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Wouldn't It Be Nice?

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could spend all your time just helping consumers work on budgets and repayment plans instead of trying to find the next person to help?

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a long line of overindebted consumers eager to use your debt counselling services?

It would.

This is why many Debt Counsellors have turned to outside assistance to find good leads.

Finding Good Compliant Lead Providers Is Tough

It can be hard to find someone who is both trustworthy, provides consistent quality and reasonable pricing.

And recently, it seems harder than ever.

Reportedly, some of the really good lead providers have hit their capacity and simply can’t provide more leads or can’t take on more clients. 

Others are now migrating away from the industry. This could be because of more lucrative opportunities in other industries or due to the rising cost of actually providing quality leads or policy restrictions or client dissatisfaction.

Many Debt Counsellors have noticed a drop in quality and a bump in price. So, if you’re struggling to secure high quality PoPI compliant debt review leads, you’re not alone.

Single Source Risk

In business you always want to try reduce your risk.

If you have been busy doing debt review and letting one supplier, bring you all your leads or are currently getting all your leads from one channel, then, simply put, you are at risk.

It’s the eggs in one basket scenario.

What happens if the basket breaks?

This is why there is buzz around “omni channel” or “multi channel” processes. It gives you redundancy if your adverts get banned from a platform or if your usual advertising source doubles its price over night.

Having a single external supplier for anything is always risky.

It can be hard for you to control the quality of their leads, hard to control the pricing of the leads and even how the leads are sourced.

You need to ask yourself:

    • Is the lead provider truly being ethical in how they get the leads?
    • Are they being honest?
    • Are they really sticking to PoPI requirements or could you later get into trouble?

The reality is, relying on third-party lead providers is also becoming riskier as potential clients grow less and less fond of being advertised to and dropped into identical sales funnels.

Social media platforms and government rules are getting tighter all the time, debt review related advertising costs are climbing and this is why supply seems to be drying up.

Can You Do It Yourself?

When a debt counselling practice is small, you normally try a few different things to get your first few clients.

Maybe… fliers or going on a local radio show or just posting to Facebook etc.

As your practice (and experience in helping consumers) grows you may be ready to take things to the next level but those previous strategies have to grow with your practice or change entirely.

At that point you may start to look at external lead sources or providers…and you will probably have mixed results over time for all the reasons discussed above.

One solution to all those challenges is to build your own internal reliable internal lead generation processes and systems. Rather than being totally dependent on a supplier, who might dump you at a crucial time with little or no notice, it is probably a good idea to be able to generate and nurture your own leads.

We spoke to Dale Johnson at 1on1 Lead Gen again and asked him if this is actually a realistic idea for Debt Counsellors. He said: “Yes, you should definitely not put all your eggs into one basket. While it’s not a bad idea to have access to a good lead provider, it’s an even better idea to generate your own. We have helped several Debt Counsellors do that”

Build Your Own Lead Generation System

Generating your own leads can be tricky at first and so it can be wise to engage the services of someone who knows what they are doing (like Dale and his team) who can talk you through the transition.

Dale’s team provide leads themselves to clients but they also have some plug and play systems that can give you instant results without getting hit hard by the learning curve (for example, they have a nifty WhatsApp bot that is impressively smart and helps figure out if consumers are right for the process).

And there will 100% be a learning curve in doing things yourself as you have to figure out the various rules on different platforms as to what you can and can’t say or show.

These also change over time so it is not a static thing. Having one of your senior team keep an eye on this aspect of your practice is vital (if not yourself). Dale says: “You have to keep your finger on the pulse and stick to the rules that platforms like Meta or Google adjust from time to time, but if you do, you can get some very reliable results”.  

Reduce Your Lead Source Risks

So, even if you currently have one really nice source of leads or a really good service provider, it never hurts to build in some redundancy and explore other lead sources.

Having all your eggs in one basket is very dangerous and leaves you exposed to sudden change.

By spreading your lead sources, you reduce your risk and this can help you weather the sudden loss of one lead channel.

And Remember

Only Ever Work With Ethical, PoPI Complaint Service Providers and Always Ensure Your Potential Clients Are Fully Informed About Exactly What It Is They Are Asking For Help With.

Be sure to check out upcoming issues for more on leads.