How to boost your ROI

Leads 2 Trade launched its premium booked appointment service in 2020, to help installers generate leads and overcome the nervousness of homeowners arranging multiple appointments and visits to their home after the first pandemic lockdown. Almost 18 months on, the service is proving so popular that 65% of all leads are now confirmed appointments. Andy Royle, the company’s co-founder and director, explains why every installer should be using it.

Our strength at Leads 2 Trade has always been our ability to adapt and evolve to the market and deliver not only what installers want from a lead and how that lead is delivered, but what the consumer wants from that lead too.

Adapting our business model to suit both our installer members and consumers post-Covid was something we felt we needed to do.

Having listened to our members we understood their unique challenges, including the need to spend less time contacting prospects and managing their diaries, and to stop paying money for leads they might not appoint or win. We also understood that consumers are not as confident at having multiple companies in their home.

We therefore launched our confirmed appointments premium lead service, and with 65% of all leads are now confirmed appointments, it has really hit the mark.

Thanks to our Trusted Local Supplier Network from our comparison websites, including market leading online brands Double Glazing on the Web and Conservatory Online Prices, we generate an enormous number of leads, hitting the two million lead landmark in our 15th year last year.

Our experienced, in-house call centre team immediately react to the web enquiries and double qualify the enquiry to make sure the consumer is the homeowner, and wants to arrange a free no-obligation quote to buy.

We then co-ordinate the lead with your sales diaries, and we only provide the lead to one other company.

We confirm everything with the consumer and send them a short biography of the two companies. The appointment is then confirmed by email and text, and all the installer has to do is turn up, carry out the survey, and make the sale.

Following the first appointment, we contact the customer to see if they need the second appointment or not and, if our member doesn’t sit and pitch to the consumer, then they don’t pay for the lead.

For installers, the benefits of our booked appointments are huge. Instead of buying a sales lead, they are buying a confirmed appointment, which means less hassle in having to contact the prospect direct and arrange a time.

With the lead delivered to just one other installer, instead of three or four like so many other lead providers, it means there is a 50% chance of winning the work, making for higher conversion rates.

They also only have to pay for the lead if they actually sit and pitch to the customer, which will save time, deliver an acceptable cost of sale, and mean a greater return on investment.

For the consumer, they are still getting the comparison service, but it will be much more controlled. Our experienced team also supports them through the journey, with an email, text, and telephone call confirming the first appointment, then we contact them after to see if their needs have been met.

While we originally introduced our booked appointment service in 2020 in response to the pandemic, we always knew it would prove popular. And we expect it to be even more vital for our installer members in 2022.

While many installers will have had full order books until the end of the year, now is the time for them to start thinking about how to sustain those volumes in the short-to-medium term.

While demand will remain buoyant, some installers are reporting a definite drop off in enquiries from their self-generated efforts, so demand for sales leads will never have been greater.

Our booked appointments will not only provide installers with a greater chance of winning new business so they don’t see a dramatic drop off, but they will also provide better value, which will be important as business starts to slow down.