In the interest of not burying the lead, the major headline for aged leads is that they’re cheaper than real-time leads. In fact, that’s probably the one thing you might know about them. Of course, if you’re in the business of expanding your business with new customers, your first question is likely ‘what’s the catch?’ or ‘will I get what I pay for?’ 

The truth is that, like most opportunities in life, aged leads are right for some people and not right for others. We’ll look at how they work and who should use them. 

What Are Aged Leads?

Much like aged cheese, aged leads are people who expressed some degree of interest in any given product or service. There is no exact moment though when real-time leads switch over to aged leads. In general though, you might see these leads sold around 48 hours if they’re not sold as real-time leads. 

However, that doesn’t mean that you get the leads just two days after someone shares their information. When exactly you get them will depend on who you buy them from and how the information was collected in the first place. 

Why Do People Buy Aged Leads?

It’s not just the price that tempts people to buy aged leads (though that is a huge factor). Aged leads offer new businesses a chance to build a database of prospective customers that they can start making relationships with. This is often the first step to establishing yourself, even if it takes longer than people might want. 

How Do Aged Leads Work in Real Life?

For instance, let’s say that you contact someone who expressed interest in solar panels a month ago. During that month, they already got another contractor to work with them. When you reach out to them, they are polite but let you know that they’re not going to buy from you. 

This is still an opportunity to impress someone who cares about the environment though and who’s likely to know other people who care about the environment. They may have a second property or a business that will eventually need solar panels. You can store this customer in your database so you have all their information in case they do need something. 

How Can I Leverage Aged Leads for My Business?

Your mission with aged leads is to listen, learn, and keep their data at your fingertips. Multiply conversations with hundreds of aged leads and there’s real value in the data you’ve amassed. You can even use their challenges to craft more effective marketing campaigns. From mailers to commercials, you can start your communication off on the right foot by speaking directly to the customer’s pain points. 

Don’t I Want Real-Time Leads?

This is a common question for businesses today. Think about all the things that might happen between the time someone fills out a request and the time they actually respond to a company. The customer might lose their job, they might move to a new state, they might change their phone number. They might lose interest or discover they didn’t need the product or service to begin with.

The whole point of real-time leads is to capitalize on a moment. For instance, a customer has been putting off buying an auto warranty for the past few months. They finally get around to filling out a form when a salesperson calls them. From there, the customer just takes care of it all immediately and then crosses it off their to-do list. Simple, right? They get something, the company gets something, and there’s no bad blood on either side of the transaction. 

Are Real-Time Leads Always the Right Choice Over Aged Leads?

Not necessarily. There are other factors besides the ideal scenario that most companies have in their head. For one, not everyone wants to be contacted immediately after parting with their information. If they don’t get a heads up about it, they might even be annoyed that the response was so rapid. For another, people might not even realize exactly what they were asking about. Maybe they thought they’d be getting an online quote only to find that someone is now trying to schedule an at-home estimation.

Aged leads can give people the chance to correct some of these issues before they alienate the customer. To be clear, this is a way to grow your business organically as opposed to a deluge of work from customers. 

Who Uses Aged Leads?

There are probably some industries that you’ve likely already ruled out when it comes to aged leads. For instance, health insurance has open enrollment dates. Once that window is closed, people can’t sign up again unless they have a qualifying life event. So aged leads might seem completely useless you call on these people a week after the date has passed

Yet this problem isn’t as straightforward as it seems. In this case, aged leads will mean changing your strategy (to speak more about future enrollment rather than immediate action), but it doesn’t mean that using aged leads would be a bad idea. 

The mortgage industry might actually be a better example of a poor choice for aged leads. Once someone buys a home, they’re going to be out of the market mortgage for a while. Company owners will need to be aware of timing when they call, acknowledging how it affects the customer before starting off on the wrong foot. 

Contact Conversion Marketing for Aged Leads 

Our team has seen that aged leads can work for businesses. Not only are they cheaper, but they give companies the chance to really converse with potential customers, leading to insights that aren’t always so apparent from their real-time lead counterparts. 

If you’re looking for quality contact information, we’re here to help a wide range of industries, including solar, insurance, and warranty. Give us a call today to learn more about what we can do to help. 

An opt-in lead is a qualified lead, and it’s the verification that separates this strategy from the rest of the pack. A person who has opted into information is one who is interested in your product or service. 

This distinction makes them instantly more receptive to what you have to say. Conversion Marketing wants you to know more about different types of opt-in leads and how they can improve your revenue.  

The Advantages of Real-Time Opt-In Leads  

A real-time opt-in lead is a contact that has expressed a desire for a particular need. For instance, they want to learn more about solar panels or switching their health insurance carrier. And while some are certainly more ready to buy than others, your company has a unique opportunity here. 

Communicate with People Who Want to Hear from You 

With real-time opt-in leads, you reach out to a person who is ready to hear from you. 

Real-time leads may be exclusive or they can be shared with other companies in your vertical. Exclusive leads will run you a little more of your marketing budget. However, you also get a chance to cultivate a relationship with someone without as much competition. Talk to someone who won’t hang up the phone, delete your email, or add their mobile number to a DNC list. 

The Realities and Advantages of Aged Opt-In Leads 

Aged opt-in leads start off as real-time leads. Once a certain amount of time has passed though, they’re classified as aged. (There isn’t a precise hour when a real-time lead converts to an aged, but it’s typically not long after the consumer expresses interest.)

Some verticals may have a tough time with aged leads. For instance, health insurance enrollment has a cut-off date. Calling on someone after that date might be helpful for when open enrollment starts again, but certainly not for an immediate sale. 

Aged Opt-In Leads Are Recommended for Companies that Want to Scale Business 

Aged opt-in leads are typically effective for building steady business over time. This kind of consistent effort can lead to serious gains in long-term revenue. 

These leads are based on numbers. They’re cheaper than real-time leads because they’re inherently a bit of a gamble. For instance, contact information may be out of date, the lead may have already found another company to buy from, etc. 

If you can afford to spend the time though, aged leads can truly scale your business. 

Segment Your Aged Opt-In Leads Based on Their Intentions 

Speaking to an aged contact can be an eye-opening experience for your sales team. This is where they learn personal stories about how their interest played out over time. It gives them a chance to see how trends are evolving in your industry. 

As you grow your database with accurate information, you can keep up with customers based on where they are in the funnel. Those who want to buy eventually will need a very different service level than one who’s ready to buy today. 

Understanding Custom Tailored Opt-In Leads 

Custom lists today can provide more bang for your buck. Instead of reaching out with the same message, you can filter lists based on key demographics. So if you’re selling auto warranties, you’d have a different strategy for a teenager vs. a retiree. 

So when you think of your perfect client, whoever that happens to be, you get a chance to speak to them directly. 

As you work out your scripts, emails, or messages, try to factor in as many details as you can. A person making $50,000 a year isn’t going to have the same priorities as someone making five times that much. 

Custom filters help you craft more effective ways to connect with people on their level. 

The One to One Experience in Marketing: Speaking Directly to Customers 

The personalized 1:1 experience in marketing is becoming more ubiquitous, but we’re still at a point where an opt-in lead is likely to consider it memorable. 

One of the most universally well-known examples of 1:1 marketing is ordering a Lyft or Uber. When the driver arrives, you get a notification that they’ve arrived. No one else is getting this branded message, it’s solely for you. 

How to Establish the Customer Connection

There are ways to bring this concept into nearly any vertical, though some will be easier than others. However you design your 1:1 experience, just make sure you’re telling the lead something they need to know. 

The more you can identify where the buyer is coming from before they have a chance to tell you, the more impressed they’ll be.

Opt-In Leads and Conversion Marketing 

Conversion Marketing specializes in opt-in leads, regardless of whether you’re interested in aged, real-time, or custom lists. 

If you’re looking for opt-in leads, reaching out to us today can be the best move you can make for your ROI. Whether you want to expand to the next town over or around the world, we’re ready to help. 

Lead generation for auto warranty sales can feel like a bit of a minefield. There’s a lot of information out there, but if you have any experience with the data, you might have stopped trusting it a while ago. It might not be hard to find information, but it doesn’t take long to see that the data is out of date at best and useless at worst.

Conversion Marketing has built our brand on giving clients the kind of lines they can count on, and we want you to know more about the tangible benefits this can bring to your business and brand. 

Auto Warranty Leads: Finding the Right Conversion Strategy 

There are plenty of people who might believe that an auto warranty is little more than a waste of resources. They might not realize that an auto warranty is the key to not only saving themselves money, but also time and hassle. 

Conversion Marketing makes it possible for your company to explain the perks to people who both have vehicles that could use a warranty and are curious about what it entails. By providing better leads, you cut back on wasted time while getting the real story behind each warranty. 

Our database has gone through the national change of address registry and our emails have been tested with reliable AI technology. If someone is on the do not call (DNC) registry, you won’t have to worry about getting an earful from the person at the other end of the line. 

This vertical’s ROI has gone down over the past few years, largely due to a combination of consolidation in the industry and slipshod practices. The more leads being sold in bulk, the lower the quality. It’s meant that conversion strategies are sabotaged before they even have the chance to get off the ground. It can lead to your best sales agents leaving out of sheer frustration. 

Traditional lead generation is not an option at Conversion Marketing, as it simply isn’t working anymore.  By bringing modern technology to the equation, we’re bringing clients quality lists without spiking up the costs. 

Expanding Your Brand 

People usually select an auto warranty for fairly specific reasons. A new transmission can cost thousands of dollars, and few have that kind of disposable income when the bills are due. Maybe they don’t have the time to wait for a reimbursement, they have a specific mechanic they want to use, or they want better roadside protection. 

Auto warranties may also provide more information to someone before they make final decisions about how to get their vehicle back up to snuff, which can be invaluable to an owner without a lot of time (or motivation) to do the research themselves. Once you know why people sign up, it can make it easier to pitch the next lead. 

Every warranty comes with its own set of perks to the buyer, some of which will be more popular in different areas. However you’re approaching sales, it’s all about finding the right angle. When you have the right leads at your disposal, it’s a lot easier to dig into the details of why someone might want a certain kind of warranty. 

Eliminating Competition and Finding Your Niche with Exclusive Auto Warranty Leads 

Exclusive auto warranty leads are leads that are sold to one company only. When all the sources are fresh, it gives you a chance to start fresh with every new contact. This can be the key to forming a relationship with the prospect long before they have a chance to talk to several other companies. 

Exclusive lists also offer the opportunity for you to start identifying different patterns and needs that might pop up again and again with different demographics. As marketing moves more and more toward the personalized approach, this information is invaluable to crafting the right strategies for each lead. 

So someone who lives in a particularly snowy climate might only buy a warranty for all the salt damage their vehicle incurs over the years, while someone in a busy city might sign up for reliable roadside services no matter where they happen to break down.  

Relationships and Brands: How to Connect the Two 

The relationships you make with clients are the crux of your brand, so having more relationships can make it easier to see where and how you can expand.  

For instance, your brand might largely cater to luxury car owners, until you realize that there’s a serious market for mid-range cars in your area. Or maybe you’ve been pushing your direct quoting options when there’s actually more of a need for mechanic flexibility due to inconsistent quality in the area.  

Establishing your brand in people’s minds has everything to do with how you’re remembered by the lead. A good list translates to more information from consumers, which can ultimately shape your entire company for years to come. 

How Conversion Marketing Helps Clients Get Ahead  

Conversion Marketing has watched technology change the game. Improvements have made it easier for companies to measure data, analyze results, and figure out the cost-per-acquisition for each lead. Relying on websites and cold calling just isn’t cutting it anymore — because no one has that kind of time to waste anymore.  

Quality auto leads mean your auto warranty can maximize its ROI. Whether you’re looking for exclusive leads or you want to flesh out your list with aged leads, you can trust that Conversion Marketing has done the leg work. We have the expertise to kickstart your campaigns so people actually perk up and take notice of what you have to say.  

If you’re interested in learning more about what we can do for you, contact us today for more information. Conversion Marketing has a proven reputation in the industry for getting results, so even if you’ve struggled in the past with leads, there’s no reason to give up on this strategy. 

Debt is something of a way of life in America, with the average household owing thousands of dollars to any number of institutions. From student debt to personal debt, the opportunities for leads are somewhat endless. 

However,  even with an endless list of potential prospects, cold calling isn’t necessarily recommended. This is especially when you consider the real-life stories that come attached to why someone could be behind on their bills. 

Qualified leads, or those who have already expressed interest in a debt settlement service, offer your team the chance to connect with someone who’s ready to put debt behind them. Conversion Marketing has seen first-hand just how rewarding it can be to work with opt in debt leads who already recognize how this service can help. 

1. Higher Engagement 

As the name would suggest, our company is all about conversions, and conversions start with engagement. Getting people interested in what you have to say starts with finding that one thread that ties both of you together. 

Whether you’re chasing personal debt leads or student debt leads, the idea is to catch people when they’re in the right mode. If they’re wrapped up in an unrelated project or can’t even bear to look at the numbers yet, you’re only going to irritate them at best or infuriate them at worst. 

 If someone has already shown some degree of interest in taking control of their finances, this is a great sign. It shows that they’ve turned a corner by making a tentative first step. A qualified lead is going to be interested to hear about how settlement works and what it can do to change their life. 

2. Compliant Debt Leads Offer More Protection 

From TCPA to DNC, the number of consumer regulations is sometimes difficult to keep track of. However, for all the rules and exceptions out there, you really only have one to keep in mind:

You are always better off contacting someone who wants to be contacted rather than someone who’s never expressed any interest in your service or product. 

At Conversion Marketing, we take protections seriously, both for the consumer and for our clients. We go to great lengths to ensure that our compliant debt leads are worthwhile for everyone involved in the transaction. 

3. Better Rates of Return 

Of every 100 people you contact right now, how many conversions are you seeing? This question goes well beyond the financial element of the equation. What does your sales team have to invest (time, mental energy, etc.) in each lead before they see any kind of return. 

If you start with opt in debt settlement leads, you’re more likely to inspire more interest with that many more people. For instance, if you’re targeting credit card debt leads, you can start with just how flexible these companies can be under the right circumstances. Not everyone knows that these options are available, and your team can help tailor the best solution to each individual.  

The money you spend on leads may always feel like a bit of a gamble. Even in the most controlled of circumstances, some lists are going to perform better than others. At Conversion Marketing, we do everything in our power to smooth out your success statistics, giving you the kind of improved average that you can take to the bank. We’re here to help you invest in total confidence. 

4. Better Conversations 

Whether you’re contacting a lead by text, email, or phone call, a qualified lead gives you the chance to start a real conversation with each person. Being in debt can be difficult for anyone to go through and finding the right words is critical if you want to keep the interaction going.  

Someone with $10,000 in credit card debt will be in a very different situation from someone with $100,000 student loan debt. With qualified leads, you can learn more about the person before your team reaches out to them. 

With the right leads, you may also get better insights into the common thread behind those in debt. This can help you find angles that will cut down on wasted time and steer everyone toward an actual solution. 

5. You Can Offer More Help

Tackling debt can really only be done when people are ready to make a change. It will also have something to do with the person’s individual circumstances as well. Going up against these kinds of sticky scenarios can make debt settlement calls or emails feel like little minefields just waiting to detonate. 

At the end of the day though, debt settlement companies are offering people a way out — one that they may not even have realized was an option before. Qualified leads are a way to talk to more of the right people and empower them to go the extra mile for both themselves and their families. 

How Conversion Marketing Serves Up Qualified Leads

There are always going to be people in debt, no matter what the economy is up to at any given moment. Conversion Marketing is here to narrow down your prospects so you can start reaching out to opt in debt leads only. 

When you contact someone who wants you to contact them, you start off on the right foot. Your customer needs something and you are offering it to them. Instead of reaching out to people who would rather do anything besides face up to a number in red, you’re reaching out to someone who’s actively acknowledged that they can’t do this on their own. 

If you’re ready to learn more about how qualified debt leads can inject more life into your business, we’re ready to help. Reach out to us to learn how we source and compile our opt in debt leads to give you the best advantage. 

Open enrollment might be over, but now is the best time to plan your strategy before it gets going again. The more organized you are, the higher your conversion rate will be — particularly when you have the right leads on hand. We’ll look at how everything from web opt in health leads to aged health leads can build your lists and make for better conversations all around. 

New Providers, New Trends, New Laws, New Frustrations 

The healthcare industry is undoubtedly frustrating for everyone, but it becomes particularly complicated when you’re watching your pennies. People are already paying a high premium and to add insult to injury, they’re often unclear about what portion they have to cover for any given health service. Most people will know the basics of their plan, but few will have memorized the terms. 

This is also an industry that is rife with turnover. It’s common for people to change carriers and providers for any number of reasons (e.g., moving, changing jobs, wanting a different doctor, etc.). In addition to the standard reasons, there’s the growing trend of self-employment to consider, particularly as contract work and side hustles become more in demand. 

Finally, insurance laws change from year to year, and often not for the better. New regulations introduce a host of new issues. More often than not, the consumer doesn’t realize what’s changed until they’re either rejected for certain services or receive an outrageous bill. Unfortunately, even the insurance companies might not know what’s covered until they have to interpret an obscure medical code and the intention behind the service! This presents opportunities at nearly every turn, ones where salespeople can connect with a lead on a more personal level. 

It also makes for a lot of questions about coverage, and the right company can build trust immediately by being there to answer them. Building your strategy means having the facts about both the insurance products that you sell (or connect people to) and your leads. Contacting someone about their health is different from contacting them about their car, and each touchpoint you have with a web opt in health lead needs to be treated with the gravity it deserves. 

Finding Your Stride

At Conversion Marketing, we recommend having as much information to start with. Rather than just names and contact information, anything from the number of children in the home to credit rating can affect how you approach each person. A healthy young person who doesn’t even have a regular doctor is unlikely to sign up for a Platinum plan, particularly if they’re already in debt. 

Remember: you’re not insulting someone’s intelligence by assuming that they’re confused by the whole process. Seasoned HR managers still have to pore over policies to really understand them! And if you’re going with opt-in leads, you’re talking to someone who’s already expressed interest in learning more. They don’t need any more generic promises, what they need is real information based on their personal needs. 

As with any call, email, or text message, you’re looking to start a dialog between you and the other person. Health may be a deeply private matter, but you can still explain the benefits to people and answer questions without overstepping your boundaries.  

Should You Use Aged Health Leads?

Aged health leads refer to people who have expressed interest being contacted about insurance in the past. Considering health insurance is more of a necessity than a luxury, you may not think that these leads are as worthwhile when compared to more recent leads. After all, the consumer will have found a provider whether a salesperson or marketing team reached out to them or not. 

Yet open enrollment is just a few months away, and it’s not uncommon for an aged health lead to be dissatisfied with their level of coverage. It’s all too easy to select a plan based on the price of the premium, only to find that the nickels and dimes of every appointment add up. From co-pays to prescriptions to percentages, aged web opt in health leads may have plenty to say about how they’d like to change their plan. Plus, they were already open to being contacted to begin with, giving you an easy way to grab people’s interest. 

From Conversation to Conversion 

There’s no need to rush the process when it comes to leads, but there also needs to be more than just meandering back-and-forths. There’s a balance here, one that can be found if you’re able to listen more than you speak. As you work to find and address the customer’s real pain points, there needs to be clear follow-up of how and what they can do to fix the problem. 

Sometimes it’s as simple as filling out a simple form or saying yes over the form, but other situations are more complicated. For instance, a person who has COBRA now will need to cancel if they find another provider. A salesperson won’t have all the answers based on different carrier policies, but they should have some input and insight to make the process a little smoother. 

Finding Better Opt In Health Insurance Leads 

Conversion Marketing specializes in finding leads who are interested in health insurance and then building their profiles with accurate data. We’re here to give salespeople and marketers everything they need to form a relationship over any given medium. From print to digital to phone calls, you can contact people on their level according to their agenda. 

Few things will catch a person’s eye (or ear) more than a statement that was tailor-made for them. This one-on-one strategy has untold benefits for your conversion rates, and we can help you get there. If you want to learn more about how we source our lists and what you can expect, call us today to find out more.  

No matter how you get your auto insurance leads, you need a communication strategy. Every decision is a chance to make or break it. And as with any kind of marketing, you need to find the right balance between too aggressive and too timid. We’ll look at effective ways to start a conversation that matters. 

Start with the Right Leads 

This is probably the most important part of the communication process. And while you might also (reasonably) call it the most obvious, you’d be surprised at how often leads are ultimately useless to a company. Switching your auto insurance isn’t like buying a new brand of toothpaste. Crest isn’t going to dig out the terms of your contract if you switch to Colgate. If you’re going to lead people doing a path where they eventually have to give you their VIN and driver’s license number, you need to make sure it’s worth both of your time. 

Have a Dialog 

Selling is supposed to be about give and take, but the wrong salesperson will lean far too heavily on one or the other. Whether you reach out via email, phone call, or text message, the point is to get a dialog rolling. In an age of voicemails and junk emails where somehow no one is available, the last thing an employee needs is to make things any more difficult for themselves. 

A real conversation usually begins with getting questions answered, so the salesperson doesn’t stray off track. Most people want to change insurance companies because they can’t get their questions answered in a timely manner or because they want to save money. Sometimes, they feel ignored by their current insurance company. They feel that they get a lot of communication about their bills and very little about matters they care about. If the salesperson is busy pushing another agenda, it will quickly cause the customer to tune out. 

Of course, some insurance leads aren’t changing insurance companies at all — they’re new drivers choosing one their very first one. New drivers are high-risk, but they’re also high-reward. The loyalty you build with them can be enough to generate years worth of near-guaranteed revenue. When a salesperson talks to them, their messaging needs to be very different from that of a 30-year veteran on the road. 

Stay on Top of Trends 

Your marketing strategy has to be ready to change on a dime, which means that even the best spiels may need to be ready to go the way of the dodo. For instance, when the pandemic hit, people stopped driving their cars as much as they used to. They might have looked at a car sitting in a fortified garage and wondered why they were paying to insure it. If an auto insurance company was reaching out to leads during this time and using a script that was written five years ago, it would only frustrate someone dealing with today’s challenges. 

Trends can also give you a better way to understand how people want to talk. There may be people who prefer phone calls, even if they originally signed up online, whereas some will want to be email or texted only. It’s important to pick up on what people are requesting, particularly if the auto insurance company has a demographic that targets a specific demographic (e.g., drivers over 50, parents getting their teens insured, etc.). This can help decision-makers map out different tactics based on who the new leads are. 

Remember Your Numbers 

The truth is that leads are a numbers game and that there’s something to be learned from every number. If you contact 200 leads in a row and none of them goes anywhere, it’s a sign your lists aren’t very good or that your messaging needs to change. Ultimately, you need to keep going to get all the data you need to understand the bigger picture. 

How you talk to people depends on who that person is, what they want, and how external forces are shaping their daily routines. You can make generic statements, such as Baby Boomers will want a phone call while a millennial only looks at their email, but the truth is more complex than that. A true connection with leads takes an effort and understanding that results in more effective protocols and policies. 

Taking the First Step

The good news is that there are ways to give yourself an advantage over the competition, so you spend less time talking to people who were never going to change their auto insurance policies in the first place. Conversion Marketing specializes in finding people who have a genuine interest in finding a better carrier. 

From a junk car to a McLaren and everything in between, most people don’t understand very much about insurance policies. They know they have to meet a certain level of coverage or they risk getting into legal trouble, but their knowledge often ends there. Premiums become just another bill they have to pay rather than a policy that should be changing alongside the driver’s habits and lifestyle. 

It’s only when something goes wrong when most people figure out they bought the wrong policy. A lead is a chance to go over these details before anything happens and help prospective customers understand why certain companies are just better at handling claims (billing, communications, etc.) than others. 

Conversion Marketing can help you find people that will actively respond to your messages, so you can expand your customer base. We can’t tell you how to structure your policies or which incentives to offer, but we can bring you prospective customers who are more likely to listen to what you have to offer. If you’re interested in where we find our leads and how we customize them for our clients, contact us today to learn more about our auto insurance lead services. 

Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) compliance in 2021 is trying to level the playing field for consumers, giving them even more insight into who has their phone number and why they’re using it. To limit costly fines and lawsuits, we’ll look at some tips to keep your protocol on the straight and narrow. 

30th Anniversary 

This is the 30th year of the act, and it’s had to evolve over time to keep up with the ever-changing number of devices. 

To protect consumers from unwanted communications, here are a few tips to getting it right for this year:

These guidelines are all just another way of saying that you need to be involved. If you’re calling on the same number 100 times a week, there needs to be some way of tracking this and solving the problem before it’s allowed to keep happening.  

STIR/SHAKEN

This concept (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited and Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs) is being introduced this year to cut back on robocalls. The idea is that the carrier will authenticate these calls to reduce confusion and wasted time on the part of the consumer. Please note that while this may be designed for robocalls and there are no fines attached to it, it’s worth knowing how the rules work if you make any outbound calls.

By the end of June 2021, all affected parties are meant to deploy a STIR/SHAKEN solution (e.g., an automated service that ‘signs’ the calls for you). So if a T-Mobile call is placed, the carrier must be allowed to verify that call, ensuring that customers understand who is on the other end before they pick up.

If a company receives an A rating, it means that the carrier is fully confident in the caller’s identity and their authority to call upon a consumer. A B rating means that the carrier knows who the caller is but is unsure of the authority. A C rating means that that carrier can’t authenticate either the caller or the authority. This doesn’t block poorly rated calls, but it can have the same effect as it could cause the consumer to take the extra step themselves. 

Why It Matters 

TCPA can sometimes feel like a hassle, but the benefits are real for legitimate companies. The primary goal is to build trust with the consumer, which is something that all companies need if they want to survive. By getting rid of people who would take advantage of the situation, it makes it more likely that the legitimate companies can start a conversation off on the right foot. Getting call volume down means the ones that do go through will be those with something of real value to offer the consumer. 

Finding the Right Leads 

As mentioned, leads are going to be a large component to meeting TCPA regulations, as is finding the best ways to reach out to them. A lead can technically be considered verified even if the person hasn’t given consent to your particular company. For instance, a homeowner who’s interested in solar panels as opposed to a homeowner who’s interested in Bob’s Solar Panels). It can be a tricky balance, but you can get higher contact rates once you have a smarter strategy in place. 

Real-time web leads are contacts that have (very) recently shown interest in a specific product or service. Solar companies can instantly send a customer’s information back to their sales team, so the customer can get the information or quote they need.

This is a popular form of marketing because companies can contact customers at the beginning of their journey, which can help their brand stand out. We’ll look at the benefits of this strategy and why solar companies should consider it — even if they’ve had steady or even rising sales. 

Solar Today

To understand real-time web leads, it’s important to know what the market is reflecting today. At the beginning of COVID, the solar industry saw a major shift in demand. Everything from delays in the supply chain to financial concerns conspired against owners, slashed job growth, and introduced doubt across the country. In one study, over half of respondents answered that they’d seen a negative impact due to the virus. This has led to owners reconsidering how they will market this year, and a rise in demand for real-time web leads as a result. 

Here and Now 

The competition for a real-time web lead can come in a variety of forms, but your first instinct might be to compare it to the aged lead. Why are people opting for real-time but not aged leads in the solar industry during COVID? It comes down to timing. 

An aged web lead in a steady economy can be exceptionally valuable to a business. Someone fills out a request for information because they’re mildly interested in panels, then forgets about it until a salesman reaches out. Not much has changed over the weeks and they’re still interested in hearing the spiel. 

But with the market as slippery as it is, the stakes have changed for solar companies. While there are moves toward stability in the form of vaccines and federal aid, COVID has made us all wary of rapidly shifting goalposts. 

Real-time web leads seize opportunity then and there, here and now. This is not about overwhelming a customer who had an idle curiosity more than a real desire to start the installation process. It can be as simple as starting a dialog with someone who recognizes the inherent value of solar and wants to learn more. 

Capturing the Lead 

Real-time web leads give you the chance to market to someone who hasn’t managed to talk themselves out of making a purchase. You’re contacting them at a moment when their interest is already focused on you. This is something of a magical sweet spot, one that may only take a few selling points from you to close the deal. 

Of course, this is not to say that every real-time lead is a sure-fire bet, only that they’re considered less risky in the solar industry right now. These may be more of an initial investment for an owner, but it also comes with a higher reward. 

Tips on Maximizing Your Return 

The best advice is to go into these leads with both eyes open. People fill out lead forms for different reasons, so keep in mind that not all of them will be ready to sign a contract yet. In some cases, you might only be able to establish a quick connection with them so they can mull it over on their own time. That being said, even a well-phrased voicemail can be enough to spark their interest. 

You should also have a good idea of what your competitors are up to in your area. If a person is interested in solar, they may have already contacted a few companies to get a sense of who is offering what and how the products/services align with their needs. When a person is leaning toward your biggest rival, it helps to have specific reasons about why your company is a better fit. 

Are Real-Time Web Leads Better Than Aged Web Leads for the Solar Industry?

At Conversion Marketing, we help professionals close the gap between businesses and customers who would benefit from their products or services. Fortunately, there’s more than one way to do that. 

 In our experience, there is no better or worse if you’re asking this question. There is only what’s better for your company at this moment. In six months, you might find that aged leads make more sense for you. They’re more affordable and their yield is every bit as good as their real-time counterparts. Ultimately, it allows you to follow up on that many more leads for less money. 

Right now though, the emphasis is on real-time web leads for solar professionals. Testing the waters at a time when anything could happen could waste valuable resources that companies don’t have right now. 

Looking Ahead 

The solar industry has many reasons to be optimistic about this year. People are interested in improving their homes, and there are few better ways to do this than with solar power

Not only does it save owners on electricity costs, but they also get the added bonus of saving the environment at the same time. It’s satisfying all around to use what we already have rather than generate more waste. 

Yet there’s still reason to play it a little cautious right now. As federal aid dries up and people get back to normal, no one wants to be left high and dry by the time the dust settles. The best thing that you can do is keep plugging away at finding customers who have something to genuinely gain by choosing you. 

Know the Game

Conversion Marketing has done a lot of the legwork when it comes to real-time web leads, and solar is undoubtedly one of our fastest growing sectors. This all comes down to understanding a prospective customer’s behavior online, what they’re looking for, and why they’re enticed to sign up for certain offers and not others. Our insight is what makes our leads so valuable and the reason why our clients trust us to go the distance for them. If you don’t want to miss out on real-time leads in a real-time market, contact us today if your campaigns are in need of a jolt

Marketing today has changed in so many ways, but the core elements remain the same. As a business owner, you’re connecting to customers who are interested in your products and services. It’s the quality of these relationships that end up driving your bottom line.

Solar live transfers are a marketing strategy that allows you to talk to people who would benefit from what you do. But there’s a more personal twist here, one that can set you up for success before you even say ‘hello’.

What Is a Solar Live Transfer?

A live transfer is a service from a lead company designed to improve the quality of your phone calls with customers. Call center reps can dial out, field inbound calls, and qualify a person’s requests before they take action. Business owners ultimately end up talking to people who are looking to buy.

What Is the Advantage of Live Transfers?

A solar business owner will typically choose live transfers if they want to spend less time convincing and more time closing.

At Conversion Marketing, we dig into the caller’s situation to understand more about what they’re really looking for. Only when we know that a prospective customer would benefit from being transferred do we actually make the connection with a business.

For instance, we might call someone who filled out a quote request about solar panels for their commercial property. Once we connect with them, we verify that they’re still interested in the information. From there, we provide a personal introduction between the lead and the business. It makes for a seamless transition and an excellent first impression.

More Conversions

We don’t have to tell you that the distance you have to cross with a cold lead can be wide. With a solar live transfer, Conversion Marketing works to close that gap. Our leads are award-winning precisely because we find people in the right place at the right time.

This offers two key benefits:

When you get on the line with someone who’s interested, the dynamic is immediately in your favor. It’s the customer that needs something from you, not the other way around.
While a customer will still make you work for their business, you start off on the right foot. It all adds up to higher closing rates.

There’s a reason why transfer leads have grown in popularity as of late. The frustration it alleviates for the business owner is worth its weight in gold.

Person-to-Person

The value of a person-to-person call cannot be discounted in a world of phone trees and robotic voices. With a solar live transfer at Conversion Marketing, we have a friendly voice reach out to a prospect who has already expressed interest in solar services. We work hard to be as warm as we are professional. Our call center is tackling the most time-consuming step of sales, so you can focus on what you do best.

The Extra Mile

Live transfers have become popular in the solar industry because they send a strong message to customers. Instead of trying to upsell them on a product they might not even be interested in, you’re putting the customer’s needs above profits.

At Conversion Marketing, we know how to harness that interest to put you in the best position to make a sale. Instead of reaching out to someone who just installed panels from your competitor, Conversion Marketing is offering a genuine service to the customer on the other end of the line.

Weed Out the Wrong People

The solar industry has seen so much interest in just the past few years. As the cost of equipment and installation trends downward, more people are seeing the economic returns that lie just behind the initial investment.

This has given solar business owners a huge advantage — no one knows the value of their products better than they do. After all, it can be pretty easy to sell someone on significant long-term savings.

Yet just because the industry has grown in popularity, this doesn’t mean that every lead is a sure-fire thing. At Conversion Marketing, we might call a commercial property owner who has expressed interest in panels in the past. When we talk to the customer though, we learn that they’ve decided to forego the project entirely due to budget cuts. Even if their electricity bills would eventually pay for the panels many times over, they’re not interested in taking the chance right now. What if they go out of business in a month?

Trying to convince a property owner that they have money (when they don’t) or to take out a high-interest loan to finance the project (when they can’t) isn’t necessarily worth the risk. It may only annoy the property owner and potentially turn them off to solar companies entirely.

With transfer leads, a business owner isn’t speaking to someone who’s been given the run-around or bothered by an unsolicited phone call. Conversion Marketing will only take the next step with a person who wants us to. You get the facts about what they need so you can dive straight into how you can help. It’s this kind of efficiency that makes for more loyal customers right from the get-go.

Taking the Chance

Transfer leads are a specialized type of marketing, one that requires both the right data and the right professionals to field the calls. For a solar business owner to make this kind of investment, they need to be sure they’re getting what they pay for.

Conversion Marketing makes it our mission to improve communication on every level. Whether it’s with an interested customer or not, we make a sincere effort to reach people and meet them where they are. If you’re interested in a call center that will serve as a bridge to people who want to buy, we can facilitate a connection so you have more calls that lead to sales.

When it comes to buying leads there are several options available to choose from but, the two we will explore in this article are aged leads and real-time leads. The type of prospect you are hoping to approach will determine the type of lead you will buy. A lead is a person who has indicated an interest in your products or services. Leads help boost your conversion rates and keep sales up.  

What are aged leads?

Aged leads are prospective clients that have shown an interest in your product or service through one of your sales messaging verticals in the last 30 to 90+ days. The only difference between aged and real-time leads is that some time has passed between the initial inquiry of your product/service and the time you follow up with the prospective client.  

Aged leads are something that should be part of everyone’s sales strategy. The benefits of using aged leads are plentiful; they are less expensive, there is less competition when trying to close a sale, and they can have a higher ROI than real-time leads. Aged leads can cost pennies on the dollar for what real-time leads costs so they are an effective way to stretch your budget. There is also another added benefit to aged leads – you are approaching the prospective customer at a time where there is less competition from other salespeople. In the first week or day of their inquiry, many customers are bombarded with calls and offers but most agents do not follow up or follow through on their initial call. When you are calling and emailing aged leads, you are likely the only salesperson doing so. This gives you the right opportunity to build a valuable relationship and find out the prospective clients’ needs.   The disadvantage of aged leads is that these potential leads may have already been sold on your product.  

What are real-time leads?

Real-time leads are potential customers that are in the right position to purchase your services or product. These are prospective customers that have inquired through a sales vertical about your products/services. These leads tend to be more expensive because they are given to agents in real-time. This allows salespeople to contact the lead while the product/service is at the top of their agenda.  

Conversion Marketing’s real-time leads are collected from web-generated forms filled out by prospects and through call centers. The benefit of real-time leads is that they have a higher conversion rate and are more likely to result in a sale. The consumer has your product/service a the top of their mind and is ready to purchase. The only disadvantage of real-time leads is that because these leads are so fresh, there has not been time to assess if it is a legitimate lead.

Leads from Conversion Marketing

All of our leads have been qualified through an extensive process to make sure they aren’t dead leads. We screen our lists thoroughly to make sure they are up to date and providing the right kind of information. Conversion Marketing has data from 50+ different verticals and offers opt-in leads from 1-2 weeks to 30-day aged-leads. If you are ready to find the right leads for your company, contact us today.