is a mentor program whereby the more successful advisors will hold a one hour "class" for those not as successful. The design is to have 5 to 10 attendees in each teleclass where they can come with their problems and get coached by an advisor using the exact same lead system who is successful. The company believes this "peer coaching" is critical in the financial sales industry as so many are curious and also desirous to learn what works for their peers. Information gathered from peers is also more readily followed even if it's the same information disseminated by javelin Marketing.

Results vary. When quantifying results, we are reminded of the weight loss commercials "results may not be typical." The difficult aspect of measuring the effectiveness of any lead service is that more than 50% of the success depends on the user of the leads. Some advisors are better communicators, better sales people, more experienced, have a better “rap” or value proposition, are more credible and simply smarter marketers. These advisors may get 3 or 4 appointments right off the bat for every 10 prospects we send them. Other advisors can go through 60 leads without an appointment. Many "swear" they are following our instructions and then when we role play their approach on a consulting call, we find they are doing something totally different from the system we have documented. "Human error" is a huge factor in the success of our leads or any lead service.

The other factor determining our clients' satisfaction is their expectation. We have some clients at Javelin Marketing who are delighted to make one sale for every 10 prospects. Their economics are as follows: they earn say $5,000 from one new client after investing $180 with us for 10 leads. If we send such an advisor 40 prospects a month, he invests $720 with us to earn $20,000 of commissions. Moreover, the advisor has outsourced his prospecting, typically the most disliked part of his profession. Such an advisor loves Javelin Marketing.

On the other hand, some advisors have unrealistic expectations thinking that 8 of every 10 prospects will be jumping at the bit to buy something when the advisor calls. Such an advisor may feel that if they paid us a "whopping" $18 for the lead, this prospect should be hot and ready to go. While this perception is far from reality, it is the principal determinant of the advisor's satisfaction with the service at Javelin Marketing.

We have had many advisors willing to allow us to record their comments and we have documented these at http://seniorleads.com/audio-comments.html. Here is a typical emailed comment from an advisor who diligently follows our instructions:

"SeniorLeads has not only provided me with an exceptional amount of annuity leads in a short time, the leads are of a high quality. I have been working the program as my SeniorLeads consultant has suggested, and have closed sales within two weeks of receiving my first batch of annuity leads."
Thomas G., Charter Financial Planning, Brandon, MS

In order that every client understand the service, the promises and guarantees made by Javelin Marketing, every client must sign and return the written agreement of services. This is rather rare in that the service is delivered online and most every online purchase does not require a signed agreement. Having the client read and sign what is being provided also precludes a clients later saying “but you told me that……” Since 100% of our dealings with clients are on the phone, misinterpretation of what is heard is always a possibility. (To insure that sales presentations are accurate and complete, sales conversations are routinely recorded and reviewed).

Since the company’s founding nearly 3 years ago, the Better Business Bureau reports 10 complaints, nine of them resolved satisfactorily and one that was resolved by the company but the client remained unsatisfied. We think this is a good record in dealing with over 9,000 financial advisors and over 700,000 assigned prospects. The BBB has awarded a company an A- rating (an A rating is only given to companies with at least a 4 year operating history).
In the Internet age, it is very easy for an individual to “assassinate” a person or a company because speech is free whether true or not. For example, you will find plenty of sites of consumers and businesses explaining how they have been ripped off by IBM, Bank of America, American Express, the Federal Government, etc. There is no pleasing everyone and all are free to complain publicly and say anything they desire. Readers of Internet information are cautioned to take any such comments into account as they may be baseless, do not need to provide evidence and better sources of the truth would be independent sources like the Better Business Bureau or a non0-customer that has independent data.

Another indicator of a company’s reputation is the company it keeps. Over 30 significant insurance field marketing organizations and/or broker dealers refer their producers to Javelin Marketing. Every one of those companies has producers that have been unsuccessful with our service (as explained earlier in the article) and other producers who have been enormously successful.

For additional information about the company, please email inquiry@javelinmarketing.com. For additional information about the lead generation service for financial advisors, please visit www.seniorleads.com or phone 866-952-4065. Most importantly, if you own a small service company, please comment below and add your wisdom on how a service company can maximize the success of its clients when a large part of the success depends on clients talent, skill and motivation.