HOME IMPROVEMENT FRAUD
Part Of The Process: Rounding Up Prospect’s
Throughout America, in virtually every sales oriented industry – autos, insurance, advertising – the word “lead” means a name with an appointment. Contractors bob and weave in convincing a prospect to make an appointment to see a salesperson.
How do we do it?
Years ago, the cold phone call was the avenue of success. However, enactment of the Federal “Do Not Call” law, which we may applaud as individuals, was and is a bane to our industry. It’s a regulation that, if we had enough money and time, would be pursued to the Supreme Court in an effort to have it ruled unconstitutional. It is restraint of trade – many home improvement contractors had armies of telemarketers cold-calling twelve hours, from 9-9 weekdays and 9-12 noon on Saturdays, soliciting projects from home owners. Then, around 2000, computer “predictive dialers” upped the efficiency of the process by allowing half of our workforce to call four times the previous amount. This said, contractors still cold call and the odds are they’re rarely prosecuted.
Thus, our trusty phone rep confirms address, phone numbers and that open-ended time is needed from Mr. and Mrs. Prospect to see our rep. Open-ended is critical. Our endeavors are fruitless when a potential client is glancing at his watch, concerned he has other places to go after just twenty minutes of conversation. The prospect is told that, one hour prior to the appointment, we will call to provide them with the salesperson’s name. The real reason: to be sure that all decision makers are home. A sales veteran never “pitches” a “one-legger.”
A most economical source have been flyers and mailers. Every home owner has seen them. Actually, most have been inundated. But, it’s how we get our foot in the door. Small “door hangers” are snuck onto the knobs of houses in proximity of a project, hoping that it will nudge someone to call. Larger, multi-colored 8 ½ x 11s chock full of various renovation photos surrounded by over-used phrases such as “FREE ESTIMATE,” “SPRING SALE,” “BUY FIVE WINDOWS, GET ONE FREE,” “100% FINANCING,” and, “WE’LL BEAT ANY PRICE,” are stuffed into those plastic-bagged advertising packets so unceremoniously tossed onto one’s porch along with the morning newspaper. Mailers and postcards, along with supermarket ads, are thrown onto the doorstep weekly, and are often tossed within seconds of being read, if they’re even read at all. Responses on these, at best, are one tenth of one percent. Thus if those ubiquitous mail pouch people drop 50,000 mailers, we usually get fifty responses. These are “raw” leads.
But then there’s the whittling down process. Want to know more? Believe it or not, you are just one click away from having all of your answers in front of you. Knowing more about this aspect of the sales process will make you a savvier buyer. So, to save yourself time and money, order REPUBLIC OF RIPOFF today.
