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Selling Local Leads -- One thing i can't figure out...

by explainlikeimfive
10 replies
So, i get the process of selling local leads.
Roughly, find someone to sell leads to, build a brand/website, collect leads, trade leads for money.
One thing I can't figure out/don't understand, is if I were to build a brand, say City Electrical, and i'm collecting leads; people are emailing, filling in forms, calling the forwarding number, and now the electrician i'm selling to is getting work from it. What happens when the customer, who called City Electrical, and booked a job, expects City Electrical to be rocking up to do the work, and the guy i sold the leads to, Electric Town rocks up in his branded van/uniform, etc. Won't the customer feel uneasy about this? It feels scammy? How do people get around this? Do you highlight the fact you're a reseller upfront on your website? Do you ignore it? It's confusing for the consumer, they've trusted a company to complete their work and another, potentially foreign/unknown, company comes and does the work.

It's the one thing that's holding me back from getting started. I can't figure out a simple, neat solution. Other than being open about it.
#— #figure #leads #local #selling #thing
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  • Profile picture of the author saeed karen
    can u plz explain more ???
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  • Profile picture of the author acopson
    Originally Posted by explainlikeimfive View Post

    So, i get the process of selling local leads.
    Roughly, find someone to sell leads to, build a brand/website, collect leads, trade leads for money.
    One thing I can't figure out/don't understand, is if I were to build a brand, say City Electrical, and i'm collecting leads; people are emailing, filling in forms, calling the forwarding number, and now the electrician i'm selling to is getting work from it. What happens when the customer, who called City Electrical, and booked a job, expects City Electrical to be rocking up to do the work, and the guy i sold the leads to, Electric Town rocks up in his branded van/uniform, etc. Won't the customer feel uneasy about this? It feels scammy? How do people get around this? Do you highlight the fact you're a reseller upfront on your website? Do you ignore it? It's confusing for the consumer, they've trusted a company to complete their work and another, potentially foreign/unknown, company comes and does the work.

    It's the one thing that's holding me back from getting started. I can't figure out a simple, neat solution. Other than being open about it.
    I think you are overthinking it.

    Most people will not even remember the details like the company name and even if they do, they just want the work done, most don't care.

    If you are really that concerned, you could tell them or you could put a statement on the site, saying that you work with electricians in the local area and you find the best quote, or you sometimes outsource the work to independent contractors, stuff like this.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Lafuddy
    Originally Posted by explainlikeimfive View Post

    So, i get the process of selling local leads.
    Roughly, find someone to sell leads to, build a brand/website, collect leads, trade leads for money.
    One thing I can't figure out/don't understand, is if I were to build a brand, say City Electrical, and i'm collecting leads; people are emailing, filling in forms, calling the forwarding number, and now the electrician i'm selling to is getting work from it. What happens when the customer, who called City Electrical, and booked a job, expects City Electrical to be rocking up to do the work, and the guy i sold the leads to, Electric Town rocks up in his branded van/uniform, etc. Won't the customer feel uneasy about this? It feels scammy? How do people get around this? Do you highlight the fact you're a reseller upfront on your website? Do you ignore it? It's confusing for the consumer, they've trusted a company to complete their work and another, potentially foreign/unknown, company comes and does the work.

    It's the one thing that's holding me back from getting started. I can't figure out a simple, neat solution. Other than being open about it.

    That is just ONE problem with the "lead gen as a business" idea.

    There are many others.

    Eventually, it boils down to quality of service, which YOU, the provider of leads, cannot control. Nor can you fix the problems that arise from it or the negative reviews that follow.

    Good luck with that.

    Ron
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    • Profile picture of the author G K
      Originally Posted by Ron Lafuddy View Post

      That is just ONE problem with the "lead gen as a business" idea.

      There are many others.

      Eventually, it boils down to quality of service, which YOU, the provider of leads, cannot control. Nor can you fix the problems that arise from it or the negative reviews that follow.

      Good luck with that.

      Ron
      I don't know that I agree....
      Lending tree never caught flak when they sold leads to any unethical mortgage broker under the sun....
      Why should they, they're job was to know what specific products ALL of the mortgage broker/mortgage company offered... so to reduce the customers time spent searching for the right product. Or stated another way, their value to the customer was in their "industry product offering knowledge"

      now in fairness that's bull crap, they sold those leads to 500 mortgage companies not just 4. but that is what they claimed to do.. and people believed it. They never claimed experience of working with, or vouched for the broker/mortgage co.

      So I would suggest that would be the stance he should take. That he is the foremost authority on "who" offers what the client needs as opposed to "what level of service" some company offers...

      Even if the customer does not know what they need, his experience can guide them to the down the right path. I't might be a crappy path, but it better than wandering down random paths that go nowhere.

      ie... I have no idea what type of exterminator to call for a Southern Himalayan Wombat infestation.....I just know I need an exterminator.. Oh wow, glad this guy knows who specializes in removing Southern Himalayan Wombats... He even said he does not know how good they are, not a lot of Southern Himalayan Wombat infestations happen in South Carolina.
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      • Profile picture of the author Ron Lafuddy
        Originally Posted by G K View Post

        I don't know that I agree....
        Lending tree never caught flak when they sold leads to any unethical mortgage broker under the sun....
        Why should they, they're job was to know what specific products ALL of the mortgage broker/mortgage company offered... so to reduce the customers time spent searching for the right product. Or stated another way, their value to the customer was in their "industry product offering knowledge"

        now in fairness that's bull crap, they sold those leads to 500 mortgage companies not just 4. but that is what they claimed to do.. and people believed it. They never claimed experience of working with, or vouched for the broker/mortgage co.

        Here's some Lending Tree "flak".

        https://www.bbb.org/us/nc/charlotte/...412/complaints
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        • Profile picture of the author G K
          Yes, they did catch flak, but not for vouching for mtg companies;
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          • Profile picture of the author Ron Lafuddy
            Originally Posted by G K View Post

            Yes, they did catch flak, but not for vouching for mtg companies;
            LendingTree caught flak for how the leads were handled. Something for which they have no control.

            They are a great example of how a lead gen company, even with disclosures, gets dragged into the mess caused by someone else.

            The negative reviews in the link I posted, are against LendingTree. Even though LendingTree did not generate the problems.

            Which was my point.

            And, just to be clear. When there are complaints, and those complaints remain unsatisfied, it draws the attention of the authorities. You know....the guys who enforce the laws. When that happens, reach for your wallet. You'll need some good legal help to deal with it.

            Ron
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  • Profile picture of the author toydistrict
    You act as an agency. And the contractor trades under his own name once he gets to the job. You have a terms somewhere on your site that explains that you are connecting customers to traders.
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  • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
    I've been promoting lead gen offers for over 18 years.

    I only promote companies that can handle offers nationwide, as I promote through vertical targeted US email data.

    If you're doing on a local level then you should ideally only be using a company name if that company is the one getting the leads. Otherwise, you should keep the lead gen offer generic, so there isn't a specific company name specified.

    I'm not a big fan of local lead gen, simply because the offers that you can run that are nationwide typically have far more mass appeal and convert higher.

    One of the above posts mentioned LendingTree. I couldn't tell you how many 1000's of leads I generated for them when market conditions were right for mortgage leads. Which is a perfect example of a lead offer that can have mass appeal.
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  • Profile picture of the author jmosticc22
    Like someone else said your acting as an agency but if your contractor does good work and is reasonable your customers won't mind who takes the call and who actually shows up. I also don't see a problem with you being upfront with them when a customer first calls you.
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