Paying for leads vs paying for lead generation

[Thomas NW]

I have a question for you guys. What would agents generally prefer?

1. Paying $20-25$/lead (ie 20 leads @ $25ea)
2. Paying a $1,000-$1,200 monthly retainer plus around $10/lead (often much lower)

 

[Newby]

I have a question for you guys. What would agents generally prefer?

1. Paying $20-25$/lead (ie 20 leads @ $25ea)
2. Paying a $1,000-$1,200 monthly retainer plus around $10/lead (often much lower)

What kind of lead? For direct mail leads at $20 to $25 each you will have them lined up around the block.

For Facebook or telemarketed leads, not so much.

What kind do you have in mind?

 

[Thomas NW]

What kind of lead? For direct mail leads at $20 to $25 each you will have them lined up around the block.

For Facebook or telemarketed leads, not so much.

What kind do you have in mind?

Sorry for not mentioning it was regarding Facebook leads. I'm talking about exclusive, long-form surveyed leads, not Lead Ad (Form) - type lads that are cheap and usually low quality.

My question however is rather what's more preferable - paying for leads or paying a fixed monthly retainer (management fee) to an ad agency and whatever the leads actually cost to generate.

Scenario 1 - You buy 100 leads at $20 each = $2,000

Scenario 2 - You pay $1,000/mo retainer + $1,000 ad spend (paid directly to FB) = $2,000
The ad agency were able to generate leads for $8 a piece. As a result, your $1,000 ad spend generated 125 leads.

Potentially, they could get even more leads with their $1,000 ad spend, like 200 leads at $5 each. But there is also possibility to get less than 100 leads if they they come at more than $10 each...

The question is, would agents take a chance to potentially get more leads with a risk of getting less? Or would they rather have a fixed price per lead?

 

[Newby]

Sorry for not mentioning it was regarding Facebook leads. I'm talking about exclusive, long-form surveyed leads, not Lead Ad (Form) - type lads that are cheap and usually low quality.

My question however is rather what's more preferable - paying for leads or paying a fixed monthly retainer (management fee) to an ad agency and whatever the leads actually cost to generate.

Scenario 1 - You buy 100 leads at $20 each = $2,000

Scenario 2 - You pay $1,000/mo retainer + $1,000 ad spend (paid directly to FB) = $2,000
The ad agency were able to generate leads for $8 a piece. As a result, your $1,000 ad spend generated 125 leads.

Potentially, they could get even more leads with their $1,000 ad spend, like 200 leads at $5 each. But there is also possibility to get less than 100 leads if they they come at more than $10 each...

The question is, would agents take a chance to potentially get more leads with a risk of getting less? Or would they rather have a fixed price per lead?

Fixed cost.

 

[Rob Lion]

Sorry for not mentioning it was regarding Facebook leads. I'm talking about exclusive, long-form surveyed leads, not Lead Ad (Form) - type lads that are cheap and usually low quality.

My question however is rather what's more preferable - paying for leads or paying a fixed monthly retainer (management fee) to an ad agency and whatever the leads actually cost to generate.

Scenario 1 - You buy 100 leads at $20 each = $2,000

Scenario 2 - You pay $1,000/mo retainer + $1,000 ad spend (paid directly to FB) = $2,000
The ad agency were able to generate leads for $8 a piece. As a result, your $1,000 ad spend generated 125 leads.

Potentially, they could get even more leads with their $1,000 ad spend, like 200 leads at $5 each. But there is also possibility to get less than 100 leads if they they come at more than $10 each...

The question is, would agents take a chance to potentially get more leads with a risk of getting less? Or would they rather have a fixed price per lead?

You can literally buy a fb fe course for 1500 and generate your own for lower lol.

 

[DayTimer]

You can literally buy a fb fe course for 1500 and generate your own for lower lol.

I’ve seen that ... what do you have your per/lead cost down to now?

Also, you are telesales, so I presume your lead cost might be considerably lower than it would be for a F2F agent who wanted to limit the geographic range of the prospect poo. I may be wrong on that and I’d like to hear from folks who are doing their own FB ads.

As a side note, I spent some time in auto sales and do actually miss it. If I could figure out a way to get car sales leads off FB in the quantity and quality I receive from calendarleads.com I’d be tempted to go back to moving metal. I’m considering buying that FE FB course to see if I can figure out a way to make it work for car sales lol.

As to the OP’s question, I really liked the way Thad offered his FB leads when he first introduced them here last year: $300 guaranteed at least 20 leads. If more came in, he gave you the additional leads with no additional charge. I typically got anywhere from 30 to 60 leads for my $300. I do realize that those were not nearly as high quality as the leads I get now that actually say “affordable life insurance” and I do understand that the survey leads you are offering are likely a cut or two above even the ones I am getting now for $20 per lead (and usually get a few more than the 20 I paid for).

For me, I like the flexibility of NOT being on a fixed recurring cost program, e.g. $800/week every week for DM. I now do my own combination of DM drops, FB leads, TM leads, and buying aged DM at a steep discount from other local agents. For the past 8 weeks, my lead cost is down to $390/week. My production has steadily increased over that time but that is more a function of increased effort on my part (more door knocking and cut out calling for appointments) than the lead strategy. I can’t say I’m ruling out an arrangement such as you suggest, but I am not yet sold on it either. Frankly, my ultimate goal (not sure it is possible) is to maintain lead flow and reduce costs to $200/week or less.

 

[goillini52]

Frankly, my ultimate goal (not sure it is possible) is to maintain lead flow and reduce costs to $200/week or less.

Mix in some door to door canvassing. That's how door knocking began. That was how insurance was marketed when I started.

 

[DayTimer]

Mix in some door to door canvassing. That's how door knocking began. That was how insurance was marketed when I started.

Absolutely monkey man! I view buying leads as a sorting method. I can go door to door and sort the not interested from the "hmmm ... let's see what you gots."

But years and years ago when I was still in high school I had a job as a telemarketer. We did things like phone surveys and such, but we also were hired by real estate agents, insurance agents, swimming pool contractors, etc to phone for appointments.

We were simply cold calling everyone and identifying who was possibly more ready to buy than not. I was paid $3.35/hour plus bonuses for appointments set and appointments kept. I now know that the real estate agent, insurance agent, and swimming pool salesman made a lot more than me, even if he just sold one or two out of every 10 appointments we set for him.

Buying leads is the equivalent of hiring a bunch of high school kids to cold call for you at night. I worked 5 hours/night four nights a week (4 PM to 9 PM), and all day Saturday. I made about $200 to $250/ week after bonuses. Adjusted for inflation, the $390/week I'm at now is probably pretty good. But in my head I'd like to see if I could do the equivalent of hiring DayTimer the teenager for $200 to $250/week to keep me busy seeing people likely to buy now.

 

[shonceman]

Absolutely monkey man! I view buying leads as a sorting method. I can go door to door and sort the not interested from the "hmmm ... let's see what you gots." Years and years ago when I was still in high school I had a job as a telemarket. We did things like phone surveys and such, but we also were hired by real estate agents, insurance agents, swimming pool contractors, etc to phone for appointments. We were simply cold calling everyone and identifying who was possibly more ready to buy than not. I was paid $3.35/hour plus bonuses for appointments set and appointments kept. I now know that the real estate agent, insurance agent, and swimming pool salesman made a lot more than me, even if he just sold one or two out of every appointment we set for him. Buying leads is the equivalent of hiring a bunch of high school kids to cold call for you at night. I worked 5 hours/night four nights a week (4 PM to 9 PM), and all day Saturday. I made about $200 to $250/ week after bonuses. Adjusted for inflation, the $390/week I'm at now is probably pretty good. But in my head I'd like to see if I could do the equivalent of hiring DayTimer the teenager for $200 to $250/week to keep me busy seeing people likely to buy now.

Do you think DT the teenager actually exists in the current crop of mush brains?

 

[DayTimer]

Do you think DT the teenager actually exists in the current crop of mush brains?

I will tell you this: I have three kids ages 14 to 19, and my kids have and continue to work very, very hard.

Don't blame the kids today for being lazy and/or mush brained: blame their parents who accept that as what's best for their kids, imo.