How Do I Verify My Generated Leads are Closed or Not?

[WinMore]

Recently I had talks with a big player in my industry, looking for new employees.
They want to pay 500 dollars per person that signs with them.

I'm thinking of setting up a website to find profiles, and send them appropriate ones.
Right now they are my only "customer", but obviously if I make the jump I will expand.

There is a lot of competition, but I also know there is a big market.

I'm wondering if somebody else has experience with this. I tried to sell 50 dollars per promising lead. Tracking promising leads would have been easy. Each profile I send over is 50 bucks. But this was a no-go for them. They want a "guarantee" on results.
I do figure at least 1 out of 10 would sign anyway (otherwise you can't really call it "high quality").

My main issue is how can I control that they pay up properly? I mean, it seems hard to keep an eye on the agreement they make with the person I sent over.
I could follow up with the employee, but I imagine it ain't hard to just tell him/her to just tell me it didn't work out. I know it has happened to me in the past. I declined, but it just shows how easily it is done.
Any insights would be appreciated.

I do trust the person I had talks with. My main issue is when I expand to other customers.
Even tho I trust... I try to live by "Trust but verify".

 

[FIREman]

Recently I had talks with a big player in my industry, looking for new employees.
They want to pay 500 dollars per person that signs with them.

I'm thinking of setting up a website to find profiles, and send them appropriate ones.
Right now they are my only "customer", but obviously if I make the jump I will expand.

There is a lot of competition, but I also know there is a big market.

I'm wondering if somebody else has experience with this. I tried to sell 50 dollars per promising lead. Tracking promising leads would have been easy. Each profile I send over is 50 bucks. But this was a no-go for them. They want a "guarantee" on results.
I do figure at least 1 out of 10 would sign anyway (otherwise you can't really call it "high quality").

My main issue is how can I control that they pay up properly? I mean, it seems hard to keep an eye on the agreement they make with the person I sent over.
I could follow up with the employee, but I imagine it ain't hard to just tell him/her to just tell me it didn't work out. I know it has happened to me in the past. I declined, but it just shows how easily it is done.
Any insights would be appreciated.

I do trust the person I had talks with. My main issue is when I expand to other customers.
Even tho I trust... I try to live by "Trust but verify".

So you would be acting as the headhunter? Usually head hunters control the communications between the candidate and the client. You might want to include a clause in your contract that prevents the client from hiring referred leads while circumventing your commission

 

[Ryuzaki]

In this case, you're not going to be able to track it without a custom solution that they join in on on their side. And even then they can be dishonest.

I agree with @FIREman, the move is to draw up contracts so the fear of a severe penalty keeps them honest. I'd expect there to be problems, even if they're honest. Stuff just slips through the cracks. Someone has to remember to mark your lead as closed and pay you out.

Your 10% conversion rate is probably way too generous. You could re-negotiate with them for a lower amount, but then again you don't have a project together that generates the leads. So you'd need to turn to advertising which will eat into your profits. If you're trying to do an SEO project, you're not going to outrank them or the big job board sites anyways.

 

[bernard]

I'd only do this people I really trusted, like friends, and even so I wouldn't like it. Always would be that nagging doubt.

 

[WinMore]

It does seem to be only enforceable by contract. Thank you for the insight.

@Ryuzaki Nobody says that I have to reach the 10%. I did the calculation to see if it would be worth my time. 500 dollars/closed lead. Currently I make 500 dollars/day worked.

So if I want to make this "worth" it, I would need to find 1 person that signs, every day I work on this project.
I figured 10% wasn't unrealistic, but it probably is... .

I believe I can get the number they pay higher, because they make a LOT of money on these people. But for now they wouldn't budge. There are many competitors, so if I did manage to set this up, yeah, the price could be higher

 

[CCarter]

I'm in a similar situation - however I've got complete access to their lead management system because #1 I trust the guy and he trusts me.

However in the past I can tell you that it's the same scenario when you are selling leads and depend on the buyer to confirm the lead closed to get your commission. It's also why Affiliate marketing is so scumming with affiliate networks shaving - apparently fraud is just a part of business as usual, and there is a general lack of transparency on what's happening with conversion.

Some solutions I found that work:

1. Follow up email/survey automated to the would-be employee. Basically questions in the survey would look like: "How was your experience? Did you like the offer they gave you? How soon where you looking to get started with a new position? Was the salary competitive?" Start a rating system like "Would you recommend us based on your experience? 1 through 10" - similar to stuff you get from a bank or follow up customer support.

Notice all the questions are designed to confirm what actually happened and whether the person got the job or not. A good portion of the people will take the time to fill out the survey if it looks simple and you word it in a way that makes it seem it is designed to help you understand their needs.

If a person states they got the job in the survey, but your buyer states they didn't and aren't going to pay you, then you know there is a problem. Mistakes happen, but a pattern means you need to end the relationship - they are stealing from you.

2. Follow up phone call - at $500 a person getting a VA that gets paid $5 an hour to follow up with a similar survey above is well worth it. It should be you in the beginning because it'll show a genuine interest and allow you to get more insight on the target audience and ask questions they most people wouldn't want to answer in a survey - basically market research.

3. Control the lead management system or have access to it - if they do not have a lead management system then you are dealing with a Mickey Mouse company cause leads will fall through the cracks left and right. So basically setup something like Podio.com and set them up as a user where they have to login and work with your current workflow to confirm the lead was closed. You have to FORCE them to do this - otherwise if it is just a situation where you send them the lead in an email, there is no follow up, no follow through, and you are dead in the water.

So for your future customers to get the leads they'll have to login to YOUR system as they come in. You have have a text message or email alert to them stating "There is 1 new lead in your system", but force them to login and use your workflow to confirm.

 

[secretagentdad]

Maybe I’m missing something here but 500$ for a technical recruit in the first world is pretty bad in most industries.

Like laughably bad and you should probably reach out to competitors and see if any of them have employee referral programs cuz their default offers are likely better.

 

[uzz]

I tried to sell 50 dollars per promising lead. Tracking promising leads would have been easy. Each profile I send over is 50 bucks. But this was a no-go for them. They want a "guarantee" on results.

The issue with this model is that you are relying on their 'sales' guys to close the recruit. Which is obviously out of your control. Are they good? Honest? Etc. I would try and sell him on the leads again (not guaranteed sales). Generating leads is your business and closing sales is his.

Plus if you wanted to scale to other clients if you have a database of leads you can re-use or pivot quickly to paying/good clients.

 

[cobblepot]

Maybe I’m missing something here but 500$ for a technical recruit in the first world is pretty bad in most industries.

Like laughably bad and you should probably reach out to competitors and see if any of them have employee referral programs cuz their default offers are likely better.

"Hi xyz,​

​

Now you can earn more for referring friends to Triplebyte. If they interview with us by Friday, November 8, you'll get $5000 when they get a new job!"​

email i received this morning from triplebyte!