Another On-line Lead Service Calfinder

festerized

Typical salesman BS response, stop avoiding the questions

kylehook

just wanted to jump in on this web site to give all you other trades a quick heads up about calfinder and thier buisness practices. first off i am a general contractor from arizona and have used calfinder now since about last august. the problem with this service is they are not liable for refunding your money or a new lead if you cant get the lead to call or email you back, they tell you to keep calling as many times as it takes. heck if one email and one voicemail does not do the job then the lead did not want the work done. i have a stack of about 50 leads that only 6 homeowners would allow me to meet with them and accept a bid. the rest are no responses or not intrested anymore or hired another trade off another lead service already, but 99% are no call backs. at $80 a lead you can see the problem, i am out this money plus the sign up fee and monthly charge. dont get suckered into this like i did.

CalFinder

RE: Kylehook

We are sorry to hear that you have had trouble getting in touch with some of the homeowners that we sent to you. Its unfortunate that these days many homeowners are very busy and don't return calls like they used to. That said, we have created a "best practicies" for follow up. This is based upon interviews withe the top 10 remodeling and home improvement companies in the US. This is the exact process that they follow and have tons of success with. We have posted this process on our contractor support blog but we would like to share it with the contractortalk community. Feel free to access it on our blog as well http://www.calfindercontractors.com/...-professional/

How often should I call a customer? Do I leave a message, and if so, what should I say?
These are all valid questions, and if you’re a contractor, chances are you’ve asked them plenty of times. As a general guideline, keep in mind that each customer should be called a minimum of 5 times. We’ve seen and heard plenty of success stories from contractors who made upwards of 10 calls to reach a homeowner! In other words, welcome to the era of the World Wide Web. It’s a time when CalFinder customers tangled up in busy lives return a contractor’s call while killing time at an airport, on a business trip, or during one of those rare, free moments at home.
To help you out, here is a good calling sequence for new referrals:

1. Once the referral has been received, call IMMEDIATELY! CalFinder screens every homeowner and they are the most excited and the most motivated right when we hang up the phone with that homeowner. If you don’t reach someone, leave a message.
2. Follow up with an email introducing yourself and schedule a phone conversation. Many of our homeowners like to operate initially by email.
3. Call again in the morning and in the evening the following day. If nobody answers right away, call again immediately afterwards. Sometimes, when a homeowner sees a foreign number calling twice in a row, curiosity will persuade them to answer.
4. Call again the third day and leave another message.
5. Follow up with another email stating a time that you will call again. It is important to remind them that you are busy and in high demand, but you can still keep an appointment and follow up on what you say you will do.
6. Call them at the time stated in the email and leave another message.
7. Call every other day for a week with no messages.
8. On the 7th day, leave a message again. If contact hasn’t been made by this point, leave a message with regards to how they can reach you.

As you can see, it’s critical not to drop the ball while it’s in your court. If you follow the steps above, homeowners will appreciate your persistence, and professionalism, once you do make contact.


The CalFinder Team.

CalFinder

RE: Kylehook

We are sorry to hear that you have had trouble getting in touch with some of the homeowners that we sent to you. Its unfortunate that these days many homeowners are very busy and don't return calls like they used to. That said, we have created a "best practicies" for follow up. This is based upon interviews withe the top 10 remodeling and home improvement companies in the US. This is the exact process that they follow and have tons of success with. We have posted this process on our contractor support blog but we would like to share it with the contractortalk community. Feel free to access it on our blog as well http://www.calfindercontractors.com/...-professional/

How often should I call a customer? Do I leave a message, and if so, what should I say?
These are all valid questions, and if you’re a contractor, chances are you’ve asked them plenty of times. As a general guideline, keep in mind that each customer should be called a minimum of 5 times. We’ve seen and heard plenty of success stories from contractors who made upwards of 10 calls to reach a homeowner! In other words, welcome to the era of the World Wide Web. It’s a time when CalFinder customers tangled up in busy lives return a contractor’s call while killing time at an airport, on a business trip, or during one of those rare, free moments at home.
To help you out, here is a good calling sequence for new referrals:

1. Once the referral has been received, call IMMEDIATELY! CalFinder screens every homeowner and they are the most excited and the most motivated right when we hang up the phone with that homeowner. If you don’t reach someone, leave a message.
2. Follow up with an email introducing yourself and schedule a phone conversation. Many of our homeowners like to operate initially by email.
3. Call again in the morning and in the evening the following day. If nobody answers right away, call again immediately afterwards. Sometimes, when a homeowner sees a foreign number calling twice in a row, curiosity will persuade them to answer.
4. Call again the third day and leave another message.
5. Follow up with another email stating a time that you will call again. It is important to remind them that you are busy and in high demand, but you can still keep an appointment and follow up on what you say you will do.
6. Call them at the time stated in the email and leave another message.
7. Call every other day for a week with no messages.
8. On the 7th day, leave a message again. If contact hasn’t been made by this point, leave a message with regards to how they can reach you.

As you can see, it’s critical not to drop the ball while it’s in your court. If you follow the steps above, homeowners will appreciate your persistence, and professionalism, once you do make contact.


The CalFinder Team.

kylehook

yeah right i gues if i called and left enough voicemails at the white house even the president would probaly call me back. i am a construction company not a telemarketing company, the serious customers want to be contacted and return your first voicemail, trust me i know one of the biggest homeowner complaints is not being able to reach the contractor, i have never had that problem. i answer my phone for customers and returns my voicemails from customers mad or happy. i have a alarm clock for waking me up not for when to call customers at regular intervals.

handyhands

Homeowners will either appreicate your persistance?

I'll be honest. My company still utilizes the service of a couple online lead generating companies, as much as it seems like a constant arm-wrestling match. I could show you a binder full, approximately 2 inches thick of leads we've purchased from these companies where on a daily basis,....weeks later,...even months later...after relentless phone calls,(made as early as 8:30am to as late as 8:45pm) sent emails,...even sent letters,....simply don't have the decency to respond in any type of way or format.

If I could somehow get back the at least $50.00 I spent on each of these leads, I'd be a rich man or be able to outright purchase in cash the Harley of my dreams. Or maybe lose myself at the bunny ranch for a week or two.

Needless to say, you fail to forget that if you're insisting that many calls be made (and again I've made that many calls and then some trying to reach these "interested" potential customers)--there's at least 3-4 other contractors doing the same thing to this "potential customer", and at that point the customer more than likely perceives what you consider "persistance" as harrasment. You don't know how many times I've spoken to these potential customers myself only to hear them say "If I knew I was going to get dilluged with phone calls, I would have never filled out that stupid survey".

Either way, these are just my thoughts. Perceive them how you wish.

tinner666

I couldn't imagine calling somebody and asking them if they want my service. Much better idea for these lead services to charge the customer for the lead to a contractor. Unless they decide instead to click the organic results.

__________________
Frank Slate Roof Repairs, Richmond, Va.

Kenny K

same story

__________________
Replacement Windows and Vinyl Siding by Illinois Remodeling Company

tin man

On the 8th day go to the house and kick the firgin door in.Drop the hammer.

CalFinder

Hello,

We wanted to share some testimonials that we recently received from contractors that have been using our service for over 4 years. One of the amazing things about working with these companies is that we have been able to see them grow and they have all adapted their sales styles to really maximize the results of online lead generation.

Moondance Painting
Steve Stiles

Background
Steve started with us three years ago as a new business. He had no employees, no marketing and zero revenue. He started using CalFinder and had booked $100,000 within 2 months. Last year he did over $600,000 in revenue and over 90% of his business came from leads purchased from calfinder.com. He continues to use calfinder.com and generate over 10 estimates per week and $500,000 worth of revenue each year.


Testimonial

“

To whom it may concern:

CalFinder has been an invaluable tool for my company. I know that my job would be incredibly more difficult had I not had CalFinder with me. This is a wonderful service that I could not do without.

They provide high-quality leads for my business which allows me to focus on a few good leads a week instead of the countless hours a week that I would have to spend on marketing for myself; and because of this I can now focus more on my customers, and on providing the best possible product.

Thanks,


Steve Stiles
Owner


Perfection Construction
Taylor Phan


Background
Taylor was our third client ever. At that point he was incredibly frustrated with his experience with other lead companies like ServiceMagic and marketing methods that weren’t producing results for his company. He started using Calfinder.com and within a month he had booked a $50,000 job!

In his first year Taylor generated over $400,000 worth of business form his relationship with CalFinder.com and only spent $18,000 in leads.


Testimonial

“

To Whom It May Concern,
I am very pleased with your service! It is a great alternative to advertisement in the Classifieds fee Market, SF Chronicle, Marin Journals or other lead generation services (ServiceMagic)!

I love the solid leads you have given us and the personal touch of getting more or less leads per week is phenomenal.

Finally, our company bottom line has increased greatly since we went with CalFinder! All in all, your service outdoes any other advertisement or lead generation services I have ever used.

Sincerely,


Taylor Phan/Perfection Construction





Tam Construction
Roger Huntress


Background
Roger from Tam Construction was our second client. At the point that we started working with him he was earning roughly $100,000 in revenue and working on every job site.

He was chained to his jobs and couldn’t grow his company because he didn’t have enough quality leads. He came to work with CalFinder and initially struggled, not booking a single job in the first 20 leads that he received.

The day after he called into complain and threaten to cancel his service he booked a $60,000 job…The next week he booked a $75,000 job.

That first year he went on to book $250,000! In his second year he was running three crews and produced over $500,000, 90% of which was provided by Calfinder.com.


Testimonial

“

To Whom It May Concern:
Since our partnership with CalFinder, we have increased our revenue. Jason, Gabriel, Colin and the entire crew at CalFinder are a delight to work with.

We at Tam Construction highly recommend CalFinder to augment the source of new and potentially profitable clients to every trade and sub trade, be it a large or upstart company.

TAM CONSTRUCTION LLC
Roger Huntress
Owner





Blue and Blue Construction
Greg Blue

Background
Greg and his father Ken were our fourth client. They had moved from Los Angeles and had done 40 bids for clients and had no worked booked. They were desperate for work and had no idea of where to find it. They started working with CalFinder and took every lead that they could get their hands on, from a fence repair to a leaky faucet. They had no employees and worked out of the back of their pick-up truck. 6 months later they had booked $250,000 worth of work from Calfinder.com, had hired a crew and were looking for office space. A year later they had an office in Marin County, had 8 full time employees and were doing over 1 million dollars in annual revenue.


Testimonial

“

We have been working with Cal-finder for about 2 years now. Prior to that, our company was struggling for work and leads. We had no employees and were running the business out of an office in the back of my house. Within 4 months of working with Cal-finder, our profits had tripled and we began hiring a crew to do the work for us.

Cal-finder is the best thing that ever happened to our company. We now have a shop in San Rafael, 6 employees, and are able to manage the business side of our company without exhausting ourselves by trying to do the labor and marketing as well. And the proof is in the numbers.

Our company is less than three years old. A company that young can spend up to 50% of their income on marketing, trying to get off of the ground. We spend about 10%. Our only lead problem is how to cover them all. We stay busy right through winter, and Cal-Finder is the reason.

They are responsible for generating about 90% of our work. I couldn’t be happier with them. If you want good leads, sign up.

Sincerely,
Greg Blue Co-Owner
Blue & Blue Const. Inc

NexGen

Our Calfinder story is similar to most, over promising sales people. Poor if not downright fraudulent leads. Horrible customer service etc. etc. etc. So we decided to cancel our service contract, easy enough right? Well, we are on our second month of unauthorized and unreturned “Monthly service" charges AFTER the account has been closed. We will now have to cancel the credit card and deal with them appropriately.
We have had enough and have decided to file a complaint with the BBB and highly recommend others who are unhappy do the same. It is an easy process and only then will they get your attention.
This is what our research found as of today 3/2/2010;

Customer Complaint History for CalFinder, Inc.

BBB processed a total of 36 complaints about CalFinder, Inc. in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total of 36 complaints closed in 36 months, 30 were closed in the last year.

It seems to be a common story with Calfinder. The moral of the story, BUYER BEWARE of CALFINDER.
We will keep you posted on our progress with Calfinder. If they step up we will let you know.

Leadguy

These testimonies are dated. I know Greg Blue and it has been years since he said this. Has no love for any lead companies now.

CalFinder

Re nexgen.

We have spoken to a representative from your company in the last 24 hours and resolved your concern. Unfortunately there was a billing mistake on our end and we have resolved it by crediting you back the $145. Please understand that this was a simple accounting mistake and not anything malicious. Thank you for your patience and understanding. You should see a credit back to your credit card in the coming week.

Thank you again for your comments and feedback.

The Calfinder Team.

CalFinder

Hello,

thanks for the response.

Here is another testimonial that we received today. As we have stated in numerous responses above, our service doesn't work for every contractor out there. We do our best to be selective about the contractors that we bring aboard and coach each of them on best practices for following up with leads. We find that the contractors that follow our best practices are very successful and continue to ask for more and more leads from us.

Here is a great testimonial from a contractor that follows our best practices to a tee.

If someone asked me about Cal Finder as a lead source, my response would be as follows:
The most accurate, reliable and dependable lead generating source I have ever used. I have been in sales most of my life, and unlike other providers, I cannot wait to see what the computer has for my department each day. The customers are knowledgeable and informed, they expect prompt responses, and get it; therefore we set a lot of appointments and have a very high closing percentage.
Thank you & keep up the excellent work!
Keith P.
Internet Sales Manager
Salt River Solar & Wind, LLC.

CalFinder

As always we strive to be an active participant in the discussion surrounding how best to use lead generation services.

That being said, we woudl like to share some of our best practices for using internet lead services.

This information has been compiled from our experience running a home improvement sales force of over 80 reps and working with over 3000 contractors throughout the US.

These 7 rules will be the difference between failure and making $1000’s of dollars.

In order to be successful with internet leads you MUST DO the following:
1) You must call the lead within 15 minutes of getting the lead. Absolutely crucial. These people are on the internet and want information immediately.
2) DO NOT over screen the lead on the phone and get into pricing, minimum job size, or type of specific product the homeowner is looking for. The key here is to get in the house and do your demo. The companies that are successful with purchased leads go out no matter what type of remodel the homeowner is asking for. Their salesman end up selling the homeowner the product that their specific company sells.
3) DO NOT let your salesreps call the leads. They will scare off the homeowner, they tell us!
4) MAKE SURE you have a good follow up system for contacting these homeowners. Sometimes you are going to have to contact these people several times to get them on board. Often customers won’t return messages, this does not mean they are not interested! Top companies will call a lead up to 5 times in the first 72 hours and set up 80% of the leads as appointments.
5) ARCHIVE THE LEADS. Save the lead information and continue to follow up down the road with people who you have a tough time reaching. This is really important to continue following up.
6) DO NOT get emotional (positively or negatively) about the leads – the return will be there over time if you execute on the systems provided and follow up accordingly. A fast or slow start with return on investment is not an indicator of long-term success. This is a process and a campaign, not a short-term fix for those that are looking for an immediate homerun.
7) It’s a numbers game….60% demo rate is about the average, some companies do as high as 80%. Not every lead is going to turn into an estimate and not every estimate will turn into a job. Marketing is a game of averages and the 6 points above will help you to dominate your completion and make the changes necessary to succeed with internet leads.

The companies that have a lot of success with online lead generation are the ones that have adjusted their normal processes. They understand that each lead source is different and that internet lead generation is the most profitable lead source that they have.

Here’s to your continued success!!

The CalFinder Team.

doitwright

With all the comments being left by Contractors and their experiences with lead services it seems that they could make improvements to their service if they would be willing to listen to the complaints they get. If making as much money as possible is their only goal, that business model may work now while the work is scarce, but will be ditched by most when things eventually improve.

So the question is: What would you suggest lead services do to improve their service to contractors?

A few things I would like to see are:

• Customers should be made aware that the free estimates cost selected contractors money.
• Customers can present themselves as serious by doing some preparation. Know a budget range. Familiarize themselves with what is included in the cost of doing work (insurance, overhead).
• Customers can read a short report or watch a short video which explains not only what their expectations should be but also the contractors expectations.
• Customers should indicate what information they have gathered or prepared.
• Indicate if they expect to have design plans prepared.
• Indicate what their schedule is both start and finish.
• Indicate if they intend to supply any materials (ie. cabinets, appliances, etc.)

What are your thoughts?

dorian reeve

i was really thinking that i needed to go with one of these services. i talked to service magic and read this thread now im not so sure. the prices for this sort of thing is just to far out of wack with free adds mailers and good old fashioned word of mouth i realy wish that some of the ideas given in this or all the other threads like it. were taken to hart buy any of the company's that jump in hear and start spouting the company line and Dodging questions. that are asked of them some strait answers would go a long way to to helping us whant to deal with them.

__________________
http://www.dorianreeve.com

festerized

Take a look at some of my post on SM, I have been straight & to the point.
Recap for SM
1- DO NOT use the “Exact Match “ program
2- I use SM as a form of advertising that my other paper ads do not reach
3- Challenge every single lead
A- Do they own the home? Credit
B- Did their E-mail bounce back as invalid? Credit
C- Did the HO submit the proper service request? Credit
D- If you get a request and the address is not given and request says “will supply address at a later date” Credit
4- Know your demographics, weed out bad neighborhoods by removing zip codes
5- Be careful of the classifications your company covers, for me service work or repairs are a waste of money
6- If you’re losing a lot of bids in a classification consider removing it.
7- Sign up for Yahoo and Google Local- IT’S FREE
8- Create a DIY web site from Yahoo or Google, the best leads find you
9- Face book marketing is my new adventure and is paying off; connect with local friends and business.
10- Create a flier and use it as your business card, 150 fliers cost me $25.00. Your 4”x10” flier will stand out against other contractors small business cards.
11- Make all your advertising direct to your web site: “visit us on the web @”

__________________
Addition Contractor Bayville Home Addition Monmouth Beach NJ Contractor Jackson NJ

“Photography is not art, It’s just a Xerox of what just happened”

Business Guru

I have worked with many clients that use lead services. I know it is very easy to blame them and get upset once someone does not answer their calls.

Once I give my clients the basic tips on how to close more calls, the average closing ratio does grow substantially.

So what does that say. People should not be quick to blame. I have seen businesses run solely on lead generator, which I don't recommend. It is always good to have a nice marketing mix.

MKTGVP

I'm in the process and plan to put SM out of business, please check out my post here contractortalk.com/f100/what-do-you-really-want-75741/