Contactors in construction, remodeling, disaster restoration, and other industries rely on generating quality sales leads to grow their business. However, generating good sales leads is something that takes time and effort for a business and some contractors may not have the staff or the resources to devote to lead generation.  The best way for contractors in this position to ensure that good leads keep coming in is to work with a professional that provides lead generation services.

Generating leads takes time as you need to identify, qualify, and follow up with all of the leads that come your way.  When working with lead generation companies, the third-party company will send you good leads and your business will need to follow up to convert them.  This will save your business time by having a third party handle the lead generation, and the high volume of quality leads will make your business more money.

If you have decided to work with a business that provides lead generation services, it is important to find a provider that can generate quality leads and work within your budget.  In this guide, we will discuss lead generation services as well as the signs to look for to work with a great led gen service.

Disaster restoration contractors who could benefit from getting more quality leads from a lead generation service can work with our professionals at RestorationMaster.

What is a lead generation service?

A lead generation service is a service provided by an agency in which the agency generates quality sales leads for a particular industry.  These agencies typically stick to an industry as this allows them to become familiar with the industry and generate a higher volume of quality leads.

Businesses that work with a lead generation service provider will get good leads in exchange for payment.  You can work with a lead generation service on a monthly basis in which you will pay a monthly fee for continuous leads or do a pay-per-lead model in which you will only pay for the leads that are sent to you.

What are the different types of lead generation?

In general, there are two categories of lead generation: outbound lead generation and inbound lead generation.

Outbound Lead Generation

Outbound lead generation is when messages from a business are sent out to a target audience that may or may not have expressed interest or asked for information.  This type of lead generation is done with cold calling, direct mail, advertising, and email marketing.  With outbound leads, it is the business choosing to reach out to a target audience to generate interest.

Inbound Lead Generation

Inbound lead generation is organic lead generation in which incoming traffic from website optimization, social media, and pay-per-click (PPC) become leads.  This traffic is organic traffic generated through on-page and off-page search engine optimization (SEO) and includes users that have come to your website on their own.

Before choosing a lead generation service provider, consider which of these types of leads you want to focus on.  You can choose to focus on one or the other, or a combination of both depending on what you think works best for your business.  There are lead generation companies that can help generate both types of leads.

What should I look for in a lead generation service?

There are many lead generation agencies, and it can be difficult for businesses to identify an agency that provides quality lead generation services.  You should look for the following in a lead generation service:

Signs of a Great Lead Gen Service

1. High quality leads: This is the most important thing to look for as working with a lead gen service that provides low quality leads is a waste of time and money. You can ask a service for some sample leads to gauge the quality or ask if they use a lead scoring tool that helps filter out low-quality leads.
2. Web leads and calls: You should look for a lead generation agency that provides leads from online forms as well as phone calls.
3. Lead details and specifications: Make sure the leads being offered are leads that meet your specifications. For example, if you only want leads from a specific geographical area, you should never pay for leads coming from outside this area.  You should also ask a lead generation agency if they offer exclusive or non-exclusive leads.  Exclusive leads are provided to you only while non-exclusive leads can be sold to multiple businesses by the agency.
4. Allows for lead refund requests: Ask the lead generation agency if they allow for lead refund requests. If they do, this means that you have a way to request a refund for bad leads.  Typically, the agency will make their own criteria on what leads can be refunded and allowing for a refund request shows that they care about providing good customer service.
5. Multiple lead verticals: If a lead generation agency operates in multiple lead verticals, this is a sign that they have experience generating quality leads. It is common for an agency to start on one lead vertical and branch out into other related verticals.
6. Payment options: A seasoned lead generation agency will offer several payment options including the option to pay a monthly invoice or pay per lead.
7. Lead source transparency: An agency should be transparent with where their leads are coming from and how they are generated. Knowing how your leads are generated will also give you further insight into the types and quality of leads you are getting.  You should avoid working with agencies that do not disclose how they generate their leads.
8. Strong web presence: Most leads are generated through online marketing. This means that having a strong web presence is a good indicator that the agency is good at online marketing.  Do not work with an agency that has a low-quality website or poor online presence.
9. Lead buyer portal: While many agencies will send leads directly to you, some may allow you access to a lead buyer portal to get your leads. If a lead generation agency is offering this option, this indicates that they are a high-quality agency.
10. Consumer first approach: A lead generation agency should take a consumer first approach in which they view your leads as real potential customers rather than data. Agencies that are serious about helping your business and improving customer experience will ask you about your sales process and follow up to see if you have converted any of your leads.  Your feedback will help them provide the best possible lead generation services for you.

What should I pay for lead generation?

The price of lead generation services will vary between agencies.  Most agencies will allow you to pay in one of two ways: a monthly fee or pay per lead.  With a monthly fee, you will pay a flat fee each month regardless of the number of leads you will get in that month.  The range of monthly fees for lead generation services is wide as they can be as low as $1000 or as high as $20,000 per month.

With the pay per lead model, you will only pay for the leads that you get. The average cost per leads also varies widely between $50 and $400.

The most important thing when determining your budget for lead generation services is to make sure that you are getting quality leads that you can convert for a nice ROI.

Lead Generation Services from RestorationMaster

Forming a partnership with the right lead generation service provider can greatly benefit your business as you will get quality leads for an improved conversion rate and higher ROI.  The tips discussed above will help you find the right lead generation agency that can provide you with the highest quality leads at a cost that makes sense for your business.

 
At RestorationMaster, we provide quality leads for businesses in the disaster restoration industry including water damage leads and fire damage leads.  We generate quality leads with our highly optimized, geo-based website that are sent directly to you.  We guarantee that all of our leads are exclusive, so you don’t have to worry about competing for the leads we give you.

You can call RestorationMaster at (888) 846-1992 for more information abut our lead generation services for restoration contractors.