For many businesses that rely on lead generation, maximizing return on leads can be the difference between profitability and bankruptcy. Especially in tough economic times, it is more preferable to spend time on revenue-generating activities than on time wasters like dealing with bad leads. Fortunately there are ways to improve your lead handling approach, a major part of which is your selection of lead providers.

Price

It’s easy to compare leads providers based solely on price. If Company ABC charges $25 and Company XYZ charges $35 then ABC is better, right?

Well, not exactly. The price of leads does hit your bottom line as a business expense, but that expense will be offset by the revenues you ultimately generate from those leads. Thus, the real measure is how profitable those leads are. For Bankruptcy Attorneys, then, the real measurement of leads providers is the quality of their leads.

Quality

In most industries, higher quality can demand higher prices. (Witness the difference between buying a Rolls Royce and a Kia, or hiring Julia Roberts vs. that kid from your high school theater class.) With lead generation, the quality of a lead involves several factors:

1. Is the individual an actual real person? — We’ve all chuckled at the Bart Simpson phone pranks, but getting leads from “Hugh Jass” and “Amanda Hugandkiss” is not funny when you’re having to pay for them. Unfortunately, a small percentage of these leads is to be expected in the lead generation business. The question is this: Does your leads provider make you waste time debating each one individually, or do they offer you a standard bad leads credit on your monthly bill?
2. Can the individual be reached? — Sometimes, the individual filling out a lead form mistypes their contact information or omits an area code, yielding an unusable phone number or email address. Alternately, they might have entered all their information perfectly but for whatever reason are not available to be reached. We covered ways to track down hard to reach leads in a prior post. Every one of these leads that can be tracked down can be transformed into a quality lead.
3. Is the individual interested in the product/service in question? — Think about a typical car buyer… They shop around for a while, narrowing down the make and model of car, until finally deciding what they want. Only then do they transition from “shopping” to “buying.” Similarly, individuals filling out your lead generation form may only be in the “shopping” stage. Depending on your industry, these leads may not be cost effective at all.
4. Is the individual ready to “pull the trigger?” — You could have a great lead, good contact info, and they’re interested in the product/service you provide. What good is the lead if they already found another provider? Even worse, what good is the lead if your own leads provider sold the lead to one of your competitors first?!? (For that matter, what good is your leads provider?)

It’s easy to see how something as simple as buying leads can quickly become complex. When looking for a quality lead provider, the bottom line should always be quality of leads. That means you should look for:

• Some sort of “bad leads credit” on your monthly bill
• A higher percentage of leads that are ready to buy
• A leads provider that hasn’t already sold your leads to somebody else

Using these criteria to judge your lead provider and working this program can help make your leads, and your business, more profitable.

Has this ever happened to you?  Someone comes to your website and fills out your lead form, but you’re never able to get in touch with them.  Maybe their email address or phone number is bad.  Or maybe they simply don’t respond to your messages.  Don’t give up on that lead just yet — we’ve compiled a list of strategies for dealing with those difficult to reach leads.

Bad Phone Number — Sometimes people prefer to use email for their initial contact.  Once they’re convinced that your service can help them, they are willing to talk to you on the phone, often initiating the contact themselves.  If the phone number the client provided is bad, it may be a sign that they prefer email communication.  Another possibility is the client simply transposed two numbers or entered a typo.  

So what can you do when the phone number is bad?  Start by analyzing the number.  Does it look valid or is it of the 555-555-5555 variety?  If the number looks valid, the client may have entered it incorrectly.  Use a service like the Everyday Yellow Pages People Search to find the correct number.    

If you still can’t find the number,  focus on sending a professional email to the client.  Make it as personal as possible and concentrate on convincing the client that you are the best choice for solving their problem.  Be sure to explain that you attempted to contact them by phone but the phone number they submitted is not valid.  

Finally, if you find that you’re getting an unreasonable amount of leads with bad phone numbers, add logic to your lead form to prevent fake phone numbers.  Also, consider adding a Live Chat feature to your site.  Live Chat is anonymous and will help you to weed out the individuals who are merely “kicking the tires” on your site, allowing you to focus on legitimate leads.

Bad Phone Number & Bad Email — Occasionally, you may get a lead that has a bad phone number and a bad email address.  Before you count this as a loss though, there are a few strategies you can use to try to reach the client.

Use whatever information you have to track down the client.  If you have their address, try mailing them a letter.   If you only have their name, use a people search program to try to find an address and/or phone number.    If you can’t find any contact information, cut your losses and move on.

Client Won’t Respond – Sometimes the contact information you receive is valid, but the client simply won’t respond to your messages.  To combat this problem, try calling at various times of day — maybe the client can’t answer their cell phone while they’re at work?  Also, try calling from more than one phone number — maybe seeing a different number on caller ID will prompt the client to answer?    When you get the client’s voicemail, leave a professional and persuasive message convincing the client to call you.

Another option is a text message.  Try sending a text message to the client’s phone asking them to call you.  In your message, tell the client that if they are no longer interested in your service, please reply with “N” and you will stop trying to contact them.  

When all else fails, mail the client a letter.  Stamps are cheap and getting a personalized, professional letter from you may be what it takes to get the client to respond to you.