Your Past Experiences With Lead Providers...

jackhoward

Hey guys,

My name is Jack, and I work with a lead provider.

Yes, yes, I know, everyone hates the lead industry, especially since it's dominated by Service Magic, who's got some of the worst service out there.

My company (for now, we'd like to remain unnamed) is focused on quality leads, and we've done well in other services, but now we're thinking about getting into providing HVAC leads. From personal experience, though, I know that each field has its own quirks, so I wanted to get some direct feedback from you guys.

If you've used lead providers before, but quit, why? Lead quality sucked, leads were too expensive, lead credits were never granted, etc.?

If you still use lead providers, what would you like us to do differently? What could we do to get you to try us out in the future? Free leads? Money back guaranteed trials where you actually get your money back?

If you've never used a lead provider before, why not? Bad word of mouth? Have enough business already?

I know a lot of you have had bad experiences with leads, especially with Service Magic, but we're honestly trying to create a product that would be beneficial for you, the consumer, and us. we'll never engage in all the shady business practices they have (buying bad leads, denying lead credits for obviously bad leads, creating fake listings under your company name to take advantage of your reputation, etc.). If you could give some honest feedback, I'll do my best to make sure that everyone benefits.

Best regards,
Jack

nyheat

The biggest problem with lead companies is that 1. leads are not verified. 2. leads are oversold.

jackhoward

What defines a lead as being oversold for you? What has your experience been with other lead providers?

Overselling leads is definitely a big problem with a lot of the big names in lead gen, for all fields. Our approach in other fields where we sell leads has been to sell leads to fewer companies, because we believe it benefits everyone: the consumer doesn't get pissed off at their phone ringing all day and night, the business owners stay happy because they get an honest chance to talk to and pitch to the consumers, and we're happy because we establish long-term relationships with our partners.

As for lead verification, that's also definitely a big issue for leads. Keeping lead quality up is a tricky problem. It seems like most of the lead providers out there have taken the simple, lazy approach, which is to just sell you every lead they get, and then place the burden on you to then return the bad leads to them. In theory, that system works, but it sucks because it wastes your time, forcing you to try to chase down wrong and disconnected numbers. On top of that, a lot of the lead providers deny the lead credits you send back anyways.

Unfortunately, it's tough to filter out every single bad lead, they're bound to slip through once in a while on our side. Would it make you feel better, though, knowing that we actually follow through with our lead credit policy? Our account managers are ridiculously dedicated: I know for a fact some of them have given out their personal cell phone numbers to the service providers they work with, so that they're never out of touch. Some of them have even exchanged Christmas presents.

FloridaHVAC

So one of the biggest problems with lead companies is that they don't sell the leads exclusively. If they do sell them exclusively to one contractor they want way too much for them! Lead companies are paying for pay per click now and trying to pay for the leads the same way the contractors are. Then they have to re-sell them at a higher price. In order for the price to be low on a per lead basis the lead company has to sell them to multiple contractors. This is bad for the contractors.

You should sell the leads exclusively to one contractor and you should sell them for between $25 and $35 per lead. If you can do this than you will have great success!!!

jpplumbing

ive used a few different lead companies and they pretty much are all the same to me with service magic being the worse

Rockdad

I dont have any constructive thing to say about lead companies but many very unconstructive foul thoughts I wont share.

I admit and am embarrassed I got "Had" several yrs ago. Money back guarantied bla bla bla.
Did I get my money back for the worthlessness of it all NO. Did I get a response back from one of the numerous calls and letters? NO
Am I talking I lost just a few dollars? NO

I lump Lead generators in with the home warranty category.

__________________
What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

FloridaHVAC

You can pay per call or pay a flat rate per month. I started with pay per call and now do flat rate. No contracts and they don't share leads with other contractors in your area. Best marketing that I pay for every month! I think they are in several markets now.

Nerd Frat
http://www.nerdfrat.com