The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Starting Local Lead Gen Business

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

Demian

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
144%
Dec 22, 2018
39
56
Isn’t it interesting how many consumers want to speak to the local service business, and how many local service businesses want phone calls? And all those tech startups like Thumbtack push the form fill...

I guess it´s all about urgency. People want their car fixed today. And they want to know the mechanic is able to get it fixed. Phone calls tend to be faster and more effective. Thinking from the consumer perspective, I wouldn´t want to send an email hoping someone will answer it days from now (if I get an answer at all).
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Demian

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
144%
Dec 22, 2018
39
56
I agree with Andy. One client per location.

Here's how I am going to set up my lead gen operation:
  1. Customer searches "carpet cleaning austin tx"
  2. My ad says "Looking For Carpet Cleaning In Austin TX?"
  3. They click and are directed to my landing page which says the same + service info
  4. CTA is a call-tracking phone number (think CallRail). They can call straight from mobile.
  5. They call and are seamlessly forwarded to the clients phone number
Both the customer and the client is happy, and I own the marketing channel.

The beauty of this system is I can launch it in any location and plug and play clients into it should one choose to cancel or I sign a new one up.......steps 1-4 stay the same no matter who the client is.

Something just occurred to me. If you take this approach, you would need different campaigns and different landing pages for each city you decide to start working in. And all this would be for just one client. Correct me if I´m wrong, but building the website containing the contact info of mechanics (or carpet cleaners in your case) of differents cities and letting the clients choose depending on where they live would be more scalable and easier to automate.
 

PizzaOnTheRoof

Moving Forward
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
220%
Jul 30, 2018
1,218
2,682
Texas
Something just occurred to me. If you take this approach, you would need different campaigns and different landing pages for each city you decide to start working in. And all this would be for just one client. Correct me if I´m wrong, but building the website containing the contact info of mechanics (or carpet cleaners in your case) of differents cities and letting the clients choose depending on where they live would be more scalable and easier to automate.
That’s a very good point. Something I hadn’t thought of...

Were you thinking of a list like this?

1st Location: (555) 555-5555
2nd Location: (555) 555-5555
3rd Location: (555) 555-5555

Or separate pages?

Either way, you could easily scale this and it would look like a real carpet cleaning brand from the outside. Hmm...

One issue is the domain name. Would austincarpetcleaners.com be more relevant to leads than just carpetcleaners.com?

Only way to find out is to test I guess...
 
Last edited:

Demian

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
144%
Dec 22, 2018
39
56
Update 8:

Just a short update to get my thoughts together.
Right now I´ve got my own phone number on the landing page. As I haven´t closed any paid clients yet, I thought I could answer the phone myself and direct the lead to a mechanic that has agreed to a free trial. Yesterday I got the first lead. It was by a form, which I receive in my email. I forwarded the email to one of the mechanics but he said he couldn´t get the job done because it wasn´t exactly his area of expertise. So I went to sleep thinking of a way to figure this out.

Today I woke up and spent the whole morning (about five hours) calling more mechanics. Except that this time I didn´t offer anything. I decided to learn more about the craft I was trying to help. Surprisingly, by talking to them (and without intending to) I got a few others to agree on the free trial. Right now I got a list of more than 15 mechanics. That´s a great thing.

As I said, by talking to them I was exposed to the fact that not all mechanics do the same work. Some specialize in fixing A/Cs, others on the electric stuff. Most of them cover general aspects, but some don´t. So I asked them what they specialized in. I have most of them sorted out, but I´m still missing some.

Anyways, what I´m trying to say is that today I got the first lead by phone call. I asked the man what the troubles were and immediately realized it was an electric problem. So I grabbed the list of mechanics and found one that specialized in electric problems. I gave the man the number of the mechanic and told him to call me back if he needed anything else.
This was some minutes ago, so in a couple of hours I will call both the man and the mechanic to see how everything went.

Going back to the questions I asked yesterday about what route to take, I wanted to summarize what I decided. Car problems can come from a wide range of sources. That allows me to have more than one client per location, because like I said above mechanics tend to specialize in different areas and they won´t be able to fix every problem that people might face.

So I will sign different (specialized) mechanics in the same city, and, depending on the customer´s problem I will direct the call to one or the other.

I haven´t figured out how to erase myself from the equation yet, so I will have to answer the phone myself for the time being.
I could hire someone or even outsource a website like I mentioned yesterday, but I have to admit that right now I want to talk to people.

@Andy Black any tips about optimizing (adjusting) Google Ads campaigns?

That´s it for now. I will probably post again at night.

Edit: I said short update in the beginning, lol.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,699
Ireland
Update 8:

Just a short update to get my thoughts together.
Right now I´ve got my own phone number on the landing page. As I haven´t closed any paid clients yet, I thought I could answer the phone myself and direct the lead to a mechanic that has agreed to a free trial. Yesterday I got the first lead. It was by a form, which I receive in my email. I forwarded the email to one of the mechanics but he said he couldn´t get the job done because it wasn´t exactly his area of expertise. So I went to sleep thinking of a way to figure this out.

Today I woke up and spent the whole morning (about five hours) calling more mechanics. Except that this time I didn´t offer anything. I decided to learn more about the craft I was trying to help. Surprisingly, by talking to them (and without intending to) I got a few others to agree on the free trial. Right now I got a list of more than 15 mechanics. That´s a great thing.

As I said, by talking to them I was exposed to the fact that not all mechanics do the same work. Some specialize in fixing A/Cs, others on the electric stuff. Most of them cover general aspects, but some don´t. So I asked them what they specialized in. I have most of them sorted out, but I´m still missing some.

Anyways, what I´m trying to say is that today I got the first lead by phone call. I asked the man what the troubles were and immediately realized it was an electric problem. So I grabbed the list of mechanics and found one that specialized in electric problems. I gave the man the number of the mechanic and told him to call me back if he needed anything else.
This was some minutes ago, so in a couple of hours I will call both the man and the mechanic to see how everything went.

Going back to the questions I asked yesterday about what route to take, I wanted to summarize what I decided. Car problems can come from a wide range of sources. That allows me to have more than one client per location, because like I said above mechanics tend to specialize in different areas and they won´t be able to fix every problem that people might face.

So I will sign different (specialized) mechanics in the same city, and, depending on the customer´s problem I will direct the call to one or the other.

I haven´t figured out how to erase myself from the equation yet, so I will have to answer the phone myself for the time being.
I could hire someone or even outsource a website like I mentioned yesterday, but I have to admit that right now I want to talk to people.

@Andy Black any tips about optimizing (adjusting) Google Ads campaigns?

That´s it for now. I will probably post again at night.

Edit: I said short update in the beginning, lol.
I like talking to people. You can’t outsource passion and insight.


High level Google Ads tips:
  1. Go granular.
  2. Give people what they’re searching for.
 

Demian

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
144%
Dec 22, 2018
39
56
Update 9:

-Called both the man that wanted his car fixed and the mechanic that I referred him to. They couldn´t come to an agreement. Apparently the issue was a bit more complex than the mechanic could handle. Given that this is the only mechanic specializing in electrical problems that has agreed to a free trial, I found myself with the person needing help and no way to give it to him. So that was rough. The only other mechanic that could take care of this in the entire city refused to accept any more clients because he said he was filled with work. I´m kinda angry: this man was the first person I could help and I failed to do it. Not sure what I could do if a case like this one presents again. I´ll have to think about it.
-I called some of the mechanics that had agreed to start a free trial and suddenly they changed their minds. I guess it happens.
-Not related to the other points, but I noticed my ads were showing for search terms related to other cities and other type of work. Tomorrow I will fix the campaign, retarget and make sure my ad shows for those that are looking for me.
-Eventhough some potential clients bailed, I´ve still got many to work with. I´ll make sure I present a more structured proposal tomorrow. I want to talk to them and specify the terms of our "agreement" (duration of the free trial, what they can expect, etc).
-I got another person interested in getting his car fixed. He needs the mechanic to go to his house, but today´s rain made it impossible. I will make sure a mechanic shows up at this man´s house tomorrow or on Thursday.

I can´t think of anything else right now.

Actions for tomorrow:

-Call the 10+ list of mechanics that have agreed to a free trial get at least 5 to accept the more formal offer.
-Get a mechanic to the man´s house (no matter what).
-Fix the Google Ads campaign. Make sure that it appears where I want it to appear. And that it doesn´t appear where I don´t want it to appear.


EDIT: I don´t know if I should hit clients with the "serious" offer yet. After all, I´ve only generated two leads. Perhaps I should focus on generating leads first...
 
Last edited:

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,699
Ireland
Keep generating leads. Keep talking to people. Keep learning. Don’t get angry. Be a concierge “I’ll Google it for you” service.

“Sales is a screening process” ... you’re finding the mechanics who want your service.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Demian

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
144%
Dec 22, 2018
39
56
Update 10:

Today life got in the way. I don´t want to fill this thread with personal details, so it will have to suffice to say that I couldn´t even find 30 minutes to sit down at my desk and work. Here´s what I managed (and did not manage) to do today:

-I did not even look at my Google Ads campaigns.
-I called about three new mechanics and got 1 of them interested. He asked me to schedule a call on Saturday so I can tell him in detail how I can help him.
-I found a mechanic for the man I talked about yesterday. When I called to give him the good news he did not pick up the phone. Called a couple of other times and got no answer. Just some minutes ago I called him again and this time he picked up. I told I had someone that was willing to fix his car, but he said he would think about it and call me tomorrow. If he doesn´t I think I will give him a call, but I´m not sure if I should "chase" a lead this much.
-Called the 10+ mechanics who were already interested and told them about the serious proposal. Most of them did not answer. Funnily enough, the 5 that did answer asked me to send them the proposal via email. So I sent it to them. I guess I accomplished my objective of presenting the serious offer to at least five mechanics. I´m still waiting for their responses, but hey, at least I did my part.

That´s it for today. Despite the little amount of time I dedicated to this project today, I feel I could make some progress.

Actions for tomorrow:

-Google ads campaign. Trying new things out, adjusting what doesn´t work, and overall, keep learning.
-Call the lead to see if he is interested in the mechanic I mentioned or not.
-I won´t focus too much on calling tomorrow. Mainly because I´ve been calling most of them for three days straight and I want to avoid them getting sick of me. Perhaps will get back to it on Friday or even Monday when some of them return from their holidays.
 

KeepGoin

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
143%
Mar 17, 2016
89
127
36
It seems like there are three main ways lead gen companies make money
1. Charge per lead
2. Have the service productized(499 for x package 799 for y service 999 for z)
3. I’ll run AdWords to this landing page for you and charge you x for setup

Which model do you all think has the most promise? I’ve been doing #3 and it’s not easy but I imagine #2 would be much more difficult.

Currently just cold calling
 

Demian

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
144%
Dec 22, 2018
39
56
It seems like there are three main ways lead gen companies make money
1. Charge per lead
2. Have the service productized(499 for x package 799 for y service 999 for z)
3. I’ll run AdWords to this landing page for you and charge you x for setup

Which model do you all think has the most promise? I’ve been doing #3 and it’s not easy but I imagine #2 would be much more difficult.

Currently just cold calling

I actually haven´t heard about #2. Does the price increase as the number of leads you offer increases?
I don´t remember which one it was, but I read on a thread here that a guy charges his clients a monthly flat fee with a minimum amount of leads required per month. You could do that. Or just the flat fee. I´ve seen many people here are doing that.

Anyways, I´d suggest you asked someone that has more experience and has already made it work. I haven´t made any sales (yet), so I´m not the guy to ask.

Hope this helps.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Leonidas

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
129%
Jan 21, 2019
7
9
I was also wondering what the best payment model was for a lead generation business seeing as I believe i see an opportunity in my local area as well. That, combined with the fact that I am currently brushing up my css skills, makes this type of business very appealing to me and I'd love to get as much information as possible from anyone with experience in this sector. I will also be taking everyone's advice in this thread so far and reading/listening to everything mentioned to prepare myself for this.
 

Jonathan Hoch

Bronze Contributor
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
198%
Jan 17, 2019
162
320
I just looked at callrail, and I think anyone doing local lead generation should as well.

Basically what happens, is they generate a local number for you to give out that directs to a client's regular business line.

So when you have your "call 555-555-5555 for emergency roadside mechanics," the number will forward to your client, and eliminate you from the process. Then you're provided with analytics to how many times the number was called. And from there, you can bill the client based on a contract of $xx per lead with proof of how many calls you sent their way!

Highly systematized, and if you have a client that wants to bail, you go back to callrail and get a number for the client's competition! Sort of like how Richard Sherman was cut from the Seahawks, so he went to the 49ers...
 

PizzaOnTheRoof

Moving Forward
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
220%
Jul 30, 2018
1,218
2,682
Texas
I just looked at callrail, and I think anyone doing local lead generation should as well.

Basically what happens, is they generate a local number for you to give out that directs to a client's regular business line.

So when you have your "call 555-555-5555 for emergency roadside mechanics," the number will forward to your client, and eliminate you from the process. Then you're provided with analytics to how many times the number was called. And from there, you can bill the client based on a contract of $xx per lead with proof of how many calls you sent their way!

Highly systematized, and if you have a client that wants to bail, you go back to callrail and get a number for the client's competition! Sort of like how Richard Sherman was cut from the Seahawks, so he went to the 49ers...
I agree completely. Do you have any experience with a pay-per-call business model?

Most people are going for a monthly retainer per client but I think PPCall is more scalable and an easier sell.

Also, any ideas on not having to chase payments with a PPCall model? Is it possible to charge upfront?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

whiz

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
356%
Nov 29, 2017
202
719
32
New Jersey
The argument against the pay-per-lead model was that you'd end up arguing over what's a lead and what isn't.

Of course, you can set clear definitions when you go into agreement with your clients - but it might be hard to make them feel comfortable with the inherent risk that not every lead is gonna be a hit

A good salesman would know what to tell them though I guess
 

PizzaOnTheRoof

Moving Forward
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
220%
Jul 30, 2018
1,218
2,682
Texas
The argument against the pay-per-lead model was that you'd end up arguing over what's a lead and what isn't.

Of course, you can set clear definitions when you go into agreement with your clients - but it might be hard to make them feel comfortable with the inherent risk that not every lead is gonna be a hit

A good salesman would know what to tell them though I guess
Those are good points.

I just want to have as much control as possible, because according to Googles terms, whoever has their card on the account is the owner of that account. That's been bugging me forever...

If I can control the ad spend, campaigns, and landing pages, then I've got something more than an agency...I've built a machine. It's not limited by else's bank account, only my own which determines how many leads I can generate, which determines how many customers I can take on.

More customers = more $$$ reinvested = larger budget = more leads to give out = more customers.....

Like a flywheel...

If I own the entire system, I know my numbers, and I can build my profit margin into the price of the leads based on the industry. Of course, there will be bad quality leads sometimes but that's to be expected. No different than the churn-rate of a SaaS company.

Of course, this would all be wrapped up nicely as it's own brand in that vertical.

Just look at this lead gen site for locksmiths: Mobile Locksmiths that Rush to You | LocksmithToday.com

SpyFu report on them:
upload_2019-1-26_22-42-17.png

Just thinking back to MJ's business model...he sold individual leads and was able to scale to over $250k/month. You'd be hard-pressed to achieve that on a bespoke, client-by-client basis.

I don't know, I'm just spitballing here. Feel free to correct me :)
 
Last edited:

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,699
Ireland
according to Googles terms, whoever has their card on the account is the owner of that account
Can you link to where this is said? I thought the person who owned the account owned it, not whoever has the credit card in it. If I’m wrong I’d like to know!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

PizzaOnTheRoof

Moving Forward
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
220%
Jul 30, 2018
1,218
2,682
Texas
Can you link to where this is said? I thought the person who owned the account owned it, not whoever has the credit card in it. If I’m wrong I’d like to know!
So apparently it’s not in the official TOS, but after scouring many support forums in the google ads community, the owner of the account must:

1. Have rights to the login email
2. Have their card on file
3. Have been the one to accept the TOS when the account was created

Ownership of a Google Adwords Account - The Google Advertiser Community - 1194907
 

whiz

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
356%
Nov 29, 2017
202
719
32
New Jersey
So apparently it’s not in the official TOS, but after scouring many support forums in the google ads community, the owner of the account must:

1. Have rights to the login email
2. Have their card on file
3. Have been the one to accept the TOS when the account was created

Ownership of a Google Adwords Account - The Google Advertiser Community - 1194907

Not too interested in going through Google's policy right now, but a huge benefit of the "lead gen site" model is putting your own credit card on the account.

Once you scale, you might be spending 5 or 6 figures per month on ads... with a 2-3% cashback card or a card with good flyer miles, you're looking at a lot of extra benefits.
 

PizzaOnTheRoof

Moving Forward
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
220%
Jul 30, 2018
1,218
2,682
Texas
Not too interested in going through Google's policy right now, but a huge benefit of the "lead gen site" model is putting your own credit card on the account.

Once you scale, you might be spending 5 or 6 figures per month on ads... with a 2-3% cashback card or a card with good flyer miles, you're looking at a lot of extra benefits.
No please don’t do all that reading lol

Those were my thoughts as well...something to think about in the future but not now.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,699
Ireland
So apparently it’s not in the official TOS, but after scouring many support forums in the google ads community, the owner of the account must:

1. Have rights to the login email
2. Have their card on file
3. Have been the one to accept the TOS when the account was created

Ownership of a Google Adwords Account - The Google Advertiser Community - 1194907
I suppose Google owns it? They can shut it down right?

Anyway. I state in my engagement email that I own the account and prospects agree it before we proceed.

And my invoices say monthly rental of Google Ads campaigns.
 

d7laungani

New Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
57%
Apr 10, 2018
21
12
Texas
I suppose Google owns it? They can shut it down right?

Anyway. I state in my engagement email that I own the account and prospects agree it before we proceed.

And my invoices say monthly rental of Google Ads campaigns.

Forgive me if I am asking more than you are willing to share . I have read a lot of your previous postings and a summary is that you want to own the assets ( aka campaigns ) . You have also mentioned that you are clear about that with your clients ( aka renting mindset ) but you also mentioned using the clients card info .

This is more of a process question but how do you get that done while still mantaining the own the account part and not cluttering one account with a bunch of campaigns . Do you make a new email for each client that you own (aka andyblack+[client]@gmail.com) and then create all campaigns related to them in there and tell the client to log in and the add their card info or is there some other way that you approach this .

The reason I ask this is because even if you mentioned that the client is renting there is still a sense of my card info is controlled by this guy(you) instead of the client giving you selective access (aka the other way around ) .
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,699
Ireland
Create an MCC. When a new client signs up (aka pays) then create a new Google Ads account under the MCC. Grant the client access so they can add their billing details. I could remove their access after that, but leave it there so they have full visibility and there’s full transparency of how much of their spend is to Google.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

MHP368

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
161%
Aug 17, 2016
794
1,277
37
Sahuarita AZ
The beauty of this system is I can launch it in any location and plug and play clients into it should one choose to cancel or I sign a new one up.......steps 1-4 stay the same no matter who the client is.

Now what about ranking these with SEO? I feel like thatd be the real money. Have you consiconsi that effort on top of tht google ads? I feel like the value of the virtual real estate would skyrocket with that addition
 

Mass

It's about time
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
118%
Jun 13, 2015
110
130
36
United Kingdom
How you getting on with this? Sounds like you made a promising start.
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top