5 Questions for Sean Fenlon – CEO of DoublePositive Marketing Group, Inc. 1) Double Positive Marketing Group, inc. is the first to market in the “live” leads space. How does this company differ from your last company TheLoanPage.com which was also a leads company?

TheLoanPage.com was an Internet lead company that sold leads (in the form of data) to mortgage companies. The business model was similar to that of Lending Tree – a consumer was promised four free competing quotes if they filled out a simple form on the web. The company would then sell the consumer’s form submission as a lead to mortgage companies. TheLoanPage.com was sold to Battery Ventures at the end of 2003.

DoublePositive was founded in 2004 and also sells leads. Unlike TheLoanPage.com, however, DoublePositive sells LIVE leads. We call our LIVE leads Hot Transfers and we are currently a leader in the live leads and hot transfers space.

1a) So, What is a Hot Transfer?

A Hot Transfer is a LIVE genuinely-interested and qualified consumer looking to speak with a sales professional for a free price quote. Our patent-pending doubleCONFIRM™ process begins similar to TheLoanPage.com – a consumer submits a form online requesting a free quote. However, rather than selling this consumer-submitted data as a lead, we have our call center instantly contact, qualify, and then transfer the live call to one of our buyers (sales professionals).

Not surprisingly, our most significant vertical is the mortgage industry, however, we have launched and experienced success in the consumer debt and the online education verticals as well. LIVE Hot Transfers from DoublePositive are typically the most expensive option for lead buyers, but they are also the best value.

2) Does your company remain the only company in the “live” leads business? Is there competition? Do you consider True Advantage to be a competitor? Are there any other verticals that you plan on starting?

The “LIVE” lead category is becoming broader each day. At this point in time, certainly Pay-per-Call companies such as Ingenio and Verizon Superpages.com are companies in the “LIVE” lead space. However, we see very few if no direct competitors to what we do at this time. There are companies such as LeadQual with a philosophically different approach. There are also thousands of call centers and Internet Lead Aggregators that effectively function as competitors, but virtually no other companies do what we do and absolutely no other companies do it as well as we do, but of course, I’m biased. ;-)

TrueAdvantage is not a competitor as they are 100% focused on the sales of B2B leads. DoublePositive is focused 100% on the sales of B2C leads.

3) In September, DoublePositive closed a $2.7 million Series B including the advertising.com founders Ferbers Inner Harbor Brothers LLC. What have you done with this funding? Are you planning another round?

The Series-B round was led by The Grosvenor Funds (DC), and all the Series-A investors also chose to participate. We intend to raise our third and final round of financing in 2007.

4) Your last company TheLoanPage.com was sold to Battery Ventures in 2003. Is there an exit strategy for DoublePositive? If an exit is not on the horizon, what is your growth strategy? Any potential acquisitions?

Venture-backed companies always need an exit strategy, but the “when” is almost always dictated by growth and momentum. At this point in the company’s lifecycle, the company is enjoying incredibly hyper-growth and enjoyable momentum, thus “when” remains difficult to predict. However, there are no plans for acquisitions at this time.

5) Your educational background with music degrees from Towson University and The Peabody Institute is unique. Are there any lessons or insights that were garnered from your education that prepared you to be an internet entrepreneur?

Yup. The folks that work the longest and practice the hardest always play the best! 

Labels: Double Positive, Internet, leads

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