Lead Campaigns: Accept/Reject Vs. Steady Flow

ContractorMike

I'm interested to hear what you guys think about the whole Accept or Reject thing that most of these guys have out there.

My theory is that it hurts closing rates, and overall profitability.

I've heard from guys before 'Well when I'm not busy, I can just go accept a lead to fill the gaps' .. this makes very little sense to me. The day you accept the lead is not the day you'll close the deal. If we expand the time this guy is not busy to a week even, it still doesnt make sense. I dont' see trying to score business when you're not busy as an efficient means of develoipng business.

With our current lead campaigns, we're on this Steady Flow program. So, we dont get the opportunity to say 'we want this lead, we dont want this lead' but.. we set a volume cap to say 1 lead per day.. and over time, we have a more steady pipeline of business because some consumers want to do things 6 months from now, some 3 months from now, some next week. Over time, just accepting one lead per day and working it produces more business for us.

Also, I've found that if I judged the value of a lead just based on how it looks in my inbox is stupid. I find plenty of consumers who declare a budget of $1000, but when I get them on the phone, they're ready to close for like $10k worth of windows. I think the whole concept of 'cherry picking' leads based on what they said initiially or how they looked in the inbox is just short-sighted.

Anyone care to disagree? I'm interested in hearing the counterarguments because I want to find out the best way to run my lead campaigns.

Glasshousebltr

Look for the rollex, if they spend that much on a watch, they will dam sure give you the "time" to close the deal.

Sorry I get like this when I'm tired.

Bob

Grumpy

I work with many elad services and I highly prefer accept/reject over steady flow hands down.

There are pros and cons to both. Steady flow is nice because usually on accept reject the # of contractors are limited, therefore it's first come first serve. However I like to pick and choose my leads based on many variables, especially my gut feeling... therefore for me accept reject is my preferred method. I never look at size or budget because these are never accurate LOL but if the details field says "Selling our house." or "looking for cheaper bid." these are total wastes of my time and go right to the trash.

I've been working with many services for many years so I have many opinions and pretty good experience. One thing I know is when you are doing the accept reject, if the lead is more than 6 hours old don't even bother accepting. I have all leads text messaged to my cell phone. I am usually on the phone with the customer 5 minutes after they request an estimate. If I had $1 for every time a customer said "wow that was fast." I'd be buying all my christmas presents free this year.

Bottom line is do what works for you, but it took alot of b!tching to get SM to switch me from steady flow to accept/reject... Infact I almsot didn't sign up with them because they didn't want to put me on accept/reject in the first place.

ContractorMike

Well, it appears that you're definitely judging lead quality based on how it looks in your inbox. What if a consumer puts 'none' in the comments field? What would your gut tell you? I've closed ENORMOUS jobs that look strange in my inbox.

What we've found is that working all leads the same, without bias, is what produces the best results. I found that before, when our sales reps were biased by which source the leads were coming from, and what the comments box or budget box showed, they didnt work the leads the same and were wasting our money. They'd say 'bah this lead is garbage,' and then I'd call the lead and find the exact opposite.

The whole concept of cherry picking is insidious to working lead programs properly.

Grumpy

If the customer puts none in the comment field, I look at the zip code and type of work. If it's within my area I accept it. If it's some crap repair and out of my area, I don't bother.

Yes I definetly judge my leads based on customer detail.

What works for you certianly does not work for me since that was my philosophy too when I started working with lead services. I prefer to not waste my time or money on a "Maybe". I've been working lead programs for about 4 years very successfully. You do it your way and I will do it mine.

Mike Finley

That's the difference between being a salesman and being a manager. Stats show that if you treat every lead the same you sell more, that's a fact. Managers know it and bottom lines always prove it. Salesman won't do it, that's a fact. The smartest and highest earning salesman are the ones that are smart enough to be dumb when it comes to pre-qualifying.

The problem is when you are small and are the manager and salesman its impossible to not pre-qualify because the salesman in you is more powerful than the manager in you.

The exception is when you can get so experienced at your sales that you know what the customer is going to say before you ever meet him, you develop so much intuition that you know your customers better then they know themselves. Grumpy has been doing online leads for so long he is has gotten to that point.

donb1959

Interesting thread...one question. What online lead source do you guys use? I'm in Winston-Salem NC...and I've talked to contractors horror stories on online leads, therefore and thusly I've never tried them.

Grumpy

There are a few threads with similiar topics of discussion with long lists of lead services I posted.