Looking for volunteers to test out price guide referrals

[Dave]

I am looking for a few people who would like to volunteer for the new lead referral functionality that I am putting into the price guide.

What I want to do is confirm the lead emails are being sent out. The emails you get will be actual leads and not bogus ones.

However, while I am testing the system you may get duplicate emails and things like that.

If you would be willing to try it out please email me your first and last name as well as the email address you want the information delivered to.

Once I get that I will manually put you in the database. Who knows, maybe you will end up buying a machine from one of the leads

You don't need live in the US to volunteer. It is not uncommon for leads to come in from Europe as well as Australia.

If you want volunteer please send an email to Dave@IBuyOldSlots.com

Thanks

[Dave]

OK, we have several people who have volunteered to be on the referral list. Each person was given a random # (10 - 40) of referrals which will be sent. Once you hit your limit you will no longer receive them.

You should have already received an email with this information.

The system is automated and the referrals are currently programmed to go out at about 20 minutes after the hour.

The referrals you are getting are actual referrals not bogus names.

Feel free to contact any of them.

Please let me know what you think.

Dave

[Dave]

Thanks to all the folks who have volunteered to try out the lead generation feature of the price guide.

I now have enough volunteers and don't need any more.

The lead generation system appears to working very well and is totally automated.

I now have the backend running so people can subscribe to it. Go to http://www.AntiqueSlotMachinePriceGuide.com if you want to sign up

In the last 3 days about 12 leads have been generated. None in the last 24 hours though. I suspect New Years has something to do with it.

Quite a variety of machines have been represented in the leads (Caille Superior, Mills Castle Front, Mills 4 column vendor, Mills High Tops, Jennings Chief, Bally 831, Watling Blue Seal, Jennings /Rock-Ola revamp, just to name a few).

Here is an example of what a lead looks like (contact information has been removed)

Subject: Slot Referral 8 out of 100

Name: *****
eMail: *******
Phone Number: *******
Machine Manufacturer: mills
Machine Model: 4 window mint vendor
Additional Information: 4 window 5cent mills mint vendor wood sides and base fake wood metal back, works except handle to dispense mints is locked

If you notice no price or photo is provided. This is typical. The price guide is providing "first contact" information. People NEVER state what they want to sell a machine for and rarely provide a photo. This comes later in the discussion.

I have received a couple of emails from the volunteers who have requested that the price guide should get photos and asking price and more information. Sorry, that is not going to happen. If I am going to go to all that effort and I find a really good deal why would I just not buy the machine? Plus with the volume of leads the guide is generating there is no way I have time for it.

The price guide does not do any negotiating with the seller. That is up to the buyer (i.e., YOU) to do.

The price guide is simply providing a service of hooking up a seller with potential buyer(s).

If you are expecting the price guide to find machines at bargain basement prices and then hand these deals to people on a silver platter well that is not going to happen.

It is up to the dealer / collector to make all arrangements and do all negotiations with the owner of the machine. If you are an active dealer and collector you know what this entails.

[buzzojoe]

I want to sign up for the lead referral, but I have 2 quick questions.
Is there any limit to the number of members in an area who will get leads?
Also, you say that the lead referral system is automated. Does that mean that if I say that I'm In San Diego California when I sign up the system can determine a reasonable geographic area from San Diego and send me the leads? Or would I ONLY get leads where the seller says that they are actually IN San Diego, California?
Thanks!

[Dave]

When a seller wants to sell a machine via the price guide he/she is asked to fill out the following form:

As you can see the information requested is very minimal. This is by design. The more personal information I request the less likely they will fill out the form.

I do not ask for their location so it is not possible to filter by location. Actually, that is not true, I could look at their IP address and through some wizardry figure out approximately where they live. That is more trouble than it is worth.

The main goal is to get them to just supply basic information about the machine.

[Dave]

I want to sign up for the lead referral, but I have 2 quick questions.
Is there any limit to the number of members in an area who will get leads?
Also, you say that the lead referral system is automated. Does that mean that if I say that I'm In San Diego California when I sign up the system can determine a reasonable geographic area from San Diego and send me the leads? Or would I ONLY get leads where the seller says that they are actually IN San Diego, California?
Thanks!

I hadn't considered restricting the number of people who can sign up for leads. That is an interesting idea. It would be easy to implement.
I will have to think about this. Not sure what the number should be that I should limit it to.

If there were a limit it would give all the members a benefit because they would be competing against fewer other people.

Thoughts???

Dave

[Dave]

Here is an update on the referral feature of the price guide.

The trial has gone very well and at least one nice machine was purchased

I think I AM going to limit the number of people who get referrals. Not sure what that limit will be but I know it will be under 10.

FYI,a Jennings Prospector that looks really nice and his asking price is reasonable just went into the queue. If you are still active on the trial expect an email in about 8 minutes (11:20 AM MST)

I just looked at the stats. 30 referrals have been sent in the last 17 days. Not too bad.

[Dave]

The price guide referral system appears to be working well.

I am limiting the number of people who get referrals and am at the maximum right now so if you go to the price guide http://www.AntiqueSlotMachinePriceGuide.com you will not be able to purchase any referrals.

Send me an email (Dave@IBuyOldSlots.com) if you want to be notified when memberships are available.

I am working on the code to automatically email people when a membership is available.

When a membership becomes available, all people on the list will be notified. If you currently have a membership you will be given the option to purchase more referrals when you have just about exhausted your referrals. This way you will not get iced out and I think it is only fair to let existing members renew their subscription before it expires.

Let me know if you have any questions or want to be put on the list.

Dave

[Dave]

FYI, the price guide referral list is currently filled. However, there are a couple of spots that will probably become available very soon because the people will soon hit the number of referrals that they purchased.

Once that happens, the system will email people saying spots are available.

If you want to be notified, go to http://www.antiqueslotmachinepriceguide.com/referralInfo.php and click on the link to send me an email.