paying for work leads

[Dylan W.]

Anyone have any experience working with lead generating companies?

I have been approached by a company that wants to send me leads on jobs. I have to pay for the leads if I actually land the job or not.

I have the ability to udjust my criteria, as far as how far out I work, what kind of jobs I will accept, and other details.

The woman I have been talking with is a great sales person, or I wouldnt even be this far into the decision.

I am really on the fence here, as work is a little slack again.

The company has all kinds of ways(they say) that they will market me and my business. All of which sound good to me right now...as you can see, I'm sitting here at home again..lol


Discuss and or make recomendations!

 

[mbalbritton]

negotiate with her to arrange that they get a % of all work that you land the contract for that they send your way.

How do you know they aren't sending the same job to your competitor? I bet they are!

just my 2 cent. but I've not dealt with any to know.

 

[RatLabGuy]

its pretty simple math,
consider what they vharge gor the leads (%).
Does the amount more they will bring in exceed that amount (%)?

 

[Franklin]

3 references of current or past customers. Their willingness to do or not do that speaks volumes.

 

[Reid]

we get 5 calls a day from yext.com and other lead generating companies wanting us to be added to this registry or that listing. it seems like anytime we have given them the time of day we get screwed. Hell, we had one company tape a conversation and then edit it to make it sound like we agreed to their terms!

 

[Dylan W.]

negotiate with her to arrange that they get a % of all work that you land the contract for that they send your way.
Not an option. It would be easy for me not to pay them..and impossible to know what the true amounts are.
How do you know they aren't sending the same job to your competitor? I bet they are!
just my 2 cent. but I've not dealt with any to know.

They do send others. Up to 3 bidders per job. I have to outshine, underbid, or generally make the better impression, really no different than real world..except I am paying to go bid.

its pretty simple math,
consider what they vharge gor the leads (%).
Does the amount more they will bring in exceed that amount (%)?

For instance..they charge 15 dollars for a carpet job lead...it could be one room, or an entire house. I would gladly pay even more than 15 bucks, once I have finished the job.

3 references of current or past customers. Their willingness to do or not do that speaks volumes.

I sdidnt ask for references, baased on the fact that she could just give me her supervisors # and he could say what ever.

we get 5 calls a day from yext.com and other lead generating companies wanting us to be added to this registry or that listing. it seems like anytime we have given them the time of day we get screwed. Hell, we had one company tape a conversation and then edit it to make it sound like we agreed to their terms!

Ive talked with my insurance agent, and she says that this particular company is legit as far as she knows. They have called her several times to check on policies of other clients.
She said that when a policy expires, they call her to see if it has been renewed or not.
They do background checks and all kinds of stuff, supposedly to seperate the good apples from the bad. I can pass a background check no problem.

 

[hadfield4wd]

What kind of work do you do?

 

[Dylan W.]

What kind of work do you do?

I am a flooring installer. Carpet, vinyl,hardwoods,laminates,tiles,vct etc...

 

[Steve_Kibbe]

I would give it an honest effort. I wouldn't continue to sink thousands of dollars into it if you don't get any work. I don't think they'll go for a % IF you get the job either.

What else are you doing to market your business? How is that working?

 

[hadfield4wd]

Well I think it would be different based on residential or commercial so I'll say this. Since work is slow you have some time to do the leg work yourself.

Residential:
You'll get more work from referral's than leads. I would start calling customers you have done work for to ask if they are pleaseed or if there is anything you would do differently. Then ask if you can use them for references. Also ask if they would consider recomending you to people they know for a $100 gift certificate to a local, nice restaurant if that referral leads to a job.

Commercial:
Hit up "Dodge" reports etc. This is going to be a cut throat low bid area and you just need to decide whether you want to play that game. Some don't they only want the high end work and that is fine.

It depends on your business plan.

They aren't doing anything magical.

Part of the problem right now is that due to commercial construction being down alot of these guys went on their own into residential driving down costs.

 

[GubNi]

I don't trust them. The only ones I do are as a subcontractor where they collect payment and pay me.

 

[Reid]

do you have to pay $15 per lead.....if you get the job or not? and is there a contract to sign? can you turn down leads? if you decide this just sucks...can you walk away?

On a side note... when we do work with the school system its through the states E-Procurment Program. We send a bill....and they send us one right back for 10% percent of what we just sent them.

its not so bad...just after a while, it sucks having to pay to work. lol.

 

[95yj]

The auto shipping company my parents own/I work for buys leads from a bunch of different companies. We pay anywhere from about $1 each, where we're competing with 7-10 other companies to about $3 to only compete with 2-3. We get about a hundred leads a day, from 4-5 different companies iirc.

 

[Dylan W.]

I would give it an honest effort. I wouldn't continue to sink thousands of dollars into it if you don't get any work. I don't think they'll go for a % IF you get the job either.
What else are you doing to market your business? How is that working?

I am worried about sinking hundreds...NOT thousands..lol
Marketing my business is tricky..I of course have cards all over..I used to do yellow pages..=worthless.
I contact contractors weekly..who are slow themselves.
Most of the time and in the past..work found me. Times are just slow. I need to do more...

Well I think it would be different based on residential or commercial so I'll say this. Since work is slow you have some time to do the leg work yourself.
Residential:
You'll get more work from referral's than leads. I would start calling customers you have done work for to ask if they are pleaseed or if there is anything you would do differently. Then ask if you can use them for references. Also ask if they would consider recomending you to people they know for a $100 gift certificate to a local, nice restaurant if that referral leads to a job.
Commercial:
Hit up "Dodge" reports etc. This is going to be a cut throat low bid area and you just need to decide whether you want to play that game. Some don't they only want the high end work and that is fine.
It depends on your business plan.
They aren't doing anything magical.
Part of the problem right now is that due to commercial construction being down alot of these guys went on their own into residential driving down costs.

I would say that 99% of my jobs/homeowners are more than happy to recomend me...But if noones asking..who do they recomend to?

x2 on commercial work slowing and workers are swarming to the residential market.

I don't trust them. The only ones I do are as a subcontractor where they collect payment and pay me.

x2 also.

do you have to pay $15 per lead.....if you get the job or not? and is there a contract to sign? can you turn down leads? if you decide this just sucks...can you walk away?
On a side note... when we do work with the school system its through the states E-Procurment Program. We send a bill....and they send us one right back for 10% percent of what we just sent them.
its not so bad...just after a while, it sucks having to pay to work. lol.

Each lead costs $ job or not. The amount depends on how many bidders they send to a lead and what type of work is involved. Hardwood leads cost more than vinyl leads.
I can tun down the volume of leads per day/week/month that i will recieve..but once i get the lead..i have to pay for it.

The auto shipping company my parents own/I work for buys leads from a bunch of different companies. We pay anywhere from about $1 each, where we're competing with 7-10 other companies to about $3 to only compete with 2-3. We get about a hundred leads a day, from 4-5 different companies iirc.

Sounds like a good deal, in your case and business, and the price seams fair...I doubt I would ever get that many leads a day...hope not, cause there is no way to follow up on all of them..I have to drive out to the home, measure and bid. I am guessing that your folks only have to do a phone call follow up?

 

[GubNi]

Billboards and phonebook are my main leads.

 

[JeepTruck]

Sounds like Service Magic

They have been calling daily for me to sign up. Im a GC so I don't think the calls will pour in like the salesman says given most people go off refs for larger jobs and would be only price/idea shopping. My HVAC company uses it and bids about 5-7 jobs a week and ends up doing 1-2. He likes it for the most part, but said to watch your work load so you do not accept leads for work you can not complete or even bid. Also be prepared to call and bid quick cause alot of guys will call w/i minutes of the post. He just adds the lead prices in on the quotes for all jobs and for him 50-75 bucks a week is the least of his worries. They offered me a 3 week trial, hit them up for it and report back. They will also let you know other flooring guys that are signed up and that should give you an idea how to price jobs for quality and materials.

 

[Reid]

Dylan.. hang out in the carpet section at lowes/homedepot.

 

[Ron]

Dylan,
Ask them to name other companies they work for and reference the lead gen company.

When I had my elec/home tech business we got in the same kind of deal, I paid $10/lead.
Well The first month I bet I went on 25 calls, none of them bought a thing. Then the calls dwindled i eventually dropped them. Long story short found out months later an HVAC buddy was signed up with the same company, when we started comparing notes and such, turned out to basically be a scam. They every employee and their friends/family etc. have us come out with no intention of ever installing surround sounds or even spending a dime. Basically these folks had a full time (well at least part time)job talking to people in their home for no good reason.

 

[Dylan W.]

Sounds like Service Magic
They have been calling daily for me to sign up. Im a GC so I don't think the calls will pour in like the salesman says given most people go off refs for larger jobs and would be only price/idea shopping. My HVAC company uses it and bids about 5-7 jobs a week and ends up doing 1-2. He likes it for the most part, but said to watch your work load so you do not accept leads for work you can not complete or even bid. Also be prepared to call and bid quick cause alot of guys will call w/i minutes of the post. He just adds the lead prices in on the quotes for all jobs and for him 50-75 bucks a week is the least of his worries. They offered me a 3 week trial, hit them up for it and report back. They will also let you know other flooring guys that are signed up and that should give you an idea how to price jobs for quality and materials.

Theres some good info here. I like the idea of charging(at least partially) on the bill for the lead price.
But that only works if I do the job.

The lady offered to waive the 99$ members fee. I'll ask about the trial period too!

Dylan.. hang out in the carpet section at lowes/homedepot.

I have landed jobs this way..lol I was'nt in there for that...just buying materials, and saw someone looking puzzled..I made a comment on the flooring that they were eyeballing and ended up doing a thousand dollar job for them!

Dylan,
They every employee and their friends/family etc. have us come out with no intention of ever installing surround sounds or even spending a dime. Basically these folks had a full time (well at least part time)job talking to people in their home for no good reason.

This worries me the most. I ask the rep about this and made mention that there were no way to tell if this were happening.
She , of course, said that other companies did this and thats what seperates Service magic from the rest. Like I said earlier, she is a great sales rep..thats why I am even contemplating this.

 

[Reid]

yeah... i was being funny...but i wasnt kidding. if you dont have anything else today, go to home depot. ive landed some work for my company by going into staples. wearing a collared shirt...people ask me questions anyway =) good thing i know where to send them. lol, eventually the manager took a stack of our cards and now they send people our way with typewriter and copier questions.

 

[WCURoverd90]

I am a Sales Manager at my dads office equipment business and we do no advertising (radio, tv, billboards etc) except word of mouth. As far as lead generation. I am a member of BNI which has put me in touch with a ton of people I couldn't get in touch with.

As far as leads "companies" go we have a yext account and unfortunately we pay 25.00 per lead regardless of whether we make money on the deal or not. Now in our industry, something breaks on a copier and it may cost anywhere from 50.00 alll the way up to 1,000's of dollars so we have to look at the big picture. We have been pleased with yext so far.

Other than that I would look for leads from others in your field....Ex - We exchange leads with IT companies, telecom companies, commerical real estate, and many others who know when a company moves or is upgraded their equipment. You def. have to find what works best for you but if you do flooring I would recommend GC's (obviously), but also commerical and residential real estate agents and any other company that you could think of that may deal with an organization at the time they move or change things.

There are tons of these lead businnesses out there and you def. have to do your research because most of them send the lead out to everyone that is signed up which means your competitors will get all the same leads you get.

 

[Dylan W.]

I am a Sales Manager at my dads office equipment business and we do no advertising (radio, tv, billboards etc) except word of mouth. As far as lead generation. I am a member of BNI which has put me in touch with a ton of people I couldn't get in touch with.
As far as leads "companies" go we have a yext account and unfortunately we pay 25.00 per lead regardless of whether we make money on the deal or not. Now in our industry, something breaks on a copier and it may cost anywhere from 50.00 alll the way up to 1,000's of dollars so we have to look at the big picture. We have been pleased with yext so far.
Other than that I would look for leads from others in your field....Ex - We exchange leads with IT companies, telecom companies, commerical real estate, and many others who know when a company moves or is upgraded their equipment. You def. have to find what works best for you but if you do flooring I would recommend GC's (obviously), but also commerical and residential real estate agents and any other company that you could think of that may deal with an organization at the time they move or change things.
There are tons of these lead businnesses out there and you def. have to do your research because most of them send the lead out to everyone that is signed up which means your competitors will get all the same leads you get.

Thanks for the info. I will be talking w/ the sales rep again in Monday. I might try it for a week or so. I can hit the stop loss button anytime, if need be.

 

[Reid]

apt complexes! dont forget about them! Dylan...you ever thought about cleaning carpets too? ive been cleaning carpets off an on for about 15 years. hard work...but would probably go hand in hand with what you already do.

 

[mpmoe2002]

I would highly recommend reading a book called Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson. You can get it at your local library (free).

my .02

 

[Dylan W.]

apt complexes! dont forget about them! Dylan...you ever thought about cleaning carpets too? ive been cleaning carpets off an on for about 15 years. hard work...but would probably go hand in hand with what you already do.

I have a little experience with that, but not sure I wanna drop the coin on a good cleaner.

Dont get me wrong, I'm not dead in the water..the current is just moving slowly..lol

These lead companies act like the be all, end all when it comes to getting jobs, hell, I figure if it works out 1/3 as good as they claim, it would be worth it.

I'll keep beating the bushes and hopefully I land another carpet store to work for. Basicaly, thats what it boils down to, a good flooring center will keep me busy enough, along with my ''own' jobs that I get by word of mouth, cards etc...

Seems like I always have 2 or 3 great weeks, then a couple bad weeks after that. I am paying the bills, but my hobbies are suffering a bit.