Much of our lead generation comes from the internet, specifically, the reply form on our web site. In the past, we've used radio ads, fliers, ads in local newpapers, postcard ads, yellow pages, mall shows and the response has been relatively poor. We also use job-site signs and truck signs. Since we are in a niche market (high-end roofing), many of the respondents are not in our price range (they just can't afford our product), and we have had to spend a lot of time qualifying the prospects to determine if there was a good potential match between what we offer and what they want.
In contrast, the requests for quotes we get from the web site are usually from people who have already done much of their research, and are seriously interested in our product. My dealers love the leads we send them from the web site, as their closing rate is over 80%.
One of the more surprising aspects for me was to discover that the web site was responsible for over 50% of our local leads and sales (most of the rest came from referrals from existing clients). When I discussed with my customers what prompted them to choose us over other local roofers, one of the factors was the "legitimacy" that a web site gave us, and their ability to read about us before they contacted us. That way, they already formed an opinion of who we were before we even showed up. Once we came and went through the interview process, we often found that we didn't need to cover the product benefits as much - they already found that on the web site. We usually spent more time discussing their specific needs and the exact way we would correct specific problems.
Because of the benefit of having our potential customers educate themselves, we are going to be extensively revamping our web site to specifically address a number of topics that appear to come up often and are "hot buttons". Once this is completed, we will continue to do local advertising (print, radio, etc.) with the goal of having more prospects educated themselves though our web site.