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Lead Generation concerns

by greatbizideas
6 replies
Hi,

I have a client who used my services earlier and I am also doing SEO for them every month...... no issues here.

I proposed selling leads to them and they were interested........ BUTTTTTT

here is the big concern..

They want to make sure they wont be paying for crappy calls who may call them for some unrelated items. I understand their concern and we cant control who calls them.
This happens in their store also.. everyday they have a few people walk in and ask for some totally unrelated items than what they sell.

To control the quality of leads I will optimize my ads and posts so that they are very focused to what they offer.

Today when we met I offered them to try it out for a month without any contract.. and tell me about what kind of calls they are getting. If the call is totally un related, I asked them to mark it down and I wont bill them for those calls... I can trust them on that.. and I am willing to trust them so that they can be confident about my service.

Is there a better solution than this? Please let me know.

they are also worried that if I generate lots of calls which dont convert, they may end up paying a lot of money.

Another Issue:

I purchased a phone number and forwarded to my number a few months ago.. I kept receiving lots of calls.. most of them were for the previous owner of that number. If something like that happens it would definitely piss them off and it will make me look unprofessional. Where can I buy the call forwarding service so that I wont have this issue.

Appreciate your help in advance.
#concerns #generation #lead
  • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
    For filtering lead quality,
    there needs to be a filter you put between you and the client.

    This can be by way of a submit form on your website.

    The information asked and amount of it
    will determine the lead quantity and quality.

    Best,
    Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author maxrezn
    The standard way of doing this is to record any calls coming through, and use a "whisper" to notify the business owner that the call is through your lead gen mechanism.

    You can use CallFire to do this. At the end of the week, sit down and listen to the calls to weed out those that don't count.
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    • Profile picture of the author vndnbrgj
      Originally Posted by maxrezn View Post

      The standard way of doing this is to record any calls coming through, and use a "whisper" to notify the business owner that the call is through your lead gen mechanism.

      You can use CallFire to do this. At the end of the week, sit down and listen to the calls to weed out those that don't count.
      This is what I recommend as well.
      But, those are two seperate add ons. Whisper mode is one and the recordings are another. Both are dirt cheap.
      I would also ask the company to just cover your expenses in terms of the calls.
      With call fire you pay $0.05/min. So for an 20 mins of prospects on the phone with the company, you will pay $1. Just ask for about $20 or so and you should be fine. They should understand. They aren't payong for the leads so the least they can do is pay for the phone line and minutes.
      Then with the recordings you will be able to listen and figure out which were leads.
      Inform them of the whisper mode, or they might hang up because they think it is some voicebroadcast. Whisper mode is where at the beginning of the call, as soon as the company answers, the company would hear your recorded message.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lopaca
    Sometimes the most obvious can be the best solution.. Vonage of all voip services has a couple of solutions that might work for you. They have a great forwarding service as well as you can buy virtual numbers for a few bucks and tie them to any other number you want. You can have 15 virtual numbers that all ring to one central line.

    Not sure if that helps but we use it and have never had any problems. We even put on a couple toll frees and they work great
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  • Profile picture of the author Kung Fu Backlinks
    Having unrelated calls come in on a purchased tracking number, like the ones sold by Twilio, is very common and an unfortunate reality you have to deal with. I simply tell clients that we'll be ppsting their number everywhere online, so some spam calls are to be expected. Most clients are cool with it, as long as you're giving them some decent leads to go with the junk.

    You said:

    If the call is totally un related, I asked them to mark it down and I wont bill them for those calls... I can trust them on that.. and I am willing to trust them so that they can be confident about my service.
    Obviously, you can't trust every client you get... so how are you going to solve this problem in the future?

    I don't know anything about lead selling, but my first impression is that it would not be nearly as lucrative as regular local SEO. I would expect endless problems regarding the "quality" of the leads. As you said... they would have a problem paying for leads that don't convert, but conversion wouldn't be your problem, would it? They could just be really bad on the phone.

    I've listened in on dozens of recorded calls from tracking numbers I've set up for clients... 9 times out of 10, the person answering the phone is HORRIBLE. I'm actually quite shocked how little personality these people have and how many sales they're blowing. I wouldn't want my income determined by their ability to convert a lead LOL. I'd be broke in no time!
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      One solution would be to charge him per month, not per lead. Basically, he'd be paying advertising costs.

      What happens if someone calls about something unrelated then, days later, because now this person is aware of this business, he or she comes back and buys.

      Something like this:

      Mr Big Customer #1: "Hello. I'd like to buy 3 yellow square widgets."

      Business owner: "Sorry, we only sell purple cow coats."

      Then, 1 week later, Mr. Big Customer #1 shows up and buys 7 purple cow coats.
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