Internet Lead Services

There seems to be no shortage of Internet lead services. They all work essentially the same—a potential customer contacts the company on line and requests an estimate. The lead service then contacts contractors.

In general, the idea is good. The leads can be relatively inexpensive ($30 to $40 is typical). The contractor gains exposure to a significant number of new potential customers.

In practice, there are some serious flaws. I’ve used 3 of these companies over the years, and the problems we experienced were similar with each company.

The most significant problem was simply being unable to ever make contact with the customer. This was a regular issue, and we often experienced it with 40% or more of the leads.

Another common problem was that the customer had already hired a contractor to do the work. We were always responsive, replying to the customer within 30 minutes of receiving the lead. We often wondered how the customer could have hired someone so quickly.

Many of these companies buy their leads from other sources. The time between the original request and delivery of the information to the contractor can be significant. If you are on the back end of the line, many other contractors had a huge head start on you.

We also received a fair number of leads from people wanting a price over the phone. These too ended up in our dead lead pile.

Having said all of that, using internet lead services can be beneficial. They can be a part of your overall marketing strategy. But if you use them you should understand the pit falls.

© BEP Enterprises Incorporated 2008