ingram01

I've been a "lurker' for quite some time, but 1st time poster.

I'm curious as to what contractors think could be done to improve the viability of internet sales leads?

Would a customer-care call center help improve closing ratios? It appears that everyone seems to be able to get in-touch with about 1/2 the leads they receive and set appointments with a fair percentage. What about a program to stay in-touch with the other half that appear to be "shoppers" but inevitably end-up doing something in the future?

partners4profit

800 # call capture systems help you track all leads

ingram01

But, don't you have to have someone call your 800 # in order to capture the information?

I'm talking about internet sales leads. Where the contractor is given the information with which to contact the customer.

MattCoops

I'm not understanding what your saying /asking

if a customer emails you or submits their info via the internet

and you can't get ahold of them

try, try, try to call them back

if you still get no call back
just file that lead away
maybe call next quarter

they are a staller and aren't real serious yet about starting a project

pursue other customers and get back to them later

__________________
Matt; tile contractor in Charlotte, NC
704-605-0907
Tweeting @MattCupan | read my articles

DamionR

Have you thought about an autoresponder email-type program? I do this with every lead we generate. The great thing about it is... you put them into the list... and the program works for you.

Here's an example of one of ours...

The person signs up for a free 7-Day e-Course on how to market their contracting business.

Each of the seven days gives them information... as well as a call-to-action to one of our services.

After the seven days... they receive 4 different sales lettesr for our services...

After that - they receive a daily "marketing tip" (101 in total) - with an offer to our services.


You could employee the same type of tactic with your internet leads. Whenever you get one, add them to your autoresponder list.

day one, they get a introductory email...
Day two they get more info on the services you can help them with
day three they get a few testimonials from past clients
day four they get a special offer for contacting you today
day five they get more testimonials

then general info on your industry with call-to-actions to contact you can be sent out on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

The nice part is - once you set everything up - it does the work for you.

I use www.autowebbusiness.com for this. They have a $4 30 day trial. After that, the autoresponder portion is only $30 a month. Well worth it.

The best part is... once they contact you - you simply remove them from the mailings. Until they... you get to keep your name in front of them.

ingram01

If it were cost-effective, would contractors use a service that stayed on-top of the roughly 50% of the leads that were troublesome to get in contact with?

Eevrything I'm reading tells me that most contractors only have success in setting appointments with roughly 50% of the sales leads they receive and their overall "closing rate is 15-20% of the total leads they receive. Meaning that their actual "closing rate" on leads they are able to set appointments with is roughly 30-40%.

It appears there's a potential missed opportunity with the other 50% that contractors aren't able to contact.