I would like to stress that I agree wholeheartedly with Farrell’s comments on lead providers. I must admit to feeling I was a lone cry in the wilderness and therefore had not written in. While Farrell questioned the so-called cries of ‘surplus leads’ by some providers, I, too, would like to back this up.
My story is that a major provider cannot even supply me with 15 leads per month. While my business is small as a sole trader, I cannot see how my requests cannot be granted if there are so many surplus leads in existence. This makes me fear that the ‘big boys’ get the leads with their mass orders.
Conversion rates, I find, refer to appointments per sales, not what they seem to infer – that it is sales per leads. The main reason for this is exactly as Farrell says. For example, the ‘client’ says they didn’t mean for anyone to contact them or they just wanted a quote – what I call ‘playing in the sandpit’ characters.
A far more flexible refund policy is warranted. I would like to know your readers’ experience of lead providers and what improvements are gained from ‘qualified by telephone’ leads and companies that, for a sometimes exhorbitant cost, go further through some of the factfind.
Colin Hall
Whitehill Mortgages
