Okay, are there ANY online lead service companies worth giving a shot?

9099 Views 32 Replies 16 Participants Last post by BMX, Aug 16, 2010

sgvcontractor

Discussion Starter · Dec 4, 2009

Hi folks!

Newbies here on the forum.

Been in the biz 5+ years and my fiancee Dave is just getting back into residential bathroom remodeling after working retail for a couple of years.

He had a Service Magic horror story from a couple of years ago, and even with that experience was considering giving them another shot; thinking maybe they cleaned up their act. Funny thing is they won't take him back now anyway, ha! But from the reviews here it looks like nothing much has changed with those bastages. Anyway, we've read a ton of reviews here and have done some searching on our own, checking here and ripoffreport.com and elsewhere for names of companies we run across. So far the verdict is that everybody sucks!!

Saw a post by Grumpy that he might be doing a blog post on lead service companies he's tried but wasn't able to find whether that was published? Would love his or anyone else's thoughts on the matter.

Currently working on our website and SEO strategy but as you know that's not an overnight deal. Were hoping to get some sort of halfway decent lead company to give us a few initial leads and get some business going while refining that part of it.

I saw one post talking about "local lead providers" possibly being a good move but where the heck do you find them, community websites?

Any info appreciated! Love all the great comments here. You guys rock.

-Kelly & Dave

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tinner666

· #2 · Dec 5, 2009

Just get G analytics, their verifier, code and their tracker. Submit to G's local business directory, and all the search engines. ( I don't understand the $$$ to Yahoo..People search there and find me on top too. Not sure why/how)

Look around (Google) for local community sites and get listed on them. Etc, etc.

Hand out cards, use your referral base, be seen, etc.

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HomeSealed

· #3 · Dec 9, 2009

To answer the primary question: NO.... Hire somebody to canvass. Even if they take all of your literature and throw it in the trash and just walk home while you are paying them, you 'll still lose less money than dealing with lead services.

Reactions: 1

tinner666

· #4 · Dec 9, 2009

"but where the heck do you find them, community websites?"
Two found me and requested I offer my services. 1 exchanged links. One just sends me business. I found another somehow and made contact. We'll see where that goes.

Your city must have 'areas, communities, etc, like Nob Hill in S.F. Ca., Beverly Hills, in Hollywood, Ca. for instance. Google the places you find on your local maps. Decide who to target that your work/temperment, or whatever jives with. G may find online associations for the areas. Make contact. Don't go in selling something! But let them look you and your website over. Meet in person.

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electricohio

· #5 · Dec 9, 2009

What City are you located in?

Definitely make sure you get listed in the local sites. I have a list of all of them that I recommend to people who ask us to help with their online efforts

sgvcontractor

Discussion Starter · #6 · Dec 9, 2009

HomeSealed said:
To answer the primary question: NO.... Hire somebody to canvass. Even if they take all of your literature and throw it in the trash and just walk home while you are paying them, you 'll still lose less money than dealing with lead services.

*laughing* Duly noted, thanks. That's what we we're pretty much thinking.

Hehe

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sgvcontractor

Discussion Starter · #7 · Dec 9, 2009

tinner666 said:
"but where the heck do you find them, community websites?"
Two found me and requested I offer my services. 1 exchanged links. One just sends me business. I found another somehow and made contact. We'll see where that goes.

Okay gotcha, so you're talking the standard general websites for a particular community; I was thinking something different. Will check those out.
Agreed in person meetings are always best to establish a relationship. Thanks Tinner!

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sgvcontractor

Discussion Starter · #8 · Dec 9, 2009

tinner666 said:
Just get G analytics, their verifier, code and their tracker. Submit to G's local business directory, and all the search engines. ( I don't understand the $$$ to Yahoo..People search there and find me on top too. Not sure why/how)

Look around (Google) for local community sites and get listed on them. Etc, etc.

Hand out cards, use your referral base, be seen, etc.

Cool, G analytics was on my list to check out, thanks for the reminder!

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MagicPoolSvcs

· #9 · Dec 16, 2009

At the end of the day, these online lead services are good to a point to supplement your marketing.

Dont base your marketing around them.

Find new, and low cost ways to advertise your business.

For example, we use Google Ad Words so that traffic is driven to our site, rather than SM.

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Ohio Painters

· #10 · Dec 16, 2009

Good afternoon folks. I am new to the site. Been posting for awhile on Painttalk. Has anyone had any experience using Leadpile.com? If so, would you recomend them? Currently, we use SM and have a love / hate relationship with them! Thanks in advance.

handyhands

· #11 · Dec 16, 2009

Definitely do the research....

I was actually looking up on them today, and did a bbb check in their home state of Arizona.

Funny thing is?--They have 14 negative complaints with the Arizona BBB, and they also have a "sub" company under the "Leadpile" name of "loans for all"--some sort of shady lending company....lol

I tired calling them, and never get an answer--it does however give you the option of putting in someone's extension, and I tried all 3 names of the principles that were listed on their BBB site, and again--no one answered.

Good luck with that.:whistling

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Ohio Painters

· #12 · Dec 16, 2009

Thanks for the feedback - handy. It seems pretty risk free. But I don't want to even waste a dime if they are a joke. BTW, this is part of my research. Thanks - again.

kylehook

· #13 · Dec 18, 2009

calfinder not a good investment

if you are looking for a good leads group then calfinder is not a good place to start. you have no control over the transactions per contract and they will bled you dry with bad leads plus the babysitting time on your part is unbelievable.

MagicPoolSvcs

· #14 · Dec 19, 2009

The best lead source on the net is................... YOU. :clap:

Spend some time, and do some research.

Build a site.
Optimize It
Use Google Ad Words to drive traffic.

You get the calls.

It the same concept that the lead companies are doing, but they sell you the leads.

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denverasphalt

· #15 · Dec 19, 2009

We just started working with a local company called i-click websites (iclickwebsites.com) who specializes in contractor marketing. Right now our first months average cost per call / lead is about $4/call which is significantly lower then other advertising we are using right now - then again its only our first month so we will see how things go.

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Greg

· #16 · Mar 24, 2010

denverasphalt said:
We just started working with a local company called i-click websites (iclickwebsites.com) who specializes in contractor marketing. Right now our first months average cost per call / lead is about $4/call which is significantly lower then other advertising we are using right now - then again its only our first month so we will see how things go.

Hey DenverAsphalt,
How is iclickwebsites working out at this point?
building decks in Denver [centennialcustomcecks.com] and looking for the secret formula,
Thanks,

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denverasphalt

· #17 · Mar 24, 2010

It's working out great! It took about a month to get rolling strong. They extended us 1 month free on the front end to allow the campaign to get rolling. Right now we get about 20-30 solid leads per month.

The good part is they have a call recording system that records all calls as well as the call source so you see your roi.

Pretty cool.

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Greg

· #18 · Mar 26, 2010

Thanks Denver Asphalt,
I am now officailly doing business with Sean and Iclicks. This sure seems like the best online marketing concept in a long time. Have a good summer!

denverasphalt

· #19 · Mar 27, 2010

He's a young guy but is as sharp as a knife. keep us all posted on how he works out. So far he's done a tremendous job for our business.

Cheers,

primeelite

· #20 · Mar 29, 2010

The best advice I can give from a marketing perspective is like others said, create your own website. I see a lot of people spending $300+ on lead websites that generally don't give out the best leads or oversell them. If you have your own website, optimize it, and market it then you have something that can generate leads on its own for next to nothing where with lead companies you continually have to pay them to keep it going.

My advice would be hire an SEO person with a focus on local seo as well as get a good designer to make a professional website and most of all learn the basics of adwords. I have seen many people waste money by simply not geo-targeting and also not using phrase match or exact match but instead use general terms that get them un-targeted clicks wasting hundreds.

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