Summer lead buying: 5 top tips to avoid the summer slowdown

The nation has breathed a collective sigh of relief now that winter is over and summer is well and truly on the way. The Easter school holidays and the past couple of weekends have given us all a great chance to get outside and enjoy the warmer weather, with country parks, sea fronts and popular attractions bustling with life. Great news for all of us who enjoy the summer months, but not so great for brokers and intermediaries who rely on third party lead generators to power their sales teams.

As summer approaches lead volumes across financial services products tend to slow down and become harder and more expensive for sellers to generate at scale. For larger lead buying businesses, the impact of the summer slowdown is often mitigated by contracted partnerships that ensure preferential access to lead supply and exclusive arrangements.

For lead buyers who operate in the middle ground, buying ostensibly large but not huge volumes of leads, they are often caught in the firing line of the summer slowdown, missing out on vital lead supply to keep their business plans on track.

There are a few simple steps that lead buyers can take to lessen the impact on their business and ensure they are not caught out:

1. Plan ahead, but accept you can’t control everything
2. Temporarily increase cost per lead where it will have an impact
3. Create a waitlist of lead sellers and start testing
4. Make hay before the sun shines
5. Relax and enjoy the summer

Plan ahead, but accept you can’t control everything

If you can place lead orders several months in advance your lead sellers will be in a better position to deliver your requirements. Of course, there need to be caveats based on certain performance criteria being hit, but if you can agree your lead orders on a quarterly basis you will be setting your business up to succeed. There will be blips and slow days along the way but stay calm and maintain trust and good relations with your partners.

Temporarily increase cost per lead where it will have an impact

Inflation is something we’re all grudgingly becoming accustomed to and in the world of lead generation prices do often go up and down depending on the time of year and the availability of leads in the market. Have an honest conversation with your key lead sellers and be prepared to pull the price lever if you must.

Create a waitlist of lead sellers and start testing

Most financial services companies are contacted on a near daily basis by prospective lead sellers. The savviest lead buyers build an internal database of would be lead sellers, adding to it throughout the year, appending their own due diligence and research on each company so that when the time comes, they have the confidence to run new lead trials and plug volume gaps in their demand.

Make hay before the sun shines

We may have had a glimpse of sunshine these past few weeks, but it’s not summer yet. Post Easter break and pre summer holidays is still peak selling time. Make sure your teams are energised, happy and have everything they need to succeed. Plan a Q2 company event or party to give everyone something to aim towards and celebrate their success.

Relax and enjoy the summer

When summer does finally arrive and lead volumes do inevitably take a hit, use it to your advantage by ensuring your teams take some holiday and recharge. It’s also a good time of year to schedule training and development courses and train new recruits. Finally, ensure you can plug any gaps in your daily lead flow by developing a tried and tested process for reworking older leads and extracting value and sales from your database.

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