Website Rental - Apparently I SUCK at it!...

Shockwave,

Fist of all its not the site, its the area. I actually live in Tulsa part time (4-6 months a year) and my lead gen/rental sites are taking a huge dip, so much so that I have put most of them on the back burner and switched over to a pure marketing mindset, mailers, local radio, even my local newsletter. A lot of businesses still don't trust rental sites or any website/SEO combination of sorts. All I can say is to keep trying, eventually someone will try you.

shockwave,

A few points I want to make.

1. You are a much cooler gun than Megatron.
2. Get rid of the yellow sticky note ad on the page about getting leads from that site. It doesn't look good.
3. How many of your leads do you think these companies already got? Aka how many are doubles. If you have 20 leads but only 5 are new leads they will not care or want them.
4. How much do they make per job? Profit not revenue. Since I have always considered this a low margin service.
5. How many "leads' does it take for them to get one client?
6. Once you know these numbers do you have a pricing method that makes sense?
Example: Let's say 8 of your leads would be new and they close 25% of them for an average of $200 profit. So each month your leads would be worth $400 of profit. They currently spend 10% on advertising/leads so if your site was $40 or less they would be interested. Do the math.
7. If the math makes sense offer them the site with a 200% money back deal. If they do not close ____ leads(based on the numbers they give you) you will refund them back 200% of what they paid after 60 or 90 days (so they can't jump ship too early). This is just one example of what you can do in order to do risk reversal. A free month could be used too.

If no one is interested you because they are all too busy at this point you now know that Tulsa needs more auto glass repair companies. Can you find a way to fullfill that need?

So that site is generating about 15-20 calls a month correct? What is the total traffic you get to the site on a monthly basis from organic search? Are you being found for many keyword combinations that you might not be initially targeting, but seem to rank due to optimizing for other keywords? I see your site is ranking #3 for "windshield replacement tulsa". Is that keyword generating a ton of traffic monthly or is it a combination of many keywords that you get traffic for? You have "auto glass repair tulsa" in your title, but so far don't seem to be ranking for it right now?

When somebody calls the Callfire number it goes to some voicemail that they leave a message about them needing a quote, more information, etc.? Does your voicemail have a generic message on there that they hear before leaving a message?

First of all congrats on your site ranking and pulling leads so well.

I never have believed in the rental site concept, for no other reason than the fact that I very rarely hear anyone have success with it, however I can understand why you were drawn to it because it makes sense in theory that it would work.

I dont know why people arent more turned on by the idea... But I would try to think like obvious Adams and look for the most obvious reasons you can think of. Make a list of them, and then really look at that l;ist and ponder each item....the answer will come to you.

Maybe its just as simple as them viewing rental sites as "used"... or something.

I think also that windshield repair is an "opportunity" kind of thing... People order kits from magazines "How to make money with windshield repair...."

I think alot of people try it like they do other opportunities from the backs of success magazines.... and many of them arent really fulltime at it, or established businesses who invest alot in themselves. Alot of people try an opportunity like that for a month, then go chase another bell or whistle... So Probably half the prospects arent really fulltime business people with offices and staff....

Maybe the way to do it is, instead of selling it as a website , put an ad in the classifieds and sell it as a turnkey "Business opportunity", to someone who doesnt have a windshield repair company, but who is interested in an opportunity to start their own business.

I dont know... but Im thinking more and more these days that the answers are usually really obvious and we tend to over look them alot by looking too deep into a situation. Just offering some thoughts...

In any event, it really IS a turnkey biz op you have created here. If I was in Tulsa and wanted to be in business for myself and you contacted me I would have to think "Wow, it gets 30 calls per month, this is like a business thats already working for cheap...".

Im thinking you may have better luck with biz op seekers.

Again, I just dont believe in the rental site concept much....It goes against the age old wisdom that says "Dont count your chickens before they hatch", but you can always re-look at the angle with which you are presenting something, and maybe another marlet will be attracted to it.

Hopefully one of these ideas will help you.

If nothing else, good luck, and good job creating a steady flow of leads, thats a valuable talent... Im sure you will go far once you get it all figured out, being able to create lead generating sites like that is valuable. If you give up on the windshield repair idea, dont give up on yourself, because you truly do have something to offer.

You will sell it eventually. In retail, some things sit on the shelf longer than others, but if you keep the offer out there long enough, eventually someone does buy it.

Then again, maybe you just need to sell harder or tweak your copy or something...Think of an angle, its there trust me.
-JD

Hi

I think one problem is the business you are targeting.

"auto glass repair" isn't really a business that thrives on lead generation. I don't mean they don't advertise their business or need more customers, but they have a low-margin, high-volume business model. They probablty get 100s of leads every day asking "How much to...".

The reason they don't do lead generation is their customers are not repeat business. You need a windshield repair, you call and ask how much? Once it's fixed, you probably don't need any windshiled repairs for the rest of the life of your car- barring an accident or damage.

You don't make an appointment for a monthly windshield checkup.

Compare this with chiropractors who do very expensive booths in trade shows offering "free adjustments" in the hopes of snagging one or two monthly patients.

Or very expensive services with high margins like roofing, landscaping, kitchen renovations, etc. Contractors that do this type of work make a LOT of money from ONE converting lead.

When directly selling leads, or renting a lead-gen site, you need to target businesses that actually do this type of lead gen and understand its value.

You shouldn't have to convince the business of the value of good leads. Simply showing how you can generate qualified leads will demonstrate the value of your service/site.

If they see no value in generating leads, they will see little value in your service.

Look for businesses that already do lead generation. Don't try to convince businesses who do not generate direct leads that they should start.

Mahlon

shockwave,

Have you thought about adding other glass repair, window repair, window replacements, window tint, window suncreens? It could attract to more businesses and hire price points.


Althought the website name is windshield replacement

Just my thoughts, hope you rent it out.

Good Luck

Have you considered flipping the site?

Or, contacting some place that offers windsheild replacement training or windshield crack repair training and sell the site to someone that just completed the training?

I still say "advertise it as a turnkey biz op". I think thats what I would do personally if renting to windshield repair companies didnt work.

Can you find someone that is outside Tulsa, but close enough they can service the area and may want to break into the area? I bet they would be interested. I would work out a free trial for them, send the calls directly there for 1-2 weeks. If you can get them good leads, you may be able to sign them up for a pay-per-lead program. I am unclear if you have offered that to the other guys you tried, but if not they may be more interested in that than renting a site.

shockwave.......

I keep giving this reply to people asking similar questions to yours.

Some of them take the advice.....though most don't, and yet I've built
a very successful business taking my own advice...please try it.

Just talk to the potential customers and explain exactly what you've done
(just rephrase the question you asked in your original post) and get your
potential customers to tell you why they didn't bite at your offer.

They'll tell you why it didn't turn them on and then you can re-position, re-write,
re-market your offer to address the points they made.

It's soooo simple and yet hardly anyone does it....but...it WORKS.

My 2 cents:

1) Call the CORPORATE Auto glass repair places (Safelite, Superglass), find out who the DM is for the sites, and see if THEY are interested in controlling the Tulsa site and getting the leads. Or, you can ask them who the Rep is, call the rep and tell them that their corporate office referred you (this gives you an in and makes them think that corp thought it was a good idea).

2) I think John kinda hit on this...record the calls that come in, or quote requests, call them back, get the info, and call the local shops with the lead "Hey, I have a site that collects windshield repair quote requests, I have 2 in hand with name, address, phone and insurance information, are you interested in handling these customers today?" Then sell them the leads (I used to do this YEARS ago, I'd charge $25 per lead, at cost it's about 60 bucks for them to repair.) If you're selling the 10-15 calls, that's a good chunk to keep you invested. Also, you may find someone that wants the repeat business.