In the world of lead generation, it seems every agency has “the best leads on the market”. But, are these lead generation agencies really doing everything that they can in order to ensure that their leads are top-notch, or are they doing just enough to keep you happy and make a good margin on their leads?
In this article, we’re going to walk you through what your lead provider should be doing to maximise the performance of the leads they provide you with, and in the process, shed some light on what a solid lead generation agency really looks like.
1. Providing phone number verification
Anyone generating leads online will all some point face the obstacle of producing leads who have real intent. Without this intent, it’s going to take an incredibly savvy salesperson to to turn that lead into a customer (if they can even get them to answer the phone).
One of the fastest and most effective ways to ensure that only leads with real intent are delivered to lead buyers is to provide phone number verification.
Most lead providers will at least configure some kind of automatic number verification at the point at which website visitors enter their phone numbers, confirming that the number is in act a live and registered number.
However, this is still guaranteed to result in dud and invalid phone numbers, and time-wasters will often enter random numbers until one is accepted by the system.
What your lead provider should be doing is requiring phone number verification using a code sent to the phone number provided by the lead.
By doing so, visitors can only proceed to become leads when they enter the correct pin sent to their phone.
This small feature goes a long way for a lead buyer, as it not only eliminates any time wasted calling wrong or invalid numbers – it also deters away any visitors who aren’t serious about being contacted by phone.
2. Providing a direct introduction
No lead buyer ever wants to dial a number, politely introduce themselves to the contact and hear those cold, unsettling words… “how did you get my details?”.
For a call to go well, it needs to start off on the right foot, and this is hard to achieve when you’re considered to be a stranger.
Lead providers can very easily solve this problem with a simple, automated email or SMS to the lead as they come in, letting them know who you are and that you’re shortly going to be giving them a call.
They can even go a step further by blowing a little bit of smoke up your behind, highlighting your professionalism and strong reputation in advance of your call.
This incredibly simple step is a must. It easily breaks the ice before the call has even begun, and provides you with credibility that leads need in order to trust you.
Any decent lead provider can have this set up in the space of 5 minutes, so ask, and don’t take no for an answer.
3. Qualifying (and de-qualifying) potential leads
Any Tom, Dick or Harry can submit a lead form. But, not every Tom, Dick or Harry fits the criteria of a potential customer for your business.
If your lead provider is not removing some submissions based on their criteria, you’re buying leads that are of absolutely no value to you.
For example, you may be a mortgage broker who wants to focus your time on first-time buyers in England and Wales who are employed full-time with a household income of £50,000 and up and a fair, good, or excellent credit score.
But, your lead provider just sends… “UK mortgage leads”. As a result, you’re buying leads who aren’t employed, have poor credit and want to remortgage an existing property to consolidate their credit cards and loans.
The leads may be of interest to someone, but perhaps not you. However, you’re still paying for them.
It’s not hard for lead providers to deliver leads based on their criteria, so if you’re not provided with this option, you may want to look elsewhere.
4. Providing statistics and reporting
Another feature that too few lead providers offer is live statistics and reporting on the leads they send you. One of the main reasons for this is because they deliver your leads and send you on your way.
However, some lead providers (like Beyond Marketing) will offer you a free CRM for your leads to be delivered to.
This provides an opportunity to report back on lead performance automatically, as well as see for yourself just how well your leads are converting.
This helps you and your lead provider, as it means that they can see where your best leads are coming from and what they look like on paper, opening up an opportunity to optimise ad targeting, improve your conversion rates and increase your average customer value on an ongoing basis.
Without something like this in place, it’s in your hands to monitor and track your lead performance and report back to your lead provider regularly.
5. Educating before submission
Lead providers are forever battling to lower what they pay to generate a lead. This is fair, but if it’s done in the wrong way, it’s you who pays the price.
Take a look at some of the ways a lead generator can lower their cost-per-acquisition:
- Simplify the landing page
- Make the process seem more simple
- Highlight the positives
- Hide the negatives
- Exaggerate the likelihood of eligibility
- Make the commitment seem small
- Offer some kind of free, instant quote or immediate online answer
So, what’s wrong with these changes?
The main problem is that they can backfire on the lead buyer, because they collectively result in the lead being less educated of the product offered, less understanding of their commitment and essentially misled into submitting their details.
Once again, it’s the lead buyer who loses out here, calling up leads who didn’t fully understand the product, weren’t eligible for the product in the first place, or who were just more curious for a quote or calculation than anything else.
What a lead provider should be doing is:
- Providing a solid amount of information about the product offered
- Explaining who is likely to be eligible (and who isn’t)
- Giving an overview of the process that follows after submitting as a lead
- Using their knowledge of advertising platforms to optimise their cost-per-acquisition
6. Providing or assisting you with SMS & email marketing
It’s already very well-known in the e-commerce industry that email and SMS marketing is where customers really begin to reveal their true value to brands and businesses.
Outside of that industry however, it seems there’s some catching up to do in regards to the realisation that a simple text or email can very easily triple the value of your average customer.
In fact, in one study, it was revealed that more than 60% of SMBs see more than half of their annual revenue come from existing customers – not new ones.
If you’re not keeping in touch with the leads you’ve paid good money for, you’re seriously missing a trick.
Whether it’s a one-time email to let them know what the current deals are or an entire automated workflow of email and SMS – you need to be doing something.
And, if your lead provider really does want you to get the most out of your leads like they say they do, they’ll help you with your nurture workflows.
Is your lead provider slacking?
If reading this article has provided you with a bit of a wakeup call and you’re now beginning to think that your lead provider isn’t cutting it in comparison to what’s on offer, book a free demo with Beyond Marketing to find out how we compare.
