For many, picking a lead source to find your future residents can feel sort of like picking Door #1 . . . or maybe Door #2. Yet, picking lead sources is anything but a random guessing game.

By Susan Saldibar

I don’t know if Let’s Make A Deal still operates like it did back in the day. I haven’t seen the show for ages, yet I do recall the idea was for the contestant to guess behind which “door” the juiciest prize was hiding. The climax featured their selected door opening wide to reveal a great, or sometimes a clunker of a gift. Didn’t someone win a goat once? It got that crazy.

Random selection is usually not the best one.

For many, picking a lead source to find your future residents can feel sort of like picking Door #1 . . . or maybe Door #2. Yet, picking lead sources is anything but a random guessing game. You need to know a lot more, such as the quality of the leads and if they are tailored to your industry. Do you get email addresses? Are they even current?

Tom Goldman, COO of SoftVu, a Senior Housing Forum partner, is well versed on the games vendors play with leads. And some of them are pretty adept at making a bad lead look like a good one.

Just like in the popular game show, many marketers bite their nails off when it comes to making decisions about lead generation. Sort of like picking a “door” and holding your breath to see if what lies behind it will get you what you want. In this case, high quality, targeted leads. I asked Tom what he would put behind the three doors if leads were prizes. Would he put a “goat” behind one?

Let’s find out. Let’s play!

Behind Door Number One: Leads, leads, leads! Thousands of them from all over. Names, addresses and emails included! There are some gold nuggets in there; so get your pick and shovel and go hunting for them. They’re just waiting for your shotgun email blasts and postcard campaigns. Get ready to start licking those stamps.

Behind Door Number Two: Easy, easy, easy! We’ll do it all for you. You’ll share our directory with thousands of other great senior living communities just like yours. So you’ll never be out there alone! Better yet, you’ll only pay for leads that turn into clients. Just put plenty of cash aside, because it’s all COD here.

Behind Door Number Three: Value, value, value! No long-term contracts to sign. Instead how about guaranteed move-ins for probably less than 1/3 of what you have to pay A Place For Mom? That’s it. Oh! Except you get all the front end marketing with the price. No catch.

Okay, maybe we’re having a little too much fun with a very serious subject. Yet, according to Tom, people often go into selecting a lead generation source before knowing what’s really behind all the hype. They either decide to buy their own list and do it themselves, or hand off everything to a third party referral company; and pay big time when a lead turns into a move in.

“That’s not the way to handle getting solid leads in a crowded and competitive industry,” says Tom. “You should be the one in charge with full transparency, selecting only the leads you want to nurture and convert. Not having to wait around and hope that you’ll get lucky. And certainly not getting stuck with an un-vetted list, attempting to pull value out of thousands of names and addresses.”

The bottom line, according to Tom? This is 2016. You have some great choices out there. You don’t have to continue to pick a door without knowing what’s behind it. Selecting a lead source is not a game. There are lots of “goats” out there. Learn to recognize them.

Connect with SeniorVu and never let a lead hit the ground again . . . ever. Call 816-759-2586 today.

 

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