It’s almost April 1st, so be prepared for a barrage of pranks. In the spirit of the tricks we know our friends and coworkers are bound to pull on us, we reached out to small businesses we work for and asked them if they’ve experienced any dirty business tricks lately while trying to generate leads. Here are a couple of the dirtiest lead generation scams our customers have experienced while working with other companies.
The “Google Representative”
Austin-based HVAC repair company Climate Control experienced a seriously dirty telephone solicitation trick when trying to get advertising space on Google. Owner David Bustamite claims, “A sales rep, supposedly from Google, will call and say for a few hundred dollars they will put you at the top of the list when people go online to seek an a/c company.”
David explains, “You give them your credit card number and then it takes several months before it even happens, and then you go online and find out it was a scam.” To protect yourself from this classic trick with serious consequences, don’t always believe the guy on the phone without doing research on where he’s calling from.
Pay Now, Get Traffic Later Never
NJF Electrical Services experienced a dirty trick of the web traffic optimization trade when he commissioned a revamp of his website to get more views on the internet. Owner Nicholas Ferraro explains, “I had purchased a new website and service with a promise of an increase in traffic by using their service and web design at a premium cost, only to get my account charged monthly and under delivered services.”
The ROI for Nicholas and his company clearly did not match what the website traffic consultant had promised, thus revealing the service as a scam.
With dirty tricks plaguing the lead generation industry, it’s always nice to have a breath of fresh, non-scammy air. If your small business needs free leads in real-time, without any of the dishonesty the businesses above experienced, check out TalkLocal.
