Spent $400 on a lead generation service and got zero real calls

I tried one of those Facebook ad lead gen companies last month. Paid $400 upfront for them to run a campaign for my pressure washing side gig. They showed me all these fancy reports with 200+ leads but when I actually called people, half the numbers were fake and the other half didn't remember signing up. Total waste. Has anyone actually gotten good results from these services or are they all just chasing metrics?

3 comments

3 Comments

vera3082mo ago

Haven't you found that double confirmation can still lead to fake profiles though? I've seen some services that use double opt in but they're still counting people who just click a link in an email without actually wanting the service. In my experience, the screening part is what really matters, not just the confirmation step. Like my cousin tried a "premium" lead gen company for his landscaping business and they charged him $800 upfront with double opt in forms, but half the leads still turned out to be people who just clicked around on Facebook without any real intention of buying anything. It's tricky because even the more expensive ones can overpromise on lead quality. Your mileage may vary, but I'd be careful even with the ones that claim to screen leads better.

the_jana2mo ago

Wait, are we sure it wasn't the service itself that was the problem? I've actually had pretty good luck with these paid lead gen companies for my own small gig, but I think the key is picking one that actually specializes in local service businesses, not just some random Facebook ads agency that promises the world. The ones that just blast a generic ad and count every click as a lead are definitely garbage, you're right about that. But the ones that use real opt in forms with double confirmation and actual human screening can work if you're willing to spend a bit more upfront. It sounds like you got one of the low end services that just wants to show you big numbers instead of actual qualified people.

miamitchell1mo ago

Double confirmation is honestly just a checkbox at this point, not a real quality filter. The problem is people will click through anything if you put "free quote" in the ad copy and they're just browsing on their phone while waiting for coffee. The real game changer is having a service that actually calls or texts each lead before sending them to you, with a real human asking if they're actually ready to book something. My buddy runs a plumbing company and he uses a service that does that extra call step and his close rate jumped way up compared to just getting emails.