http:\/\/www.growthworksventures.com\/blog\/entry\/leadscon-u2013-same-script-new-faces-great-conference<\/a><\/p>\nFor me, LeadsCon is like going to a class reunion.\u00a0 Many of the people I know in the industry are former colleagues, partners and co-workers.\u00a0 They are the people I’ve negotiated with, bought or sold services, built businesses and spent hours and hours talking shop with.\u00a0 Some people are good friends that I haven’t seen in a while and some are just good people that I enjoy catching up with.\u00a0 Relationships matter, but for me the people and stories behind the relationships are what I enjoy most.<\/p>\n
LeadsCon is the perfect place to find out what everyone is up to and find out what\u2019s new in the lead generation industry.\u00a0 The industry issues usually remain the same \u2013 Quality, Conversion, Volume and Price.\u00a0 This year there was an influx of new companies and attendees.<\/p>\n
In the middle 2000\u2019s the circles of relationships were relatively small.\u00a0 If you entered the industry you\u2019d find less than 2 degrees of separation between everyone in the industry.\u00a0 There was a revolving door of talent.\u00a0 The same people were moving from one company to another or starting up their own venture.\u00a0 This year there was a new generation of talented professionals and entrepreneurs that have entered the industry looking to solve problems for consumers.<\/p>\n
One of those entrepreneurs is Alicia Guerrieri, founder of iSearchDecor.\u00a0 I met her the last night of the conference.\u00a0 Alicia approached me while I was mingling with a group of people I\u2019ve known for years and said \u201cCan I ask you a question?\u00a0 How do you guys know each other?\u00a0 It seems like everyone here knows each other.\u00a0 Do you work for the same company?\u201d\u00a0 The answer spurred conversations of the history of how all of us knew each other and a retelling of tales from the past.<\/p>\n
Her story is a familiar one in the entrepreneurial world.\u00a0 Alicia created a business to solve a problem that she experienced when she moved to Scottsdale, Arizona from Silicon Valley.\u00a0 She found it difficult to find furniture, painters and other home furnishing businesses in the local area.\u00a0 She wanted to find the small businesses and hidden gems in the area to decorate her new home.\u00a0 That frustration led to iSearchDecor.\u00a0 If you think you\u2019ve heard this story before, you have.\u00a0 Do a search on why Matt Coffin started LowerMyBills.com or why Doug Lebda started LendingTree.com.<\/p>\n
This was Alicia\u2019s first time at LeadsCon.\u00a0 Her business helps connect consumers to local home d\u00e9cor merchants and service professionals.\u00a0 Learning about her business and challenges was exciting because it didn\u2019t fit the typical conversations about lead gen that I usually have at LeadsCon.\u00a0 She was focused on small business niche in a local area and providing a lead generation source for them.<\/p>\n
The fourth edition of LeadsCon has come and gone.\u00a0\u00a0 The conference is coming into its own and starting to mature.\u00a0 There is no doubt that there will be continued growth within the major verticals \u2013 mortgage, education, insurance and auto.\u00a0 However, there is a growing need for lead gen solutions for local, small businesses.\u00a0 It\u2019s exciting for me because it\u2019s the problem that I\u2019m focused on solving every day.<\/p>\n
And to my new friend Alicia\u2026\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait to catch up with you next year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Courtesy of Growth Works Ventures, Detroit MI http:\/\/www.growthworksventures.com\/blog\/entry\/leadscon-u2013-same-script-new-faces-great-conference For me, LeadsCon is like going to a class reunion.\u00a0 Many of the people I know in the industry are former colleagues, partners and co-workers.\u00a0 They are the people I’ve negotiated with, bought or sold services, built businesses and spent hours and hours talking shop with.\u00a0 Some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.isearchdecor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.isearchdecor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.isearchdecor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.isearchdecor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.isearchdecor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=936"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.isearchdecor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":939,"href":"http:\/\/www.isearchdecor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936\/revisions\/939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.isearchdecor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.isearchdecor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.isearchdecor.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}