A LIVE Transfer Story

carlo@CreditReportAtlas · #1 (**permalink**) 12-21-2005, 12:09 PM

A mortgage broker ordered 25 LIVE Transfer leads from me 2 weeks ago. Let's just name this mortgage broker rep, Joe. Well, as I was setting up Joe's system and conducting several call-in tests on his toll-free roll-over system, all the calls went to his voicemail. Even after a few minutes after talking on the phone with him it always seemed to go directly to the voicemail greeting. I pretty much got the idea that Joe doesn't like to pick-up his phone but he does a pretty good job at returning phone calls.

Anyhow, Joe's LIVE Transfer Leads started coming-in this Sunday. We had 3 calls that came in and just so you know, all our LIVE Transfer leads are entered in a website so the contact information is saved in our database in-turn will be forwarded to our clients as their hard copy of the LIVE Transfer. Well, another 4 calls came-in yesterday and today... which totals out to 7 LIVE Transfers sent to Joe so far.

Joe called me today and asked me, "Carlo, I'm getting these leads by e-mail but I'm not receiving any calls. What's going on?". I asked Joe what number he gave me to direct his calls to and sure enough it was his office phone. So, I called Joe's office phone and guess what it did? That's right! it went directly to his voicemail, however, in the voicemail greeting it did say to call his cellphone if they wish to speak with him immediately. As per Joe's statement, "Carlo, none of these leads left a message on my office phone nor my cellphone and I know I may not answer my calls in that minute but I'm always good at returning phone calls. Also, when I called these people back... they're not answering the phone."

Ladies and Gentlemen.... Please, please, please! If you are someone that is purchasing LIVE Transfer Leads - that means when a prospect is calling at that moment... it usually means they are HOT to close. Honestly, nobody likes to leave messages anymore (that's why people send e-mails or text messages) and these customers will go somewhere else if you are not there to help them LIVE on the phone, or at least an effort to respond to their inquiry.

Do you know that 70% of Fortune 500 companies are backed with virtual office greetings/secretaries? That's why most people are going back to the old way of doing business... Face-to-face. It is frustrating to talk to a machine when your choices to get your question answered is limited. Nobody likes to feel like they're just another person that is calling in. Everyone wants to feel valuable and if you are too busy to answer your phone then I guess you shouldn't take another customer.

Point of the story is... VOICEMAILS and VIRTUAL OFFICE SYSTEMS are a sign of laziness (in my opinion). Nothing else beats the power of human contact and if communicating with your customer is something you don't like to do - GUARANTEE that business failure is on its way!

I rarely have my greeting or voicemail answer my calls. If I'm not availabe, my telemarketers are there to take the call. Hire a secretary if you are jammed with responsibilities... HUMAN COMMUNICATION creates long and trusting business relationships.

Thanks for reading..

Greg · #2 (**permalink**) 12-21-2005, 12:18 PM

Perfect!

Well said. Our company has an automated assistant for all it's offices but we dissabled ours and pay a front end person to pick up the phone.

Also..... "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to carlo@GetLeads again." I tried to give you more lol.

Erik · #3 (**permalink**) 12-21-2005, 12:35 PM

Great post. I hit you with some rep for that.

carlo@CreditReportAtlas · #4 (**permalink**) 12-21-2005, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg

Perfect!

Well said. Our company has an automated assistant for all it's offices but we dissabled ours and pay a front end person to pick up the phone.

Also..... "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to carlo@GetLeads again." I tried to give you more lol.

BTW, here's another story... This is actually a true confession... The first time Greg "The Super Moderator" and I meet on MBL (and LIH), I felt like we started on a wrong foot. Guess what? I made the effort to call him and we talked on the phone... ever since then we've been good pals in MBL. Once again, nothing else beats the power of Human Communication. No e-mail, no website, no voicemail, nothing... start building relationships with your clients by spending a little time by Human Communication.

BTW, Erik still makes fun of me for being a wussie b/c I told him last night that I'm freezing my butt off in Northern VA.

Erik - San Diego is not far from you.. can't wait to see you on a surf board and watch you get ripped.

Erik · #5 (**permalink**) 12-21-2005, 01:04 PM

Man I'd be hangin 10 like Karzai on the North Shore of Hawaii... nothing but big wave for the big dog

Greg · #6 (**permalink**) 12-21-2005, 01:07 PM

Yep. Carlo was like "You best recognize fool" and I was like "Yes Sir"

Then we lived happily ever after......

Big Cahoona!!!

carlo@CreditReportAtlas · #7 (**permalink**) 12-21-2005, 01:09 PM

You guys are Out of Control... LOL!!!

Greg · #8 (**permalink**) 12-21-2005, 01:13 PM

Yeah I was for sure last night. I was posting some crazy stuff. Must have been the Egg Nog.

carlo@CreditReportAtlas · #9 (**permalink**) 03-09-2006, 09:03 PM

"Carlo, if a Live Transfer is sent and what if I happen to be unavailable will I get charged for that?"... What kind of question is that?

Any lead brokers in here that could help me with this question?

The Bid Chief · #10 (**permalink**) 03-09-2006, 10:37 PM

Carlo,

Live Transfer customers need to employ a "follow me anywhere" call forwarding plan...unfortunately with inbound hot transfers, it can be very unpredictable because someone could see the ad you have in their paper and call it at midnight....doubtful they would answer the phone then. I do think your hot transfer might be a better lead because someone called you to say they are interested... but this is one of the areas of unpredictability in your model...

I have advocated and monitored call tracking reports on campaigns for years...having viewed thousands of campaigns worth of data I can tell you there is a lot of calling that occurs in the "non-standard" work day...late nights, weekends, holidays, etc. Ole JoeBubba Sixpack can call anytime day or night...why do you think they run infomercials at 4 in the morning...because some people will call then.

Most hot transfer are generated from an outbound call so the availability of the recipient of the lead is predicated solely on the time of day the telemarketers are generating those leads. In that regard this problem is eliminated.

If I were you I would define an off hours policy and incorporate it into your standard contract language. Leads generated in these "non-standard" times need to have both home and work phones, an email address if possible, a pre-set time/appointment for the licensed mortgage professional to call them back, and the information collected from the caller during your TM's interview with the prospect.

Also and this is critical - have the TM capture the caller ID info from the inbound. Just another safe guard for you to protect against someone bailing out of the process by giving you bogus contact info. Ask them for their email address early in the call too. The TM's can send just the LO's contact info right in the beginning of the call...if they give you a bogus, undeliverable email address you probably still have them on the phone when the bounce back would show up indicating they were shucking you.

You set it up on a tee for them by delivering all the info listed above, and do the due diligence described, then it's a lead. You charge a premium price for your lead. Doing these things, you are undoubtedly now performing a premium service too.

The Bid Chief