By Damien Seaman, Brand Manager, buzzmove.com.

Some removal companies are against lead generation websites like Buzzmove. They claim we’re driving down prices, or stealing customers that would otherwise go directly to them. But this isn’t right.

Let’s put aside the fact that, unless you have the time and money to rank highly on Google for the search terms customers are using, you won’t ever attract the same leads we do. More importantly, we don’t want to attract too many low-priced jobs. If our leads were all for low prices, our removal company partners would leave. That means less money for us.

No one wants bad leads – not removal companies, and not us. That’s why we focus on ensuring our leads will convert. To the point where one major national removals chain we recently started working with is telling us that the call “answer rate” of our leads is higher than other providers.

In this piece, I want to go through three steps that some of our removal companies do brilliantly to boost the value they get from lead generation. These steps are so simple, yet not everyone does them.

Step 1: Look at long-term ROI

Those movers who get the most benefit from lead generation tend to measure their return on spend in the longer term. Take Ramshaw Transport, a large and growing removal firm based in Bishop Auckland in the north east of England.

The company has grown from a single van back in 2007 to a fleet of over 20 vehicles of all sizes today. Ramshaw gets all their initial business from leads received from lead generation sites. “A lot of removal companies don’t stick with it [lead generation],” said Andrew Smith, Ramshaw’s Operational Director. “They have a bad month or two and then they give up. But if you look at lead generation from one month to the next, you’ll fail.”

“Movers that do this won’t succeed because they don’t have patience ... I look at it in a 12-month period. That’s because I know it works. You’ve just got to be patient. Sometimes one lead is worth £100,000 of work in one job.”

Step 2: Be persistent

Several of our companies that do well, also tend to keep chasing after leads – often for months after the initial enquiry comes through. As one of them told us, “If they don’t pick up the phone then I email them. Then a week or two later I’ll email them again. After that, even if there’s no response, I’ll just email them once a month or so. After all, what’s the worst that can happen? They don’t turn into a paying job? Well if you don’t keep asking they definitely won’t!”

Typically, a small percentage of these leads convert. But it costs so little to pursue them. Why wouldn’t you do it?

Step 3: Encourage referrals and repeat business

Steve Thomas from Four Square Removals told us about one lead in West London who became a customer and “then went on to recommend us to one of her colleagues who we then moved from London to Swindon. That’s the power of treating our customers fairly and being transparent in all our dealings and costings.”

If you’re not getting referrals or repeat business, put a system in place. Email commercial customers every month or couple of months to ask if they have any more work. Email all customers after you’ve moved them to ask if they will recommend you to friends and family.

With these three simple steps, you can massively increase the return on investment from using lead generators and pick up lots of consistent repeat work in the process.

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