Moving leads: shared, exclusive, and the leads you own

Moving Company SEO is an independent referral service, not a marketing agency and not a lead seller. When you send the form, your details go to an independent marketing agency that prepares any proposal and does any work.

What counts as a moving lead

A lead is a person, a move and a way to reach them. The best ones carry the details a crew needs to quote: where from, where to, roughly when, the size of the home and anything unusual, such as a piano, stairs or a storage stop. A lead with a name and a phone number but nothing else is the start of a conversation, not a quote.

Leads reach a mover in a few ways:

• Phone calls from your Google listing, your website or an ad.
• Quote forms on your own site.
• Messages through your Google Business Profile or a Local Services ad.
• Bought leads delivered by a lead seller, by email, text or a dashboard.
• Referrals from past customers, real estate agents, property managers and building staff.

Shared leads and exclusive leads

Lead sellers gather requests from people planning a move, often through their own websites and ads, and sell them to movers. They tend to sell two kinds.

Shared leads go to more than one moving company. The customer may hear from several movers within a short time, and the job often goes to whoever reaches them first with a clear quote. Shared leads tend to cost less per lead, but you are competing for every one.

Exclusive leads are sold to one mover only, at least according to the seller. You are not racing other movers for that name, which is why they tend to cost more. Whether a lead is truly exclusive depends on the seller’s honesty and on whether the customer also filled in other forms elsewhere.

This site has found no reliable public figures on how often shared leads close, or what share of exclusive leads are truly exclusive. Treat any seller’s numbers as the seller’s own claims, and test with your own records before you commit.

What to ask a lead seller

If you buy leads, ask the same questions you would ask any supplier, and get the answers in writing:

1. Where do the leads come from? Your own sites, ads, partner sites, or bought lists?
2. How many movers receive each shared lead, and how is an exclusive lead kept exclusive?
3. How fresh is each lead when it reaches me?
4. What details does each lead include? Origin, destination, move date, size of home?
5. Can I filter by area, distance, move size and date?
6. What is your policy on bad leads: wrong numbers, duplicates, people who never asked for a mover?
7. How long does any contract run, and how do I end it?

One more check matters for interstate movers. Federal rule 49 CFR 375.207 tells interstate household goods movers: “You and your agents must publish and use only truthful, straightforward, and honest advertisements.” If a lead seller advertises moves that reach you, ask how its ads describe your company. Ask a lawyer whether a lead seller counts as one of your agents under the rule, and where your responsibility starts.

Leads you own: your listing, your site, your ads

A lead that comes from your own Google Business Profile, your own website or your own ad account is yours alone. Nobody else was sold the same name. And unlike bought leads, these channels build on themselves: a complete profile with genuine reviews keeps working, a good city page keeps answering searches, and your ad records show which searches bring good jobs.

Your Google Business Profile

Calls and messages from the map are some of the most direct leads a mover gets. Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity, and that there is no way to pay for a better local ranking. The work is a complete and accurate profile, your real address with the service areas your trucks cover, and a steady routine of genuine reviews. See local SEO for movers.

Local Services Ads

Local Services Ads are Google’s own pay-per-lead product. Google says leads come in as phone calls and messages sent through the ad, and you pay only for leads related to your business and the services you offer. They sit between bought leads and SEO: you pay per lead, but the lead came to you, not to a list of movers. Check eligibility for your trade and area in Google’s Local Services Ads sign-up.

Google Ads search campaigns

Search ads let you choose the searches and the places, by country, city or radius. You pay per click rather than per lead, and Google notes that the actual cost per click is often less than your maximum bid. The lead is whoever fills in your form or calls after the click. See Google Ads for moving companies.

Your website’s quote form

Every channel above sends people to your site sooner or later. A form that asks the questions a crew needs (from, to, date, home size, anything unusual) turns visits into leads you can quote from the first reply. See moving company website design.

Long-distance moving leads

A long-distance move is a bigger job, and the customer is often planning further ahead, comparing several movers, and asking questions about inventory, delivery windows and storage on the way. For interstate work, your advertisements must carry the name on your USDOT registration and your U.S. DOT number. Route pages on your own site and search ads aimed at people who show interest in moving to or from your area are both ways to build these leads yourself. See long-distance movers marketing.

Answering leads fast

However a lead arrives, it cools if nobody answers. Google’s Local Services Ads help says that if you regularly fail to answer calls or respond to messages, your ad ranking may be affected. Shared leads often go to whoever reaches the customer first with a clear quote. Whatever your channels, decide who answers calls and forms during the day, who covers evenings and weekends, and how a lead that arrives during a job gets a reply.

• Use one place to see every lead, from every source.
• Note where each lead came from, so you can compare sources by the jobs they produce.
• Reply with the questions that make a quote possible, not only a price.
• Follow up once or twice; many customers are still deciding.

Comparing lead sources honestly

The only fair way to compare a bought lead with an own-channel lead is by what it costs you to win a job, not what it costs per lead. Keep a simple record for each source: how many leads, how many you quoted, how many booked, and what you spent. Over time the record tells you more than any seller’s claims. The article is buying moving leads worth it? walks through the decision.

If you want a plan for building more leads of your own, send the form. An independent agency that works with movers can look at your listing, site and area and prepare a written proposal. Asking is free and you never have to hire anyone.

Questions movers ask