The purpose of this User's Guide is to help you learn to how to use the Lead Generator quickly and effectively, and how to get the most out of your investment in the system.

This User's Guide is divided into four parts:

1. Introduction
2. Information for New Users
3. Sales and Marketing Applications of the Lead Generator
4. Purchasing, "Speccing" and Problem Solving with the Lead Generator

The Introduction, or Section 1, which you are reading now, describes how the Lead Generator works, and some of the important concepts involved in effective usage.

Section 2 describes the simple "mechanics" of using the Lead Generator, and refers you to the Quick Start Guide for a more detailed explanation.

Section 3 describes Sales and Marketing applications of the Lead Generator, and how it can be used to increase your company's sales and market share.

Section 4 describes how to use the Lead Generator to save time, save money and improve quality on purchased goods and services, as well as broader uses of the system for solving a wide variety of common business problems.

If you haven't already done so, you may also want to read the Quick Start Guide to get you up and running quickly.

As you probably already know, the Lead Generator works by requiring every user to input certain information about his or her company into the database in order to get the same kind of information about other companies out of the database. For example, you need to post your Company's Description in order to access other users' Company Descriptions. You need to put in your company's Needs (i.e. its purchasing requirements,) in order to get access to other companies' Needs. You need to post your company's Products & Services in order to get access to other companies' Products & Services. And you need to post Leads (i.e. opportunities for other companies to make money,) in order to access the Leads area of the data base (i.e. in order to find opportunities for you.) But, in short, you need to post information in order to get information; and that's how - and why - the Lead Generator works.

It's a simple but powerful concept, though, that can enable you to dramatically increase your company's sales - and to do so faster, and for less cost and effort than virtually any other marketing tool available. At the same time, it can also enable you to reduce the cost of purchased products and services, saving time and improving quality - all with less effort, cost and risk.

At a high level, the Lead Generator basically lets you trade access to information that you have - information that is easy for you to acquire and post, in order to get access to information that you want - information that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive for you to get. For example, most people would agree that it's pretty easy for you to acquire and post your company's purchasing requirements - simply copy it off your Accounts Payable ledger. What's not so easy for you to acquire is other companies' purchasing requirements - particularly in the case of companies that might want to buy the products and services that you make and/or sell.

What the Lead Generator does is that it sets up a "grand bargain" of sorts - one where everyone agrees to post information that they have in order to get access to the information that the other users have. It's a sort of "You show me yours, and I'll show you mine" concept, except we're talking about what you make, what you buy, who you are, and so on. But because all you have to do is post information that is very inexpensive for you to post in order to get access to information that would otherwise be almost impossible for you to get, the payoff (i.e. the "ROI,") is enormous - qualified leads for a fraction of what they would otherwise cost. And savings opportunities that would otherwise be impossible to obtain.

For example, what would you pay to get access to the contact names of each of your prospects - so you could identify potential decision makers accurately and efficiently? Is it worth your posting your own cocontact names? Certainly, posting your company's contact names is trivial in cost. And you have to decide whether getting access to your prospects' contact names is worth making yours available. But that's what the Lead Generator is all about. If you decide to post yours, you'll get access to other users'.

The same thing holds with Needs, Products & Services, Company Descriptions, and the other data elements in the system that you'll learn about. If you post yours, and keep it up-to-date, you'll continue to get access to the database, and leads that you can use to dramatically increase your sales, reduce your costs, and become a more profitable, more successful company.

In addition to helping you find qualified leads, though, once you've found a prospect the Lead Generator also lets you contact him or her via an integrated messaging system so you can discuss the application and the benefits of your offering without ever leaving your office. The system provides some anonymity, though, and tools to help you manage your contacts. But it's all about being fair, as in "What's good for the goose is good for the gander." That is, if your company doesn't post its information - keeping it updated, and responding to messages on the system from other users - then your access privileges will be blocked.

But if you do post and update your information, then you can get access to lots of qualified leads.

This is how the Lead Generator maintains a constant supply of highly qualified sales leads, putting you in direct contact with the decision makers who are responsible for purchasing your products or services, and who are ready, willing and able to buy. It also makes it a powerful buying tool, as well, enabling your company to leverage its buying power to increase its sales.

Besides its advantages for sales and marketing organizations to increase sales and grow revenue, the Lead Generator also benefits the purchasing manager, operations staff, and corporate support personnel who are responsible for the specification and purchasing of raw materials and other goods and services.

This is because you can use the Lead Generator to easily identify multiple vendors who will compete for your business on the basis of features, price, quality and service. You can publish requests for quote (RFQs) to solicit formal bids on complex projects. Or you can publish requests for proposals (RFPs,) on problems for which the solutions aren't even known. You can implement fair procurement rules by widely and/or anonymously distributing information on your needs. And you can save hundreds of hours by pre-qualifying vendors online, rather than meeting them face-to-face before you know if it's worth the investment of your time in a meeting.

You can even find a new job on the system - since you can post your resume, and search for employers who need your skills.

But perhaps most importantly, by posting your company's needs on the system, you insure that your sales and marketing personnel can get ongoing access to the Lead Generator's database of pre-qualified sales leads. This means that purchasing department is contributing to sales growth - rather than just being a "cost center."

So you save time, save money, and create sales.

the Lead Generator is a powerful tool for generating sales and reducing costs. As an online service, it provides you with access to decision makers from around town, or around the world. And it's available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to grow your business.

The key to using the system is to remember that the more information you provide, the more information you'll get - and knowledge is power! As a salesperson, teaming with your purchasing manager can help. (This is what we mean when we talk about "leveraging your buying power.") But once you set up the process, the Leads you will get from the system will be better than any leads you've ever seen - not like non-responsive names on a mailing list, or the waste of an ad. (And the Lead Generator is certainly not all about networking for networking's sake.) the Lead Generator connects you with real prospects who really need what you have to sell - and who are ready, willing and able to buy it.

That - and more - is the Lead Generator!