Hometown Quotes Experience

[LGilmore]

Agentprovcateur,

I get it your feelings are hurt. You feel you're being accused. You claim to be a good guy, yet now you're in a pis sing match with a couple agents. You don't think they have reason to be a little upset with the internet leads market?

What do you think about HTQ putting your information on the leads they send out? Something like "this lead provided by Agentprovcator" ? So "we" can see your "quality".
I would love to know who is generating these leads upstream. That way if I get consistent s hit leads from somebody, I can block them or better yet, bring them here so the word gets out about that guy.

The thing is we don't know if you're a "good" guy or s hit, because we can't openly identify your stuff out here. I would love to think you're a great guy, but honestly, how do I know?

Let me explain what I am seeing in my inbox everyday... I am seeing organized fake leads. They are so organized that I can separate them into groups and they will come from a few affiliates because they are idenitfiable to each affilate. I've done this with Allweb, Quote Wizzard and HTQ. These fakes are so organized that they can't be coming randomly to affiliates, so the real possibility these affiliates are creating them exists. Especially because of the consistency of the fakes.

So please forgive me if you feel falsely accused, but you are experiencing the problem for the next agent after someone deals with the s hit agent. Doesn't feel good does it?

 

[Bob Klee]

You guys are bringing your own baggage to this conversation, and making assumptions about me. I have a background in the insurance industry, and I don't play games with the leads I generate. I've worked crappy leads, and I don't want to add to the problem.

I also care about the users of my website. I want to help them take care of their insurance needs, but I don't want them called by twenty agents every three months, either.

I think there is a huge market opportunity for a lead generation company which actually produces high quality leads, and I'm glad Bob is taking this approach. A small fish like me wants to be a part of it.

Save your vitriol for black hat affiliates. But the real problem is the lead generation companies themselves. It would be easy to weed out the bad affiliates, if they wanted to do so. But then they wouldn't have the scapegoat needed for the crap leads they generate on their own.

Hey Guys,

Let's get back on the right foot here, okay?
AgentProvocateur is one of the GOOD guys. We rarely get requests for credit on his leads! It appears we have had poor communication with "AP" & I will take responsibility for that. He is not doing anything to attract fraudulent leads. In fact, he could be doing a lot more to get better conversions & we talked about that just a while ago.

FYI: We parted ways with our "Affiliate Manager/Business Development" guy last November & it was ugly....so, we've had to re-train/learn how to do some things. One thing we've done poorly is communicating well with our Affiliates. In "AP" case, he didn't have enough posts to PM me & felt the best way to reach me was by posting. We are both on the same page now & he's gotten a few more posts to add to his count

I do agree that the Lead Gen companies play a major role in this too....but too many care about one thing only...Profit vs. the Agent. The big guys have the resources to end a lot of this but...they really don't care about the agent...."Some talk the talk, some walk the walk." You all know who they are.
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Bob,

I sent in an email, but my account is still not set up properly. Could you tell me who to contact that can get it fixed properly? Send me a pm if you would like (I cannot respond to them because of my low post count).

Done!

Ambrosha should be contacting you: [email protected]

Best is always to: [email protected] as it goes to everyone in a department.

Thanks.

 

[LGilmore]

Aw Bob,

And I was just going to tell him his mother was a hamster and his father smelled of elderberries.....

 

[AgentProvocateur]

Agentprovcateur,

I get it your feelings are hurt. You feel you're being accused. You claim to be a good guy, yet now you're in a pis sing match with a couple agents. You don't think they have reason to be a little upset with the internet leads market?

What do you think about HTQ putting your information on the leads they send out? Something like "this lead provided by Agentprovcator" ? So "we" can see your "quality".
I would love to know who is generating these leads upstream. That way if I get consistent s hit leads from somebody, I can block them or better yet, bring them here so the word gets out about that guy.

The thing is we don't know if you're a "good" guy or s hit, because we can't openly identify your stuff out here. I would love to think you're a great guy, but honestly, how do I know?

Let me explain what I am seeing in my inbox everyday... I am seeing organized fake leads. They are so organized that I can separate them into groups and they will come from a few affiliates because they are idenitfiable to each affilate. I've done this with Allweb, Quote Wizzard and HTQ. These fakes are so organized that they can't be coming randomly to affiliates, so the real possibility these affiliates are creating them exists. Especially because of the consistency of the fakes.

So please forgive me if you feel falsely accused, but you are experiencing the problem for the next agent after someone deals with the s hit agent. Doesn't feel good does it?

I'm trying to give you guys some perspective after you jumped to the conclusion I am the cause of your misery, instead of the guy giving you leads which lead to sales. I know it's tough to begrudgingly pay for Internet leads which is profitable for you, but not nearly as much as it should be if most of the leads weren't BS. I feel your pain. But does it make sense to vent your rage on me? It's okay, I'll be your sin eater.

The fact there is fraud does not make all affiliates fraudulent. If I was one of the bad guys, I would spend my time making fake leads, not posting on message boards. I would LOVE to have my website branded on every lead. There will still be bad leads, but certainly no fake leads.

When I get over 20 posts, my site will be in my signature, and you will have some idea of what I do. I imagine the conversation will then shift from the quality of my leads to the flaws in my web design.

Thanks, Bob, for your words of support.

Let's move the conversation forward or I will fart in your general direction.

 

[rousemark]

Let's move the conversation forward or I will fart in your general direction.

Just so happened that The ad on this page when I read your post was sponsored by Hometown Quotes asking, "Do your leads stink?" .. if so, we now know why!

 

[Bob Klee]

Just so happened that The ad on this page when I read your post was sponsored by Hometown Quotes asking, "Do your leads stink?" .. if so, we now know why!

Guys,

AgentProvocateur does not do incentived leads or anything fraudulent. In fact, he has some of the highest Quality leads we generate. He is now part of the GQ program for Auto leads & we'll add him to the other products as we roll them out.

FACT: This year, Agents have asked for Credit on Only 7 out of 191 Leads we have bought from him. That is Less than 4% BAD leads. We Need more affiliates like "AP." FYI: his first name is Robert...

Notice that he's only been able to provide 191 leads through 5+ months for auto/home/life/health: less than 38 leads/month. We need him to drive More but as I'm sure Robert will tell you. It is Not Easy to drive Quality Leads! Nor is it cheap!

If you click on his name & view public profile, you'll find his site URL. I'll post it here for everyone.

Robert, this is a "tough" group but they are fair if you'll hang in here & give them a chance. You & I, + others here on the Forum, Know that Bad leads are not due to All Affiliates.....but you are an easy "whipping boy" because most don't know how generating leads work..[nor do they post on the Forum here]

Maybe you, Akshay, Josh & others can do a bit of education without giving away your secrets? I'll stand up for the good guys like you all & even fight for you as I know you all don't play games.

Thank everyone for your comments. Sometimes I feel like I'm tilting at windmills like Don Quixote!

 

[mfancher]

Guys,

AgentProvocateur does not do incentived leads or anything fraudulent. In fact, he has some of the highest Quality leads we generate. He is now part of the GQ program for Auto leads & we'll add him to the other products as we roll them out.

FACT: This year, Agents have asked for Credit on Only 7 out of 191 Leads we have bought from him. That is Less than 4% BAD leads. We Need more affiliates like "AP." FYI: his first name is Robert...

Notice that he's only been able to provide 191 leads through 5+ months for auto/home/life/health: less than 38 leads/month. We need him to drive More but as I'm sure Robert will tell you. It is Not Easy to drive Quality Leads! Nor is it cheap!

If you click on his name & view public profile, you'll find his site URL. I'll post it here for everyone.

Robert, this is a "tough" group but they are fair if you'll hang in here & give them a chance. You & I, + others here on the Forum, Know that Bad leads are not due to All Affiliates.....but you are an easy "whipping boy" because most don't know how generating leads work..[nor do they post on the Forum here]

Maybe you, Akshay, Josh & others can do a bit of education without giving away your secrets? I'll stand up for the good guys like you all & even fight for you as I know you all don't play games.

Thank everyone for your comments. Sometimes I feel like I'm tilting at windmills like Don Quixote!

Bob is right there are some of us out there that do our best to provide a valuable service with honesty. We do help on this forum as much as possible and will be up front about what we do. I am sorry if some of you have been burned at some point, but quality leads are out there and when you find a company that has a solid work ethic it will pay off. With the web it should be easy to research a company and make an educated decision, so before you give out your hard earned money do the leg work.

 

[LGilmore]

"quality leads are out there and when you find a company that has a solid work ethic it will pay off."

Agreed, but here's the rub, we don't know who the affiliates are providing the bulk of the leads.


As Bob pointed out AP runs about 4% bad leads for HTQs. That is a fantastic number, one to be very proud of.
But the problem is "we", the agents don't know that because we can't see who is providing quality and who isn't.

Maybe if the provider of the lead was listed somewhere and a "scorecard" made available, it would help.

Cause while AP is providing 96% good leads, the affilate that is using up my daily quota around 3 am (my time) the last couple days is running 0% good leads. I just called in and made some changes to keep this from happening a third night.

I'd love to know publically who this is and what their track record is. Because these aren't mistakes, they are intentional in nature.
Maybe the best way to start cleaning this up is to "out" these vendors, who I believe are producing this extra crap to keep their income stream steady and consisitent and are using these as "fillers" to maintain a certain level of income.


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[YouGotMyMoney]

Agreed, but here's the rub, we don't know who the affiliates are providing the bulk of the leads.

well if you expect the lead vendor to place an affiliate's name on their leads, that will never happen. May be an affiliate ID code or something similar would work.

However the fact of the matter is lead vendors are not going to go along with identifying their affiliates to their lead buyers.

if I found out that a company I was selling leads to was identifying me to their clients, they would have hell to pay.

 

[LGilmore]

"if I found out that a company I was selling leads to was identifying me to their clients, they would have hell to pay"

Then you have to put aside complaints about what's going on and not claim agents have it wrong, because all we have to go on is what we get. If you don't want to be identified as one of the good guys, then don't b itch when you're lumped in with the bad guys.

The stuff I am seeing isn't coming into an affiliate for free. Someone, somewhere is being compensated for it. It isn't kids playing, it's willful and intentional. I can't think of any real reason someone would willfully and intentionally produce several fake leads for s hits and giggles. Can you?

This is about compensation and remanufacturing leads to keep income levels consistent. What I am talking about isn't random, so if you don't want those names produced forgive me for not thinking all that well of you, because what I am talking about isn't an accident or even someone goofing off, it's intentional.
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