| Time to Focus on Lead Sellers
Much has been written about pay-per-call and how buyers can benefit from its scalability and largely risk-free nature. But what about sellers of leads and how they can benefit from pay-per-call in today’s environment?
It all starts with the phone number that prospects dial, usually a toll-free number. Pay-per-call sellers must control this phone number, where it rings and having real-time visibility to its call detail reports (CDR).
It is simply irresponsible to use the toll-free numbers provided by the call center that is buying the calls. Keep in mind that the buyer doesn’t take ownership of the lead until they answer the phone. This is analogous to shipping goods to a retailer via truck and not having any control over rerouting that truck. In recent months, lead sales companies have experienced call centers who have had winter-weather related outages, call centers that have failed to make payment, and more lucrative sales opportunities arise mid campaign. All of these concerns and opportunities were not an issue to Callbutton’s clients as the lead seller, in this case, controlled the toll-free number including the ability to change where it rings in real-time.
Having immediate access to call detail reports is also important. It is necessary for auditing and control. It is critical that the lead seller’s call detail reports contain both total duration of each call, as well as connected time. Connected time includes the duration that both parties were on the line together, hopefully talking. When reporting the call duration in CDRs, the discrepancy between the two can mean the difference between getting paid for a lead or not. What is ‘connected time’ to the lead seller is ‘total time’ to the lead buyer, i.e. the call center starts timing the call when they answer. If a minimum call duration clause is in effect for buying leads, the seller must be able to identify “connected time” in order to properly bill for leads delivered. Advanced call tracking solutions have ways to tie out each call with the call center’s CDR if necessary so there is no reason a seller should not control the toll free numbers in use.
Testing and optimizing lead delivery through the phone further supports the idea that the seller should control the toll-free number on the ads. If you have questions, comments or would like to learn more, contact me. I’d love to discuss it with you.
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