Today we’ll talk about how to choose a “Lead Generation Agency.” There are a few tips & tricks to apply when choosing it, and this article is the ultimate guide to doing so. 

What is a “Lead Generation Agency?”

The purpose of a Lead Generation Agency is to collect leads and deliver them to businesses. You’ll just have to hire an agency, they’ll work their magic, and you get leads flowing into your pipeline.

A great lead generation agency should be able to hook you up with people who already want your services – a bit like Tinder for customers, but without the swiping.

Types of Lead Generation Agencies: 

We can differentiate the agencies based on the types and channels they use to generate leads. 

Based on the type:

Business to Business (B2B)	Business to Customer (B2C)
They only generate business-to-business leads.	They focus on business-to-consumer leads.

Based on the channels they use:

• Facebook advertising
• Conversion rate optimization (CRO)
• PPC
• PR
• Email marketing
• Cold calling
• LinkedIn messaging

What Does a Lead Generation Agency Do?

Lead Generation has a few stages that they’ll take you through, they divide these stages into 3 phases, such as; 

• Research phase
• Campaign phase
• Reporting phase

Research Phase: 

Before approaching the market, an agency should do thorough research in order to get a hold of the market. They need to scrutinize a business’s current marketing efforts to find out what works and what doesn’t. 

They’ll also research your competitors about what strategies they’re using and what campaigns they’re running and will find ways to give them a tight challenge. 

If you are having problems with your current lead gen efforts, the agency should be able to identify those and create a better campaign that has high-quality leads knocking on your door.

Campaign Phase:

Campaigns include a strategy using a particular media source and an offer to create inbound leads. Once the research is done, they will fully focus on campaigns. 

They’ll try to understand what’s already working and what’s not, and they should put together their campaign. They’ll determine how to divide the campaign channels and work them out in order to get leads coming to your business using those different campaign channels. 

Reporting Phase:

Once the campaigns are live, they’re supposed to keep a check on them. They’ll monitor the live campaigns and how it’s going and will report back on the campaign performance.

Communication is key in any good lead-gen agency partnership. Make sure to make the most out of it. 

When working with an agency, make sure you’re both clear on the reporting and communication expectations. This is where many relationships break down, and it can almost always be prevented with clear communication and zero misunderstandings.  

Let’s talk about how the best lead-gen agencies price their services.

Lead Generation Agencies— Pricing Models:

They typically operate in one of two ways:

• Charge on a pay-per-lead basis
• Charge a set rate/retainer

Pay-Per-Lead Basis:

This pricing system is where you have to pay the agency per lead that is being generated through the campaigns that they created for you and if their campaigns are not generating any leads then you don’t have to pay. 

With this model, the agency might charge you £20 per lead, but they might generate that lead for £10 – they keep the difference.

A Set Rate/Retainer:

In this pricing module, agencies charge a set monthly fee. It s an attractive option for many businesses. You know how much you’re spending each month, making it easier to plan and allocate funds to specific parts of your business.

Furthermore, you pay the agency a fee for their work, and they spend your ad budget in a way that they believe will generate the best results.

 If you’re unable to get the expected result from the agency then you will be able to cancel the contract.

Things You Need to Know Before Hiring A Lead Gen Agency:

• Proof of concept
• Ability to quickly service leads
• Ability to close leads

Proof Of Concept:

Firstly, you gotta find out the demand for your product/service before you hire an agency. Lead Gen agencies will only be benefited you when you know your business is doing good and people want to purchase from you as the agencies only enhance the business which is already up and running. If nobody actually wants the service you provide, then no matter how good they are, they won’t help you grow.

So, as a quick check: Do you have proof people actually want your product/service?

Ability To Quickly Service Leads:

The ability to quickly service leads is just as important. Once those leads have been introduced into your sales funnel, do you have the capacity to contact every person while the iron is still heated? 

There’s no point t in generating 1,000’s leads if you can’t follow them up. Moreover, you need to have the ability to take action immediately. 

Ability To Close Leads:

Closing a generated lead is just as important as approaching a lead while the iron is still hot. If you can’t close your leads, you’re not going to make any money, regardless of the number of leads that come in.

It doesn’t mean that you’ll have converted leads that were generated straight away. In fact, 63% of consumers who request information on your company will not purchase for at least three months. That means you need to have the ability to nurture any leads over time.

Nevertheless, peparation for your partnership with a high-performing lead generation agency is essential.

Things To Look Out For When Hiring A Lead Generation Agency:

• The success rate
• Their focus on lead quality as much as lead quantity
• Their communication and transparency
• Ability to track all the way to the sale
• Budget and pricing

The Success Rate:

It’s very important to have a portfolio of successful campaigns. You would also need to find out that do they have experience in your industry. Do they understand the specifics of your area of business? Do they know HOW to connect with people likely to be interested in your products or services? 

You can’t hire an agency that generates leads for banking sectors for your hotel business. That way the leads that would be gathered will be very different from each other and the customer base too. 

Their Focus On Lead Quality Is As Much As Lead Quantity:

You’ll need to make sure that you’re getting quality leads along with quantity. Some agencies provide quantity but inactive leads so research if the agency that you’ll be hiring has provided active leads and maintained the quantity along with the quality. 

Their Communication And Transparency:

Observe how they communicate and how truthful they are as communication is a two-way thing. 

If your lead generation agency wants to run your ads through THEIR Facebook ad account, run a mile. There is no good reason for this, other than trying to hold your data hostage if you want to end the relationship.

Insist that they run YOUR campaigns from YOUR account. That way, you’ll own the data gathered as part of the campaign; you’ve paid for it, after all.

No agency should ever leave you in the dark, they tend to ghost you at times as they are often not the best communicators so transparency should be a given. If you feel like you’re spending money and there’s little accountability, you should demand an explanation.

Ability To Track All The Way To The Sale:

As you’ll be choosing an agency for your business to increase sales, they should be able to take the responsibility to amp up your sales game. So make sure it’s their headache to increase the sales and profit for your business as they’re going to charge you in exchange for this service. 

Budget And Pricing:

Furthermore, revise your budget and also the pricing an agency is offering. If they meet your budget then go for it. 

Are Lead Generation Agencies Worth It?

You wouldn’t be even reading this article if you weren’t a little curious.

Of course, it depends on your chosen agency and its expertise.

If you choose a good lead generation agency, yes. They can help you grow your brand, generate more leads and ultimately prosper. But, don’t spend a dime on one until you’ve got the fundamentals of your business in place.

To Wrap It Up:

Finally, you’ve made it down to the bottom of this article, so I hope you now have a good understanding of all things lead generation agencies: what they are, what they do, their pricing structures, and how to choose the right one. 

We wish you all the best in choosing your desired agency. Hope we’ve helped and thank you for being with us!

It would be very nice if you check our other articles on the blog too. Check “How To Get Real Estate Leads From Craigslist” out!