Working with a lead aggregator gives lead generation companies an additional resource when selling leads. Lead aggregators (also known as wholesale buyers) typically buy leads for less than what an end-user lead buyer would pay, but a lead aggregator can still kick-start your lead revenue. Let me explain.
A lead aggregator buys leads, carves out a small profit margin and re-sells the leads to another lead buyer. This is done through a lead distribution process called ping post. Lead aggregators arbitrage leads and utilize their vast buyer network to find a buyer for virtually every lead, regardless of the lead details and geographic requirements. This is good for lead generation companies and this is good for the leads themselves.
You will never maximize your revenue by only selling to lead aggregators. However, working with a lead aggregator allows you to supplement your lead distribution for any weak spots in your own buyer network. For example, let’s say that you are generating home improvement leads for Florida-based contractors. You can sell any leads that come in with Florida zip codes to your own network of Florida contractors. However, what happens if a lead comes in requesting a new roof in Seattle, Washington. It is likely that none of your Florida contractors would even be eligible to purchase this lead and even if they did, they would probably request a refund, letting the lead go unserviced. This is bad for three reasons.
1. The lead’s request goes unserviced.
2. You lose the opportunity to sell the lead you likely spent marketing dollars to generate.
3. The integrity of your service offering takes a hit as you fail to complete your end of the bargain.
To prevent any future leads from Seattle, Washington (or any geographic area outside of your network) from going unmatched in the future, you can certainly try to assemble a network of home improvement lead buyers that stretch the entire United States. Or you could work with a lead aggregator. A single, well-established lead aggregator could potentially buy all of your leads that fall outside your network of coverage, preventing lead requests from going unserviced and providing you with revenue that would have otherwise been lost.
As discussed above, lead aggregators allow you to cover for blind spots in your buyer network, but they also allow you to accelerate your own lead buyer expansion efforts. Keeping with the example above, let’s say you have worked to assemble lead buying agreements that cover the state of Florida. It is certainly no easy task to assemble enough lead buyers and the thought of expanding your offering to Georgia, Alabama or any other state or region in the U.S. might be even harder. However, working with a lead aggregator that covers these regions allows you to start marketing and generating leads from these regions even before you have complete end-service-provider coverage. As you slowly assemble good lead buyers from new regions, you can start selling fewer and fewer leads to your lead aggregator to increase your per-lead revenue.
For much of this post, I have discussed the geographic advantages that lead aggregators provide. However, lead aggregators can supplement your lead coverage for virtually any field or lead selling scenario.
Less Desirable Leads: If you sell mortgage leads, the majority of the banks or mortgage brokers that you sell leads to might only accept leads with good credit. If that is the case, you can likely still sell leads with bad credit to an aggregator who is more likely to be able to find a buyer.
Non-Exclusive Leads: If you sell leads non-exclusively (sell the same lead more than once), it can be difficult to find a buyer for every “leg” of the lead. If you sell your leads three times and at any time only have two end-service buyers, you can default to a lower-priority lead aggregator to sell the last leg of the lead to.
Loss Of Clients Or Lapse In Purchasing Volume: If you suddenly lose one of your biggest buyers or one of your buyers temporarily shuts off their lead buying, you could be at risk of generating more leads than you could otherwise sell. This is especially true if your marketing efforts are not easy to shut off or scale back. In this scenario, you can sell to a lead aggregator to eliminate a total loss in sales.
Time Of Day/Day Of Week: Your best, highest paying buyers might not purchase leads 24/7. In this case, it could be useful to only use a lead aggregator to purchase your off-hours leads.
As you can see, there are many ways to utilize lead aggregators to supplement your lead revenue. We would not typically recommend selling all of your leads to a lead aggregator, but they are useful to work with in many different scenarios.
If you are interested in learning more about lead aggregators, looking to find a lead aggregator to work with or even interested in aggregating leads yourself, then let’s get in touch. At boberdoo, we have been providing software for the lead generation industry since 2001. We would be happy to discuss your business and determine exactly how we can be of assistance. Give us a call at 800-776-5646 or fill out the form below.