The Bottom Line Behind Lead Generation Site Reviews

The Bottom Line Behind Lead Generation Site Reviews

All lead generation services should value any and all reviews, both good or bad, that users post about their company. Good reviews bring on more clients and a company’s response to poor reviews can turn an unhappy user into one that ends up referring the service to other pros.

Nevertheless, no matter how reliable you may think reviews for lead generation websites may be, there are always at least two sides to every story. Before you determine which lead generation site is best for contractors, make sure you know the bottom line behind all lead generation site reviews. In this article, we will touch on some of the things you should keep in mind when reading reviews about lead generation services.

All Reviews Have Underlying Factors

Not all reviews are as clean cut as you’d think. Even positive reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt. After all, how do you know that person leaving the review is not related to someone working at that lead generation company? More troubling, how do you know the person leaving the review did not create a fake profile just to produce a positive review about his company? The truth is, you don’t.

On the other end of the spectrum, one must analyze all possible factors when it comes to negative reviews as well. Some aspects to consider are:

  1. Have they ever used a lead generation service before?
  2. How long did they try the service?
  3. If they have used lead generation services, did they have success in the past?
  4. What do they consider success?
  5. Are they having a bad day?
  6. What was their follow up process like?
  7. How fast are they calling leads?
What Lead Generation Is

Have They Used Lead Generation Before?

Babe Ruth didn’t hit a home run in his first at-bat. If the greatest baseball player of all time didn’t perfect his craft right away, why do any of us think we can do the same? Yes, there are those who are naturals when it comes to their crafts, but for most of us, it takes practice.

Lead generation services only play a small part in winning a customer. It’s up to the contractor to turn an interested person into a paying customer. Those unfamiliar with lead generation services may not yet fully understand how to do this.

How Long Did They Use the Service?

Before reading a lead generation review of any kind, you must make sure that person gave the service a fair shot. Many contractors will try a lead generation service, get five leads with no results and quit, placing all the blame on the lead gen service.

One thing many contractors don’t understand is that lead generation of any type is a numbers game. Just because the first five leads didn’t result in a sale doesn’t mean the next five won’t. Likewise, just because the first five leads resulted in a sale, it doesn’t mean the next five will too.

The more trials there are, the more accurate the data becomes. When you read feedback about a lead service, it’s always important to ask how many leads they got from that service and for how long they actually used the service.

How long did they try the Service

If They Have Used Lead Gen Services, Did They Have Success in the Past?

Some companies are not meant to use lead generation services. It’s plain and simple. In order to succeed in lead generation, you must have a thorough follow up process, be extremely organized and of course, know how to talk to potential customers. If you start to see the same contractors posting negative reviews about various lead gen companies, chances are, their business was not made for lead generation.

On the other hand, if you see that this particular company has had success using other lead generation services, then you can be confident that this review is reliable.

What Do They Consider Success?

Lead generation comes down to numbers and the one number you need to always look at is your return on investment (ROI). In many businesses, a strong ROI would be 30%. In other words, for every $100 you invested, you would return $130, therefore, bringing $30 in net profit. If you divide $30/$100, you get 30%. To determine ROI, you can find nifty calculators online like this one.

However, many pros in various industries have unrealistic expectations and expect ROIs upwards of 75%. On a related noted, some expect close ratios of 80%. If they set the bar that high, all power to them.

But, when it comes to lead generation, you can’t expect a perfect close ratio or an ROI of 100% (or more). It just doesn’t happen. Therefore, make sure the person leaving the review had realistic expectations.

Are They Having a Bad Day?

We are all entitled to a bad day or two. Some of us let off steam by working out, taking a walk or just taking on a few more demo projects. Others tend to vent on social media and lead gen review sites. While no one is going to admit to having a bad day, there are a few signs that a reviewer isn’t enjoying this particular day:

  • Does his/her speech sound disjointed?
  • Are they referring to instances without explaining the situation?
  • Are they being very vague with the details?
  • Does there seem to be too much hate for a lead gen review?

It’s difficult to tell if the review is sincere, but if the questions above are any indication, it may be wise to pass over this review.

Speed Discount

What Was Their Follow-Up Process Like?

Some leads are not reachable. Some homeowners leave fake phone numbers, fax numbers, or don’t leave a number or email at all.

Many pros claim that they can’t get in contact with a lead. Fortunately, CraftJack has a system in place that tracks calls to every lead so contractors can view the results in their Lead Manager. Oftentimes, we will look at the call history for the lead in question and we will see that the homeowner was not called until four days after we matched the lead (or sometimes not at all). No wonder it was unreachable!

Following up is a key part of lead generation. In fact, 53% of contractors make contact with the lead on the second call. So while many pros only try once, sometimes a few days after the lead was originally secured, others are following up every few days, vastly increasing their chances of closing the business.

Therefore, always ask the contractor posting the review more about their follow-up process.

How Fast Are They Calling Leads?

On top of persistence, speed reigns supreme in lead generation. The faster you call, the better chance you have at closing the sale. According to our data, responding to leads in the first minute can improve conversion as much as 391%.

Real-Time Leads

Conclusion

Anyone can post nearly anything on the internet. While there is no real way to judge anyone’s credibility without meeting them in person, there are ways to see if the review is sincere. Follow these guidelines and you can be sure whether or not that contractor’s review is legit.