There are many ‘directory’ / lead generating websites that encourage you to pay for inclusion and leads, here is a article that hopes to explain the reduction in enquiries, visits to websites. We have long been critical of these type of websites (although we admire the business model) and know long term having a great website that is search engine friendly and with a Google Local listing is the best ‘cost-effective’ thing you can do.
Here is the text of the article regarding the lead-generation website
The good news is that the business has listened to their comments and as a result have started to make some changes to improve lead quality Some of which I hope you have already noticed?
About 3 months ago we introduced the “Lightbox” which is a large box that appears when the Homeowner posts a job telling them that up to 3 tradesman will be paying for their job information. As a result of this we have seen a 10% decrease in leads submitted (around 9000 jobs) which is great as these will of only been jobs posted by time wasters. In attention to this About 2 months ago we started showing you the time period that the Homeowner is looking to get the work done enabling you to make a better judgement on if it is a suitable jobs for you. As well as this we are trailing a few things around the country which I will tell you about when I Speak to you individually.
In addition to this you should of seen a demo when you logged onto your account showing you some of the new features that are due to be rolled out very soon. These include. Clearer visibility on the leads such as 1st, 2nd and 3rd to buy without having to click into the lead. Being able to filter your view by budget and Quick buy. All these features are improvements to help you make a better buying decision.
As you are all aware at the back end of last year the business made the decision to stop giving refund of leads. The reason we had to do this was because the business was loosing 30% of its revenue. Unfortunately we had a large number of dishonest Tradesman claiming refunds for leads that they had quoted on and even won. So unfortunately the minority ruined it for the majority of honest Tradesman. After conducting around 30 Face to Face meetings so far and having a lot of telephone conversations with our Tradesman there was a the common message we were hearing and that is that around 10/15% of leads are not contactable i.e. The homeowner didn’t respond and this is by far our Trades man biggest issue with the service.
The good news is that I have fed this info back to the business and they have agreed that in this case it is unfair and agreed that as part of a trial I am able to offer my top 60 customers credit refunds for these leads up to the value of 10% of your monthly spend. In addition to this we have come up with some lead bundle packages which will give you additional lead credit for free on top of the lead credit you purchase. If you pay monthly in Advance. This equates to around 30% of our spend back in free leads.
To be able to do this for you I will need to have a better understanding of your business and have regular (once a quarter) face to face meetings with you. If you would like to be included in this trail and benefit from a account manager to work with you to get you a better return on your investment with rated people please start completing the attached Return on Investment Spreadsheet on a daily or weekly basic with all the leads you have bought and the outcome. i.e. If you won the job or not and if you did the value of that job along with some basic information like customer name and lead reference number. It is pretty self explanatory. Most of you are probably already doing this to keep a track on your costs and return on Investment. If you could return this to me at the end of each month highlighting the leads that you have been not able to make contact with the Homeowner at all by telephone, email and text I will arrange for these to be credited to your account.
I wil be calling each of you over the next few days to discuss your accounts and future plans with our Directory and to arranging a Face to Face meeting it you want to be included in this process.
If you have any questions or would like to get in touch please do not hesitate to contact me wither by email or on the mobile number below.
