Leads generation companies - experiences? Positive or Negative?

[SolarCity]

I am interested to hear how other installers have found different 'leads' companies?

We have used Solar Guide for a lot of our leads and we have a really high conversion rate with them. Definitely our best experience with them so far.

We have also used Companeo and unfortunately ended up signing a 12 month contract with them. Their attitude before we signed was fantastic and they promised us 'red hot leads' and more leads than we could even cope with. We even had to persuade them to cap the amount of leads that we would receive.

We have yet to convert a single one of their leads. The leads are certainly NOT 'red hot'. Most of the people that we see are largely uninterested and some have even failed to turn up for their meetings with us. We have been getting very few leads from them and, as you might expect, their attitude AFTER signing the contract has changed dramatically. They are only interested in the contract and any conversations we had with the salesmen prior to signing are pretty much ignored.

I'd strongly advise everyone to avoid them. A poor company with a diabolical attitude.

 

[dansk]

My dealings have all been negative - full of BS, not qualified, free solar, solar thermal, how much is it - quotes like "ohh i just wanted to know how many panels i can get on my roof" "do you do free solar" - crap like that.

 

[SolarCity]

I'd strongly advise giving Solar Guide a go then. We don't get many crap leads and you can review the lead before accepting it.

 

[MorganPVI]

Overall crap. Solar guide are one of the best, but there are a lot of timewasters as Dansk explains.

Unless your prepared to work for cheap then the midset of customers is they want the best price and nothing else - there are plenty of firms that quote under 10K. We've spent over £2k this month and I'd be surpised if we break even.

My advice is spend the 2k on a decent website - it will work our better/cheaper in the end.

 

[SolarCity]

I agree. Aside from personal recommendations, our website is by far our best source for work.

 

[solarsavings]

I get, but never buy leads from solar guide because I always get them much later than a friend in Norfolk.

 

[furrypants]

My starting point when looking for an installer was to use the solar guide site for local installers. I then visited every web site and reduced the number down to a few. I then went to the MCS web site to check when each individual company had registed, didn't want very late adopters.

So the solar guide site is a very good starting point.

 

[Markc]

We have used a number of lead generation companies in the past and not one stood up to their claims.

Eco Experts (I now believe this to be optimistic at best!) routinely sent leads out to us that clearly had not been qualified. Same experiance "do you do free panels?, how many can I get on my roof? No; no survey just want to know what it is" thanks a bunch at £35 a time. I refused to pay in the end. Took Eco Experts over three months to come back to me and then refused to refund. Told them to take me to court, not heard another word.

We ran the trial with the energy savings trust. Free lead but if won cost £200! Soon found we were one of five companies given the same lead. EST started by sending them out on a Friday only. The potential client was jarred off before we even rang them as they were expecting a call long before that! Once EST changed this to daily it started to work but return rate was low. Also EST wanted updates on every lead sent on a monthly basis. Its not like we don't have enough paperwork is it?

The is one I can't mention on here as it gets removed but regulars will know who they are. Total rip off. Rediculous fees and or big % of job as well.

Solar guide we still have a listing on but the leads are few and far between. Returned one only so far but you get to choose before you buy. Good idea. I like the listing on their site hence why I have kept it on.

There has been others but NONE have remotely produced what they claim. Been running out to surveys of roofs where you couldn't get two panels on or people who do not have the slightest clue about PV but they think they will have some as you do a free survey!

We dropped them all now. EST might come back on line but the trial is over now and I'm not sure we need it. Word of moth is key. Its worth so much more and its the one thing you cannot buy. Our referral scheme and recommendation costs us 99% less than any lead generation lead and brings in so much work.

A decent website and good customer care / service. Ditch the lead sites they only want your money end of. Give it a few more months and I think you'll see the lead companies fall by the way side. I'm sure I'm not alone in my opinion of them. I still get calls every week offering but now they get told!

 

[edrobbo8]

I use service magic, not so much for solar leads but for general electrical work. They did start off by sending solar pv but without the contact details of the client, and they only charge per lead sent to you, rather than a monthly fee.

You can set a radius from your postcode to receive leads from, and that works very well for me.

They also are very good and fair about refunds, a couple of leads have been people looking for a general price for a rewire, but not even found a house to rewire! So overall I would recommend them,

 

[Worcester]

Just got 4 enquiries this morning from our own website (plus 2 calls from referalls) - we haven't bought any leads yet, and aren't likely to. Everyone finds us on the first page of google, usually #1 in the listings below the first 3 which are paid ads.

No two ways about it our website is our most cost effective lead generator.

 

[MorganPVI]

That is the most important point to consider with leads, the majority of new firms will buy in leads as their websites are not yet producing the leads therefore the competition on price is very high because the newer firms will price near cost just to win the job and get the experience. Alternatively the competition will be the double glazing / saleman type firms. It's very hit and miss.

leads give instant gratifcation but your far better off investing thousands in a decent website.

 

[Surboy]

Tried once and wouldn't again, these companies sell the same lead to every tom dick n harry so you end up having to really drop your prices to win any business. I will stick to referrals and local press.

 

[Worcester]

REAL not happy with the so called 'Comparitive Quotes' lead generation site as they are deceptive to the consumer ....

 

[Chris Phillips]

Lead generation sites i use only to keep the saleman happy with leads, all coversions are low, irrelevant of the product, unless your cheap.

Most of the comments on here i can tell are not from real sales people , more like techies or installers, if the customer wants a free system then surely thats the fault of yourselves as you call the customer to book the appointment so why not have a script for confirmation. from that you will be able to find the basics ie: conservation area, roof orientation (where does the sun rise and set, you dont need to be a genius to work it out) is it a free system you are after or do you want to beefit from the feed in tariff.

Service magic do not confirm their leads, they are open about this, and it reflects in the price per lead £19 instead of £35.

if you want volume and are reasonably cheap and can confirm them, then i would say call Quotatis. My business suffered using them, but i like to sell top heavy (£21k for a 4kw system) so this is expected as all leads from all quote companies are passed to 4 to 6 companies.

In house Telesales is probably the most cost effective at the moment, i can generate 70 leads a week from 8 ladies on £6 per hour working 10 till 4pm only, my cost to sale is around 7.5%. My 8 ladies keep 10 salesmen going week on week.

good luck and happy selling !!!!!!!!!

 

[Solar349]

Hi,

First time poster: we are currently looking for companies to take our leads at no cost whatsoever. We will qualify the lead set according to your criteria. We receive an admin fee off the client which shows us that the client is committed. Once we have that client we are then looking to pass them on to a firm and you will have full exclusivity of that client.

We currently have a 45 Man Call centre with different campaigns (ppi, b2b gas and electric, dmp) we are looking at placing 10 bodies on the solar campaign (a campaign where the client is not paying for the panels but instead shares the feed in tariff) and our initial inbound trial last week produced 16 paid clients off just 3 sales advisors, all of whom were passed to a local firm.

We will be looking to set a target of approx 85 confirmed qualified leads per week amongst our staff. We just need a place to offload these leads, as said at the beginning there is no charge for the recipient company, there are no tie in contracts etc. The leads will be qualified etc set according to your criteria.

if this is something of interest please send me a message.