Pay Per Lead Services

In this section, we’re going to talk about another way to generate leads: Pay-Per-Lead services. We’ll cover how these services work, the pros and cons of using them and the options that are available to you as a property manager.

So, how do they work exactly?

In summary, pay-per-lead services focus only on sending you leads, not ancillary marketing services like SEO optimization, websites, etc… The basic idea is that a lead contacts you online via the pay-per-lead marketing service and you pay for that lead if they are qualified. If a lead is unqualified, spam or otherwise invalid, you can ask to be refunded for that lead. These services almost always provide OWNER leads exclusively; they don’t generate buyer, seller or tenant leads so you’ll want to look elsewhere if you’re looking for prospects in those categories.

What are the pros of using a pay-per-lead marketing service?

• Depending on the pay-per-lead service, it’s a very easy way to start getting leads and doesn’t require any special skills or experience to set up.
• They require very little maintenance.
• Depending on the service, you will only pay for qualified leads. No monthly fees, just pay when you get leads.
• If you receive an invalid lead, most services allow you to request a full refund.

There are a few cons to using these services that you should keep in mind.

• The cost per lead can be expensive.
• Some services charge a monthly fee in addition to the cost per lead.
• Services like All Property Management will send leads to multiple companies in your area so you are competing with other companies for each lead

Overall, pay-per-lead services are a good option if you’re looking to gain quick online exposure to owners who are looking for property management services. If you’re just getting started, this is definitely worth looking into.

There are a couple types of pay-per-lead services to choose from: platform services and consulting services.

Platform Services

A platform pay-per-lead service is a website/software that you can sign up for online. Prospective owners can find the website on Google and search for property managers in their area. If they are searching in a zip code near you, your company will appear in the search results. Manage My Property and All Property Management are perfect examples of platform pay-per-lead services. They attract leads to their websites with SEO and content marketing tactics, the leads find property managers near their zip code and contact them for a free quote.

Consulting Services

Consulting services are similar, but they don’t use a single website to generate leads for all of their customers like All Property Management does. Instead, they will work with you to create landing pages and online marketing channels where leads can find and contact you. They don’t usually build websites or do SEO, so they aren’t full consulting services, but they will help you create more marketing channels to generate leads and these channels are built specifically for your business. A great example of this is Geek Real Estate Marketing. 

Consulting pay-per-lead services are catered toward your business and marketing message specifically, which can make a big difference in differentiating yourself from your competition. They do cost more as a result, but it’s usually worth the money.

Budget

You’ll also need to keep your budget in mind. Many pay-per-lead services allow you to specify how much money you want to spend on leads through them each month and it will ensure you don’t go over your budget. 

Options

I’ve mentioned most of them already, but here are some of the main pay-per-lead options to look at in the property management space.

• Manage My Property

• Leads can search for you on managemyproperty.com and request a quote
• You only pay for qualified leads that you make contact with
• If a lead is not qualified or you can’t make contact, you can request a full refund
• No monthly fees, only pay for the leads you get
• Leads are only sent to your company, not any of your competitors

• All Property Management

• Leads can search for you on allpropertymanagement.com and request a quote
• You only pay for qualified leads
• If a lead is not qualified, you can request a full refund
• No monthly fees, only pay for the leads you get
• Set budget caps to prevent overspending
• Customers can write reviews that appear on your company’s profile page and in search results
• Leads are sent to multiple companies in your area including your competitors

• Geek Real Estate Marketing

• A consulting pay-per-lead service
• Have very good reviews from clients
• Rate of valid leads is very high
• Leads are sent exclusively to you, not your competitors
• No monthly fees, only pay for quality leads
• They only work with 1-2 property management companies in a single market; they don’t work with your competition

• Thumbtack

• A service for finding local professionals in any industry, not just property management
• You sign up and appear in search results for “property management” in zip codes near you
• Customers can write reviews that appear on your company’s profile page and in search results
• Customize your Thumbtack listing page with a description, logos, images, etc...
• Set weekly and monthly spending limits so you don’t go over your budget
• You get refunded when customers clearly say they “don’t want to work with you”, it’s a duplicate lead, or the lead is looking for different services
• The cons are that you have to use Thumbtack to communicate with the lead until they give you their contact info. This prevents you from using your CRM to track calls and emails with that customer for a time.

• Yelp

• Yelp is also a service for finding local professionals in any industry; very similar to thumbtack.
• You sign up and appear in search results for “property management” in zip codes near you
• They offer a FREE option
• Customize your Yelp listing page with a description, logos, images, etc...
• Customers can write reviews that appear on your company’s profile page and in search results
• You can set budget caps to prevent overspending
• The main pro to using Yelp is that it is rated the #1 online review website. Consumers use yelp to help them make decisions about food and the same goes for property management.
• Cons are that Yelp charges per click on your listing, not per lead that contacts you. This could be anywhere from 30¢ per click to $40 if you’re in a very competitive market.

So at the end of the day, you should definitely look into pay-per-lead services like these.

1. If you’re on a small budget, start with the ones that require the least effort and time to set up and don’t require monthly fees (Manage My Property, All Property Management)
2. Geek Real Estate Marketing and similar consultants are great if your budget is larger and you’re an established PM company with 100 doors or more. They’ll help you up your marketing game without getting too complicated.
3. Thumbtack and Yelp are viable options for anyone because they have flexible pricing plans (You can use Yelp for free to start with). They are guaranteed to get you in front of a lot of consumers, not all of whom will be qualified but you’re guaranteed to get traffic with how often those platforms are used these days.

I hope these tips are helpful as you work to generate more leads for your business. If you’re wondering how to manage the leads you generate, schedule a call to learn more about LeadSimple (the only sales CRM specifically designed for property management).