Inbound Call Center/Lead Generation Firm

**nyalex** · 03-23-2010 11:20 AM

Hi,

I am working on starting my own call center. We will make money through generating leads, verifying them in the call center, and then by selling those to our clients.

When I start, I will have no clients and no one to generate leads for so my question is if there is any other appropriate monetization we can do while we do the BD work? Is there some sort of affiliate program that pays well but also allows for the leads to be personally verified and collected by the affiliate before delivery?

**DerekS** · 03-23-2010 12:21 PM

What industries are you targeting?

**nyalex** · 03-23-2010 12:32 PM

I'll like to target B2B commercial types of services. For example, generate and schedule estimate appointments for specific contractors.

I am also considering offering inbound services such as virtual assistants/answering services.

**DerekS** · 03-23-2010 12:44 PM

My dad runs a call center/answering service, and they can be fairly lucrative provided you have the proper infrastructure/operators. I know that the software is fairly expensive and cumbersome and their phone bills are pretty nuts, but its a good business. I don't know much about the lead generation end, because they do only call answering, dispatching, and inbound telemarketing.

They've done most of their growing by buying up smaller answering services and absorbing their accounts. That, of course, takes cash, which is tough for startups.

**StephenG** · 03-23-2010 03:09 PM

Lead generation is actually where I got my start. I started with this in 1976 while I still had a full time job and made more than double my salary. I had very little experience with this but took a scientific approach to it from the very begaining. One of the biggest problems you will run into is a very high turnover of employeees. You will also get a lot more money from your leads if you contract yourself out to specific contractors who have an organized sales approach. I had a very small turnover of employees because I figured out what really motivated them and I figured out the profile of a caller. Some of my callers worked for me as long as 10 years. I usualy charged the contractors the equivalent of about 30% of the profit from each job they sold. At first they thought this was high but once we got rolling they loved it. My best callers were usually lonely shut in types who worked form their home, when they were successful at calling and getting leads I spent more time talking with them and validating them. When they started becomming non productive and simply wanted to keep me on the phone for a long time I would cut them short. The money was a motivator but more importantly they liked the interaction and validation. Not everyone is cut out to do this. Steve

**nyalex** · 03-23-2010 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by DerekS

My dad runs a call center/answering service, and they can be fairly lucrative provided you have the proper infrastructure/operators. I know that the software is fairly expensive and cumbersome and their phone bills are pretty nuts, but its a good business. I don't know much about the lead generation end, because they do only call answering, dispatching, and inbound telemarketing.

They've done most of their growing by buying up smaller answering services and absorbing their accounts. That, of course, takes cash, which is tough for startups.

Could you share some insight on how these call answering clients are signed/prospected? I'd like to put together a firm product offering and process and need to help from insiders.

I really appreciate your thoughts.

**nyalex** · 03-23-2010 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by StephenG

Lead generation is actually where I got my start. I started with this in 1976 while I still had a full time job and made more than double my salary. I had very little experience with this but took a scientific approach to it from the very begaining. One of the biggest problems you will run into is a very high turnover of employeees. You will also get a lot more money from your leads if you contract yourself out to specific contractors who have an organized sales approach. I had a very small turnover of employees because I figured out what really motivated them and I figured out the profile of a caller. Some of my callers worked for me as long as 10 years. I usualy charged the contractors the equivalent of about 30% of the profit from each job they sold. At first they thought this was high but once we got rolling they loved it. My best callers were usually lonely shut in types who worked form their home, when they were successful at calling and getting leads I spent more time talking with them and validating them. When they started becomming non productive and simply wanted to keep me on the phone for a long time I would cut them short. The money was a motivator but more importantly they liked the interaction and validation. Not everyone is cut out to do this. Steve

Thanks Steve. Just clarify:

Did you have an outbound call center calling to businesses (telemarketing)?

You charged your clients a percentage of sales or your approximate guess at the cost (based on your the quote you had provided them)?

How did you prospect for the contracts (the ones that did the service for the customer)? Did you target national companies or local businesses?

Any additional info that you can provide? Is there anything that I need to be aware of before investing my time and money into this?

Thanks again. I understand if you're not able to provide this info, but anything you can share would be of great help to me.

**DerekS** · 03-23-2010 05:40 PM

My dad is pretty old school. They advertise in the Yellow Pages, and have a website (that was poorly designed by my brother and I years ago and last updated with content probably 2 years ago at the latest.)

What he does do that is pretty cool, is aggressively advertise in trade magazines pertaining to teleservices in an attempt to buy up answering service accounts from owners who just don't care anymore (or have financial hardships, or are too old to keep the business running.) The problem with this, from a startup standpoint, is that these deals are done with cash- which can be difficult for a young company that is trying to build up infrastructure as well as a client base. I want say they've acquired at least 1 answering service every year since '99, when he took over the company.

**StephenG** · 03-24-2010 01:50 AM

Nyalex, my approach was probably low tec but it was effective. In many cases I actually developed my own clients as established clients who had plenty of work were not always interested. I started off when a friend announced he was going into business selling patio enclosures and sun rooms. My wife had just recently quit her job to be a stay at home mom but we still needed some extra income. I offered to take over his lead generation for a percentage of the profit. We actually worked on a flat 10% of the job as they had a 30% to 40% margin. I set up an office in a converted garage with 3 callers and thats how I got started. I spent the first week calling myself and developing a good pitch. I then ran an add for callers. The turn over was extremely high until I figured out which ones tended to stay on. I expanded into canvassing for air conditioning, carpet cleaning, general home and office repairs, tenant improvement comercial construction and several other items as well. I ended up using strictly callers who worked form their own home. My best lead generators were handicapped in some way or another and it worked out very well for them. I guaranteed them so much for each lead against a sales commission, whichever was greater. The commissions on sales were always greater if the sales force did their job. This branched out into several other business for me, primarily home interiors and construction. One aspect I liked particualrly well was setting up accounts for ongoing services on a regular basis. For instance I had a carper cleaner who had a steam machine also. Within 3 years he had 2 large diesel operated telescoping steamers for washing towers at refineries. I got residuals off of all the accounts we helped set up. Just keep an open mind and use your imagination. We supplied highly qualified leads that averaged about a 1 in 5 closing rate. Steve

**Southern_Lenders** · 03-24-2010 03:23 AM

Stephen, you said you started with 3 people out of your garage calling people at their home i assume? to buy these patio enclosures, and sun rooms, then you got a percentage from your friend? or did you work FOR him?

As you know, these days that falls under telemarketing, and now you need a license to operate a tele-mark company, along with the insurance. The fed has really got strict on tele-mark companies due to scams and fraud.

I had a similar idea like the OP's where I'd find contractors in my area, and work the phones to generate leads for them, and then take 10% of the sale, but I quickly found out there was much much more involved from the legal end, and decided it probably wasnt worth it.

At first I thought I could start this out of my home with nothing more than a cell phone and a phone book, and a simple website for no more than 1,000 in start up cost. I was wrong.