[Chambo]

I think the answer to this lies in balancing spending money on what makes you leads right now, vs. experimenting with some stuff. I would strongly encourage you to try direct mail. Starting with 300 pieces at a time until you perfect things is a great way to get going. Your position is "unique" in the sense that you will take a look at any deal. A lot of other guys are confined to a certain set of SIC codes which diminish the response rate.

Also, one thing that is certainly going on is that folks are landing on your sites, going to the next, and then doing business with the third guy. You just paid for a click to "warm them up" to do business with the next guy. Everyone is experiencing this in PPC, though no one knows to what extent. Only 2% of people buy from the first Google ad they click on. In this industry I wouldn't be surprised if it is more because these merchant shop, shop, shop.

In my humble opinion, incorporating marketing automation, tools that exist now, will take you to the next level. In fact, this is not even my opinion, this is fact. There's math / studies to back this up.

There's only ONE big dog lender that I know of who ensures all leads are contacted within 5 minutes no matter what, and they're winning. BIG.

Second Source tried direct mail back in 2007. Worked for about 5-6 months, then the return on investment was nil