Hourglass on rocks

Considerations for Lead Generation services
San Antonio, Texas

Are the leads you are buying only being sold once? This is a great inquiry to have when considering lead generation in San Antonio or your local city. Afterall purchasing leads isn’t always cheap, depending on the industry they can easily get above $100 per lead. This would be well and fine if the potential customer was only sent your information from the source, however, often times lead generation sites or companies will send your lead out to multiple companies. That’s right, that $100 lead you just bought could easily have been sent to 3+ other companies. This is great for the lead generation company as they earn multiple times what the lead is generally worth. It can also be good for your company if you offer the lowest price or an excellent sales process. However, what if you aren’t the lowest price and your sales process isn’t refined, is it worth the money spent?

That will totally depend on the other companies that receive the lead, maybe the lowest cost and best-selling competitors are way too busy to take on the lead in the timeline the customer needs. This could result in your business earning a “convenience” transaction. However, there are so many other possibilities, maybe you are the lowest cost company in the area, but you were in contact with the customer first and the next business in line was told the price and just outbid you. In this model it is difficult to know how many leads you are paying for, in which you have no chance of winning.

Of course, a savvy customer could be reaching out to multiple companies anyways, so it’s always best to put your best foot forward, but with some services you get what you pay for, and this doesn’t exclude leads. So, the next time you get an opportunity to buy leads for $15 or $25 when the service you provide is $500 plus, consider asking how many other companies got the same opportunity.

Now that we know how many companies are involved, we should probably get an idea as to whether the lead is “qualified” or not. Does the lead undergo vetting by a dedicated sales team familiar with your industry, or does it fall on your company to participate more thoroughly in the sales process to land a successful conversion? This is vital to understand as the increase in lead cost could result in a decrease of staff needing to be employed by you, or it could result in duplicated efforts that can feel tedious to a potential client.

Another area of interest is what the future looks like between you and the lead generator. The sky is the limit here as the level of participation a lead generation company will have can vary significantly. Consider what you are after. Does the company always want you to pay per lead? Are they willing to take a set amount monthly to send you all the leads? Some lead generation companies will even go above and beyond, considering you a strategic partner that they would like to expand with.

Finally with all these questions in mind, consider the information coming from the potential company. Does what they offer, and their actions match the answers they gave to the above questions? If a company knows nothing about your goals and vision for the future, they cannot help you reach them, regardless of what is said. How can the company afford to only sell you the lead for such a low price if they have a qualified team of sales professionals that properly vet the customer? There are definite exceptions to the rule, however, if something seems too good to be true, then it is often precisely the case.