Leads are the life blood of any business. With the proper sales funnel in place, you can easily convert a lead into a paying customer. This is obviously the goal of every business, whether it be offline or online.

There are all sorts of techniques and tactics to turn leads into sales. A few quick searches on the Internet will turn up tens of thousands of websites on the subject. One can quickly get lost in a sea of ideas and information overload.

There are also companies who sell various types of leads, although my experience with these paid leads is that the quality is usually very low. I find it's extremely difficult to make money from paid leads and I've tested a variety of sources over the years.

If you do plan to purchase leads from a third party then make sure you call the leads right away before they get old. Next follow up with an email and then a direct mail postcard. You absolutely must have repeated contact with the lead if you want any chance of making a sale.

Personally, I prefer to generate my own leads using Google AdWords, Facebook and Twitter. My CPL (cost per lead) is less than $1.00 and my ROI is always 200% or more. Good luck!