The General Contractor

Have you ever wondered what the secret to internet lead service companies? If so, you’re not alone. In fact, lead generation is one of the most lucrative businesses on the Internet, actually 3rd behind pharmaceuticals and pornography. After all, if the lead companies were generating leads as good as they claim, then they would probably be using their own leads to build their own business.

The truth is that they make more money selling leads to struggling contractors than they could using their own generic leads to build an actual company. That’s because most leads are worthless. They’re generic, untargeted, and in most cases they became a lead because they were simply trying to claim their free Xbox or ipod.

How effective are leads like that? The answer is not very effective, and to top it off, most lead companies resell their leads many times to many different people. How responsive will a lead be if, 5 other contractors are calling them all at the same time?

Spend 8 hours calling leads like that and you’ll agree that you’ve just wasted eight hours of your valuable time, not to mention hundreds of dollars to actually purchase those worthless leads.

So, what’s the answer? Is there a lead generator that can generate real time target market leads specifically for your business that are unshared and Exclusive to YOU?

The answer is YES, but you may be surprised at where you might find this lead generator, because the lead generator is YOU.

Setting up the same system that lead companies use is not difficult, and instead of paying $30-35 per lead, you can be generating your own leads for as little as $5 per lead. In the next coming weeks, I will be going over the 3 most important things, in setting up your online lead generation.

If you are a Footbridge client, and want to learn now, please contact your marketing consultant and they will help you implement it for you.

Marketing is, at least in part, the art of persuasion. And words are - along with pictures, sounds and other sensory, intellectual inputs - a central tool to any marketer or communicator. Easy to take for granted (just look at how some of our political figures use the language), words are powerful, and importance, especially for contractors. One important phrase that too many contractors are using nowadays, are “free estimates”. Even the word estimate brings a negative connotation to a homeowner, because all it means is $$$…

Instead of the word “estimate” to differentiate yourself from your competitors, you should be using the word “evaluation”.

By offering an “in home evaluation”, you are telling the homeowner that you want to evaluate the project, and offer them the best solution for their project, regardless if it is a kitchen remodel, or simply a furnace repair. By using these words, a homeowner is more inclined to submit their information to your website, or respond to a direct mail piece.

If you are a contractor who charges for your “estimates”, by using the phrase “in home evaluation”, it may appear to the homeowner that they are actually getting something for the payment.

The word “estimate” is negative nowadays, because homeowners are constantly being told they need to get “3 estimates”… But how many “evaluations” are they required?

You can even expand on this by creating a document or form that expands on the specific evaluation. Once you provide the “evaluation”, give the potential client a form, outlining what you have discovered, and simply provide a cost for your services.