Lead Generation Services - (ServiceMagic,Respond)

quinnn

Hi all,

I work for an internet lead generation service, and am interested in your feedback.

Have you used pay-per-lead services before?
Have you been successful in closing business?
If yes, can you recommend tips to other contractors for closing business from these leads?

I am interested in bringing more contractors into our system, and want to make sure it's a good experience.

Feel free to put me in the spotlight. I'll answer any questions you might have.

Double-A

Wouldn't this be a better question for your Customer Service Department? I mean, don't they take the calls from the folks that are upset? You do have a problem resolution program in place, don't you? Your CSRs are empowered to make your customers happy, aren't they?

Clean up, aisle 5!

__________________
"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

Grumpy

Just search this forum and you will find out everything you need to know.

Teetorbilt

You can also ask Ms. Sanchez who no se habla ingleese berry good.

__________________
You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

Albert Einstein

R&S Exteriors

I would be very cautious about using Service Majic. I signed up with them a few months ago. They have a good sales pitch. They tell your that their leads are thoughly screened and have to fill out lengthy online forms therefore they are definitely interested in having the work done. They do tell you that you have to sell yourself to get the job which is fine.

I just made them shut my account down because the leads s*ck. There are not many leads in my area because it is rural and not many people search the internet for contractors. Of the 8 leads I have gotten only (2) actually wanted an estimate. (5) would not even return a phone call or email and (1) actually threatened to report me to the Feds because I was violating the "do not call" they had signed up for. I informed them that I was only calling because of a request that they made through Service Majic. The old man told me they made no such request and I better not ever call and solicit from him again. I have no idea how Service Majic comes up with these names and addresses and just try to get a "credit" from them. They would not even give me a credit for the one that threatened me. Their speal sounds good, but at least in my experience there service is no good.

AAPaint

Typical......

__________________
-AAPaint

AA Quality Painting & Pressure Washing LLC
Jacksonville Painters
Jacksonville, FL.

Double-A

Perhaps not as interested as you thought you were, or did we scare you off?

__________________
"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

Grumpy

I've been using service magic for about 5 years. I am about ready to cancel my account. I placed all my leads on hold.

Recently my bank changed debit cards from Visa to MC and in the change obviously I need to update my vendors. So I get an email from Sm saying that my card was declined. I forgot again to update the card. All of a sudden I bounce a check from my personal account. WTF?! When I first signed up with SM I had used my personal debit card since I didn't yet have a corporate card. Anyways they put something like $400 onto my personal account.

I politely asked them to refund the money and I would pay them with the new corporate card. They said they don't refund money. It's against their policy. I've complained to everyone who willl listen and nobody gives a rats ass.

Nathan

And I wondered why ServiceMagic.com didn't advertise on this site LOL.

I actually tried to pay THEM for for advertising in their backend system to contractors (which was very expensive BTW) and they turned me down after doing a search on this site. LOL. They didn't want their members coming here and seeing what was said about them.

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Nathan

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

ATH

I've been with SM for close to five years. I signed up under the old system and have never switched as I found that the leads have gotten worse and worse over the years. In fact, I haven't accepted a lead in months and am also considering canceling my account (my leads are also on hold).

Recently, I got a bill for a lead I supposedly accepted. I opened a chat session and got no satisfaction. The rep said that someone would call ... never got a call.

The next day, I called. Again, no satisfaction. That rep muttered something about me being charged because one of my customers rated me. Huh? He promised an e-mail ... never got an e-mail.

The next day, I sent an e-mail. Over a week later, I got a response from that one.

The next day, I called again. This time, I got a rep that was persistant enough to figure out the problem. If I understood correctly, they have a program where SM calls customers to see how everything went. Apparently, I was the only one presented with this lead. Even though I didn't accept it, their system charged it to me as they called and there was no other contractor to link it to.

We went 'round and 'round on the "we don't give refunds" issue. They offered a credit that didn't expire and tried to sell it as a feature since I could accept a higher priced lead and be billed less for it. Huh? I'm no accountant, but it didn't seem like a bargain to me.

Ultimately, I politely asked if they would be issuing a credit or should I wait for it to show up on my credit card bill and protest it to the bank. I pointed out that their merchant account probably did not allow them to have a "no refunds" policy.

They had to take it up with a manager, but I eventually got an e-mail claiming that they credited my credit card with the amount. I haven't gotten the bill yet, so we'll see if they did what they said or whether I'll have to get the credit card company involved.

I'm pretty sure that charging me for something I never got and then refusing to give me a refund is frowned upon.

Good luck, Grumpy.

__________________
Wayne
Around the House
http://www.MyPowerCouple.com

Double-A

Most folks would consider that stealing. I wonder how your state attorney general feels about that?

__________________
"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

Justin Fuller

Waste of money. I would never pay for a lead. Ive been in sales my whole life and the money is better spent on quality marketing. My marketing materials pay for themselves always and it cost no money out of pocket. I cant remember the name of the lead generator I used once but its way to expensive.

dougchips

I have tried about every internet lead system in the past 4 months. Some rough figures:

I call every lead within 1/2 hour and send an e-mail the same day.

I recall every lead within 2 days if they do not return my call.

--I talk to about 50% of internet leads, that is half that never answer the phone, bad numbers, never respond to my messages or e-mail.

--Of the remaining half, I set appointments with about half of them.

So they lead cost goes from $35ish for "a qualified/ prescreen lead" (BS) to about $140ish per appointment. Which is still affordable however, the lowest quality of all types of leads that I get.

Grumpy, get an Amex card they let you dispute charges and are quick to back charge people who sell crap.

Zack

Thanks for all the infomation. I wondered why I always second guessed myself when it came to joining them.

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Grumpy

That's a totally inacurate thing to say! Sorry for calling you out Justin but I hear this being said over and over again and it is just an illusion...

So you would rather spend $600 a month on potentially getting some leads using methods that might work? Hmmm personally I prefer knowing I am only paying for the leads I get, not the leads I might get.

Direct mail? No guaratee of any leads but you are guaranteed to spend X ammount. Yellow pages? No guaratee of any leads but you are guaranteed to spend X ammount. Church Bulletins? No guaratee of any leads but you are guaranteed to spend X ammount. Door Hangers? No guaratee of any leads but you are guaranteed to spend X ammount.

The point I am making is I'd love to buy leads all day every day until the cows come home, if it is a quality lead at a reasonable cost. Why not? it's guaranteed. The problem is when the quality of the lead crumbles and you can't get a refund for a bogus lead. But up until that point, if they are quality leads, there is absolutely nothing wrong with buying quality leads. I think it is alot smarter than speculating on other forms of advertising that "might" yeild some response.


Wow you are going to have to teach me this one. Is it like buying a house with no money down? I don't know of any advertising or marketing method where you pay nothing out of pocket.

AAPaint

Yeah, I need one of those "nothing out of pocket" advertising deals! As for SM, this is all pretty much the same thing I went through. I had to have my bank take money back from them because they refused to give it back even though I had closed my account.

The declining quality of thier leads and their attitude of charging for nothing and not refunding is hurting their business good I'm sure.

__________________
-AAPaint

AA Quality Painting & Pressure Washing LLC
Jacksonville Painters
Jacksonville, FL.

Justin Fuller

Ok, school is in for the grumpy guy. Its something that the marketing world likes to call a residual income off of your advertising. Here is a little example for you. Lets say you run a mobile auto detailing company. Instead of washing cars week to week offer your clients a maitenance package they pay $30/ week to get their car washed but every 4th week you give a full detail. Instead of paying $20 per wash or $100 for a full detail they get your services weekly and for cheaper than paying for them individual. Now you have money coming in month after month "residual" and you preform the services. You tell them that keeping their car in this clean of a condition will help maintain the value of their car.

I have never washed somebody elses car in my life this is just an example of what I would do if i sold for a car wash.

Like I said I have been doing sales my whole life and my advice to any of you is to set yourself up to recieve a residual income in one way or another.

Grumpy

Nothing you said is news to me. You still haven't justified the fact that you are willing to pay for a "maybe" lead but not for a "guaranteed" lead. Regardless all marketing dollars spent, the ultimate intention is to get the customer to call you... weather that be immediately or by branding so they remember you when the time comes they do need your services...

So to me it is totally flawed logic that someone would say they would never pay for a lead, when that is what they are doing with all forms of advertising, however there are maybe leads and there are guaranteed leads.

I am not disputing the fact that SM consideres a guaranteed lead much different than we contractors do... but I am arguing that fact that either way you are buying leads.

In regards to residual income, I agree with what you have said. However it's not something that can be pulled off by all business models. I mean if you don't do repair work, how often can someone want their house completely re-piped, or all new windows? Pretty much only once in 20 years... However if you do repair or maintenance work then residuals will build your customer base incredibly... and this is something I am working on now. (this is all probably a topic for other discussion anyways.)

However that does not mean that at some point you didn't have to buy a lead in one manner or another to get that person to contact you. You can work what ever residual marketing plan you want after they contact you, BUT you have to buy a lead at some point in time to get them to contact you in the first place. The only exceptions to this rule would be a free referral from a satisified customer or cold calling.

I don't claim to be a marketing expert, but I too have been in one form of sales or another since my mid teen years. Every job I had that wasn't related to sales, I hated. As said again I don't claim to be a marketing genius but I've done alot of my own research into the subject and taken some classes in the local Jr College, so I know a little bit.

The whole point of my argument is been repeated many times, and I will repeat it again. A person saying "I will never buy a lead" has really flawed logic because if that person spends even 1 cent on advertising; they are buying leads.

BreyerConstruct

OK, now I'm confused. I understand residual income, and I don't think it should be based on a contract for services. Residual should have less effort required.

For example, you own an appartment complex; you pay a manager to live there, fix the toilets, and make sure the bills are paid. All you did was set things in motion, and collect a check once a month. That's residual. Back to the car washing, it would only be residual if someone else was doing the washing, scheduling, and management. Otherwise it's just a job with a "guarantee." (sp?)

Everything you do to get leads has a cost. Even if it's a "free" ad, it still costs time which could have been spent at Walmart greeting folks- painting a room- or sleeping. Everything in life has a cost.

However, if I'm off base on this one- I WANT TO KNOW!!!!!!!!!
Because I'd be happy to stop paying 1k+ a month on ads!

Thanks Justin, honestly- no hard feelings.

~Matt

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BreyerConstruct

Sorry Grumpy, stepping on your toes here.
I don't type quite as quick, I should have just sat back & let you say things better! LOL

~Matt

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Custom Deck Builder Deck Designer Lancaster Deck Builder Berks Deck Cleaning
Breyer Construction & Landscape, LLC Facebook Page
www.BreyerConstruction.com