Many companies have client conferences. Technology companies have long been known for theirs, and with respect to Internet companies, eBay can throw an event with the best of them. When it comes to Internet companies, not many follow in that tradition of learning, sharing, and well, partying. I have not been, but I know that Commission Junction and LinkShare also have well attended events; outside of those two, very few Internet advertising companies have such events; even including those two, though, limited opportunities exist for those in the same vertical to have a productive, not just social gathering. This is one reason why I found myself interested to attend the Online Lead Quality Summit hosted by TARGUSinfo, which began September 13th and concludes today the 14th in San Diego, California.
In last week’s Trends Report, we talked about online lead generation’s shift from quantity to quality. As CEO of TARGUSinfo George Moore explained in his kickoff speech, quality in their mind deals with two components – are people who they say they are, and can they be contacted with the information provided. To make the discussions meaningful, presenters were encouraged to share the good and the bad of how TARGUSinfo helps them achieve lead quality. The company might have been putting on the event, but they saw it not as a chance to get some pats on the back but to improve the product so that they could go from the 70 plus clients they do have to all in the online lead generation space, an area that they have been active for only the past 18 months. But, far from being a startup, the company itself is actually more than 13 years old. Dave Wengel and the others there certainly acted like a startup when recognizing both their strength in real-time phone validation and the general lack of such services in a market that processes millions of leads monthly. And that startup mentality is evidenced, too, in the aggressive growth of this unit.
While there was a fee to attend, I can say from my limited experience that the fee acts more like a security deposit as the premiums alone cost more per person than what they collected as an admittance fee. My appreciation for their hospitality notwithstanding, being at this conference feels very much like attending peace talks. Those here compete with one another more than they cooperate. TARGUSinfo, as mentioned, provides validation services; this means that they sit in the middle of it all, seeing millions of leads per month, across a wide range of verticals many times from companies that would more than love to see what the other is doing. While the group didn’t quite pull off having Nextag and Lowermybills together at the same show; they did manage to get the online equivalent of North Korea and the United States – although I won’t say who is who.
What has really made this particular client summit worthwhile is the level of disclosure that often competitive participants have shared. Other shows offer high caliber speakers, a chance to network, but they lack the “open the kimono, let’s make this industry better approach because, if we don’t, none of us will thrive in the future” attitude that participants have adopted here. For instance, Matt Wise, President and CEO of Q Interactive, gave out a piece of advice that might cost $100,000 to implement but could pay for itself in less than a month if not sooner depending on one’s scale.
The collaboration is not just welcome but needed. While lead generation is at an all-time high with respect to its legitimacy, volume, and overall trajectory, now is not a time to celebrate. It’s a time to focus even more on ensuring that we continue on the same trajectory. For the past two years, lead generators have had an almost open sandbox across all types of media to perfect their trade with little worry of outside competition. Their only concern was being able to beat the company offering five dollars more per lead on the same type of offer. Today, others outside of lead generation have caught up in a way and driven up the cost of doing business. Lead generators can no longer push back on the end buyer of the lead to raise their price, so what remains are operational efficiencies to compensate. Some operational efficiencies will remain trade secrets, but others can, and after being at this conference, should be shared. It might take time, and it won’t always be easy, but ultimately those of us in lead generation are in this together even when we are against each other. Dallas and Washington might have a long standing rivalry in the NFL, but neither benefits if the NFL goes away. For you buffet fans, you can’t have tenderloin without someone to carve it.
Digg 
