Here's the crux of the matter:
Bona-fide bankruptcy leads have value and most marketers are going to want to get paid for the lead, and not have to rely on you, or your friends law firm to: 1. Follow up on the lead and 2. Close the deal.
I like the idea of getting paid on the sale, but before I would agree to send valuable BK leads to you and get paid when they convert I would want to learn more about your law firm, conversion rate, etc.
Many buyers of leads waste them because they don't follow up, can't close them, don't follow-up fast enough, etc. If I'm fronting leads to a buyer and getting paid on the sale - I want to make sure you workin' those leads like Glengarry Glen Ross.
GS
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I totally can agree with that, thanks. It is the only "hole" that I can think of. You would have to rely on my ability to make sure that the salesreps are tiptop. I can tell you all day that they are, but I could be full of shit, you don't know me. However, I will say that I have 15 years experience in managing small calls centers, CRMS and salesreps. I am very anal about properly working a lead to get every bit of meat off of the bone. I've always done well by using the right salesreps and by working the leads hard and smart. My background is as a bill collector. I did that for 10 years. That's probably where I gained the tenacity for chasing leads (debtors). From there I opened a debt negotiation company and have been in that field for the past 7 years. I currently manage the law firm's debt negotiations, customer service and sales. (we have another law firm name that does debt settlement). Again, for all you know, I could be full of shit though and I get that.
My initial thought wasn't that people should funnel leads to me. I thought that this wizard may be successful in just sending traffic to it and allowing the wizard, it's sales points and the video chat to capture clients. You have me thinking though that while some leads may retain the law firm without ever needing to be pitched by a salerep, the majority will need some human touch prior to enrollment so their questions can be answered and only then will they retain the law firm.
I added the text/video chat feature to try and improve conversion. I figured that it may invite leads to start conversations and generate more contact with the salesreps. So, it'll help but I know that only a small percentage of people viewing the site or using the free wizard will actually click the video chat box.
Another percentage of those leads will pick up the phone and call us, which is good.
There will be another percentage who use the wizard and then fill out the contact form, which is also good.
But, there will be a large percentage who view the site, use the wizard and never reach out to talk to us. If traffic is just being driven to the site, I assume that we'll never be able to talk to this segment of people and they'll be lost forever. If leads were being driven there and the lead's contact info was gathered prior to being directed to the wizard, well, my salereps could do outbound calls to them to increase contact and sales.
So, I guess there are different ways to go. I haven't settled on any one thing yet. Now that I've had the I/t guy build the wizard, I've moved on to trying to figure out the best ways to capture clients. I'm open to making changes to the layout of the wizard and open to suggestions of anyone who wants to get involved.
One of the things i struggled with was whether or not I should put a required contact form at the start of the wizard or at the end. I went with putting it at the end because I thought that It looks more legit. This is a law firm's website, of course, and not a lead gen landing page. I thought maybe it would turn people off if I asked for info before letting them through the wizard.
So i give them the option to fill out the form at the end where they can ask us to call them at the time they choose. I also invite them to call us or click on the chat box. All the invites are there.
I think that there are other things that should help conversion; we are cheaper than many law firms and competitive as compared to others. We also allow the client to make a small initial payment to retain the firm which makes it psychologically easy for them to pull the trigger and start the process. The biggest draw is that we allow the retainer to be signed on line very simply and via E-sig. There is no need to burn gas or time driving to our law firm a couple of times to discuss the bankruptcy face to face with an attorney. No one wants to do that. It is embarrassing enough having to file. We make it nearly anonymous. After we've gathered everything and file on behalf of the client, a hearing date is set. That's when the client and attorney show up, shake hands and get the hearing over with. It's very convenient. I think that these points help to sell it too.
We also offer the BK in all 50 states.
There's something else, for your piece of mind; the wizard really has loaded into it each individual states' BK rules and exemptions. It is accurate and state specific. In fact, we update it every 6 months with any changes that may take place in a states' BK rules.
You make great points, if you think that there's a possibility that we could work together, but you need to ask more questions or you'd like to see some changes to the process, contact me. The wizard has no track record to run on yet. I have worked with anyone to run any traffic through it yet. I think there's something there though. I'm completely open to listening.[/FONT]