There are No Dead Leads
(By: Tim Clark)
Many contractors have a certain notion of what lead generation is about and how leads can help their business. This notion could actually hurt their business. It’s almost like having a coupon to buy a particular product and giving up on that coupon because they think it’s for a specific product they don’t want. They choose not to see the fine print on the coupon that says it can be used for many other products, too. And so they lose out.
When you sign up for a ConstructionDeal.com Premium membership, you can receive a variety of job leads based on your services you select, the area of the country you work in, and how much of a lead budget you have. Many contractors expect all leads will be from people waiting to talk to them on the phone immediately to set up an appointment to discuss the project. But.. this isn’t always the case.
And some contractors may give up on their experience with us based on this alone. What they don’t realize is that all people who submit projects to us are different. And so are their situations.
A few times, there may be people who are shopping for a better price. Some may need an alternate quote for insurance purposes. Others may be budgeting for a future project and simply need quotes. Some project owners might only take one or two calls from contractors and, once that happens, don’t take your call at the time. There can be any number of reasons why a lead doesn’t immediately convert for you.
But all is not lost! What you need to do is read the fine print. That lead is not dead. You can still use it to make money!
What you have, in your inbox, is future revenue.
You have a Project Owner:
- Who has provided their contact information
- Who is located near you
- Who owns property
- Who will need additional services at some point
- Who has searched online to find a contractor and can be contacted online in the future
You now have a permanent contact to add to your database of past and potential clients. You see, a homeowner or business owner might not have hired you for this particular job, but that doesn’t make them dead.
You can add this person to your newsletter email list. You can add them to your list of past and potential clients you would call about special offers you’re running. You can add them to holiday card mailing list. You can add them to your list of other prospects where you failed to land the job. Then, you follow up with them to find out how the project went. It might turn out the project was never started – and becomes a new lead – or that the project was done wrong – and they hire you to make it right!
The list is endless. Keep track of all these potential clients and use this information to keep in touch with them. Remind them of your services, remind them of your qualifications, remind them of specials and coupons, and remind them to hire you the next time.
It shows you’re interested, that you’re organized, that you’re efficient, and it shows you care about what you do.
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Comments (9)
Are you kidding me? We're supposed to believe that a pay per lead system is good if all it produces is database contacts?
Pay per lead only works for the long haul if the provider prequalifies the leads.That means I don't spend money with you to do what I already do for myself for free (creating and mainting contact lists developed from marginal conversations). If you were doing your jobs I would"t be reading e-mails about "No dead leads"
DAvid on February 06, 2010 at 08:07 AM PST
You are right, I get leads that don't generate any business at all. Some customers have no concept of how much things cost, they expect you to do it for nothing and to top it off, they want custom work.
J on February 06, 2010 at 12:23 PM PST
Are you serious. So What you want is somebody to sell a job and then go knocking on your door and ask you if you can do it.
C'mon Man!!!
Anything else.
The leads provided are the names and numbers of people who need help. Some may need help today and some may need help in two months. Some are ready to hire and some are budgeting for a future project. Our job is to connect contractors with homeowners and business owners to help complete their project. A contractor's job is to close the project and start work. We help make the introductions. At this point, we're not setting appointments for service professionals but that may come in the near future. Keep an eye out for our upcoming Lead Generation webinar!
J B on February 13, 2010 at 05:31 AM PST
www.totalconstructionsolutions.biz
Hunk to that. If you really think these people who would not talk to you the first time are going to use you in 2 months or two years think again.
I try to keep all of my customers' info filed and update them regularly on what we are doing. Sometimes people who we have barely even been in contact with needs work done and gives us a call. Dead leads aren't always lost leads, sometimes you just have to be patient.
I have used lead generating services in the past and they are a waste of time. Most of them are dead end lead just people fishing for prices. While you beleive it is a actual job and waste your time and gas giving them free estimates. Sometimes the customer makes an appt. with you and then not even home. Or you pay for the lead and call them along with 4-5 other contractors and they dont even call you back. The only people who benfit from a lead generating service is #1 the lead company, # 2 the customer gets free estimates& infomation , and then maybe after running around for a week giving estimates you might get 1 job that pays the lowest possible price because you get low balled by the customer because of all the free estimates and information they receive from the lead company sending them desperate contractors and take there money they need for there familys. Stay away!!!
As a contractor, you need to be organized. I use several different lead gen. services as well as Google ad-words and Google local.
Keep all customer info in a CRM (Customer Relations Management program). I suggest Salesforce. You can also send mass emails from it. Quarterly is good.
It also allows you to easily track the lead sources and see what's paying for itself and what isn't.
You need to stand-out. A terrific way to do that is to have lots of good reviews. Always ask for a review and then post them on your website.
I get quite a few jobs in which I'm not the lowest price. I'm thorough, friendly and professional.
If things aren't working, don't blame others, find what you can do differently.
I had a Kitchen and Bath Company and we also tried a lead generation service and most of the comments above are correct... you get tire-kickers and low-ballers and the process sets you up to be an un-paid consultant which wastes much of your time and money. I turned things around when I utilized the Sandler Selling Method whiched resulted in our creating "Feasibility Studies, which we charged $500 for, this weeded out the tire-kickers and time wasters and allowed us to find OUR clients. If we got them to that stage we had a 95% close rate. Proper initial phone interview, if THEY passed that they got my time in their home where they were told the next step is them in MY office where a Feasibility Contract would be prepared for us to go further.
It is difficult for many builders to command money like this but you will be amazed when you place value on your time and knowledge how the prospects will too.
Good Luck
