The Untold Truth About Buying Home Inspection Leads

The business world can be cutthroat, so getting customers in the door is of the utmost importance, and sometimes businesses and contractors need help with marketing because they are busy out in the field doing the work.

Home inspectors are no exception. They don’t have a ton of time for marketing and making cold calls to develop a customer base. Lead generation companies serve as ready-made connectors between people who want to inspect homes and home inspection professionals.

HOW LEAD GENERATION COMPANIES WORK

In order to get the most from lead generation companies, home inspectors need to understand the system before they get started.

Most of the time, the process is clearly delineated from the outset of the contract though home inspectors do not always read the fine print about how lead generation companies work. Here is a brief overview for one popular company in the lead generation industry:

• The company matches clients who need work done on their homes with the appropriate contractors in their area that are available and offer the services the client needs.
• The company sends the client’s information to the respective professionals, and it is up to the contractor to reach out and secure the job.
• You will need to set up a spend target—the amount of leads you would like the company to send to you each month. This is not an exact science, and if you go over your spend target for the month, the company will not send you any more leads. One definite positive is that you can turn your leads on and off to have control over your work.
• The contractor has some control of the leads and can set preferences for the number of leads, zip codes of leads, and types of services.
• Communication is handled via messaging or phone call within the company’s system, and they make it easy to keep track of and communicate with clients.
• It is important to note that the company does not guarantee that you will reach potential customers or acquire jobs. You still need to pay the fee even if you are unable to get a hold of the lead or close the deal yourself.
• Contractors need to sign up with the service in order to find out the cost of the leads and the specifics of the deal.

WHO ARE LEAD GENERATION COMPANIES GOOD FOR?

This is a fact that buying leads is not for everybody, but there are a few instances where it might be the perfect solution to help you grow your home inspection business.

• It can help you gain referrals and put your business name out into the market.
• If you are going through a dry period and don’t have a lot of jobs lined up, it can get you the leads you need to get back to work.
• If you want to be extremely specific in your work and focus on specific aspects, then it might give you leads directed to those tasks.

BENEFITS OF USING LEAD GENERATION COMPANIES

There are several benefits of using these companies, especially if you are a new company just starting out and can’t fall back on your strong reputation.

• Because it can be so difficult to break into the business, you can use their name to garner your own customers and clients since you have no word-of-mouth advertising yourself yet.
• Despite the bad press these companies sometimes receive, they do get some leads for you.
• Using their online system usually is very easy.
• Some companies offer additional service such as building your website to take even more of the worry out of your hands.
• You can be extremely picky about which jobs you want leads for. If you only want leads for inspecting homes within 5 mile radius, for instance, that is what you will get.

DRAWBACKS OF USING LEAD GENERATION COMPANIES

There are several drawbacks to using lead generation companies, and it’s clear that some of them don’t always have the best reputation in the business world.

Here is what some home inspectors have to say about their experience:

• If you do not read the fine print, you will end up surprised that the company can use your logo, pictures, and information about your particular business for their own gains. In addition, you may have a hard time canceling their service.
• Not all the leads you pay for are good ones. Most of them are actually not.
• You will be subject to encountering fake businesses, pretend phone numbers, and end up paying for leads that never see the light of day.
• You will notice some additional fees such as enrollment fees, subscriptions fees, and the like.
• On top of these additional fees, you will pay $35 to $50 per lead, and bogus leads are no exception—you pay for them too.

WHAT IS BEST FOR MY COMPANY?

There is a time and place for lead generation companies, and they do help to match businesses with the people who want to hire them. For home inspectors, time is money, and you don’t always have the time to follow up on all the bogus leads that some of these companies send your way. Considering you are paying for each lead, even if you are not getting a hold of the prospect, there may be a better option.

DIRECT MAIL ADVERTISING

Direct mail is just what it sounds like. You purchase a builder’s warranty mailing list and send a warranty expiration reminder to the homeowners on that list. There are several benefits to using this strategy.

• You get your message to a precise targeted audience.
• This direct mail campaign is relatively inexpensive because you get a high response rate.
• As more businesses go high-tech, there is less competition for the direct mail.
• Direct mail offers a steady flow of work because every month new homeowners need to inspect their homes before the builders home warranty.

PPC ADVERTISING FOR HOME INSPECTORS

PPC advertising, or pay per click, is an advertising technique where you only pay for people who clicked on your ads.

• PPC advertising provides outstanding results in as little as 24 hours.
• You put your name in front of people who are actively searching for home inspectors.
• You only pay for the actual advertising you are doing, so you are not wasting money.

With direct mail and PPC advertising, you have more control over how your budget is used, and you can more easily target the demographics of the people seeing your message. This is very important in turning clicks or stamped envelopes into jobs. The choice is yours, but consider all the options before getting locked into something that might not offer the results you want.