If you are currently buying leads or thinking about starting the top of mind question is always, “Who has the best leads?”

There are lots of ways to answer this question and most explanations start with stuff you don’t have (especially if you are a new lead buyer), like: best ROI, highest contact rates, lowest returns. But, there are a few simple tests that will give you some early indication of a good lead provider. Here are 5 tests I like to run:

Business Background Check

The first step in picking any business partner should be vetting their legitimacy and reputation. Answering these two questions is very simply accomplished with a simple search of the Better Business Bureau. This makes a good starting place giving you:

• Corporate Name
• Principles
• Length of Time in Business
  
• Corporate Location and Contact Information
• Website(s)
• Any Past Complaints (and Types)

Not only will this give you a solid contact file for dealing with the lead provider, but it will also give you important questions to ask. It is important to understand that a company can not prevent people from filing complaints, and many may not even be legitimate, but they should explain to you how they have resolved any issues filed.

What Do Others Think

In a world of Web forums, blogs, and Twitter finding out the general perception of a company or lead source is only a Google search away. Here are a few sample resources and searches:

• LeadCritic Blog and Mortgage Lead Forum
• Mortgage Leads Directory
• Discussion of Mortgage Leads on Twitter
  
• Google Blogsearch for lead providers or try a specific lead provider

Once you have selected your lead provider or have a couple you are considering make sure you set up Google Alerts on each of their names to keep track of new developments (good and bad) or new innovations.

Stability of Web Traffic

This is a key indicator of stability and quality within a lead provider’s marketing programs. Unfortunately, it is difficult to fully research, but I will give you a few tools and suggestions. My affiliate readers probably can suggest more, this is competitive intelligence they do everyday. Other ideas guys? Leave a comment.

The key to this metric is to really zero in on the sites a lead provider uses to generate consumer mortgage leads. Often this is not their home page.

For example, if you wanted to investigate using Adchemy as a lead provider, www.adchemy.com is irrelevant to your lead buying. However, you should be interested in www.ratemarketplace.com–this is where consumers looking for mortgages end up:

Another example would be ConsumerTrack. If your are considering this lead provider looking at www.consumertrack.com is not helpful, but measuring www.gofreecredit.com would show you very strong web traffic:

The key to analyzing these charts is stability. You want to see consistent traffic levels or steady measured growth. Rapid swings up or down could can significantly effect the quality of the leads you are receiving. Both of these examples, above, are exactly the kinds of results you want to see from this test.

Will Customers Find Them

This is another great test for determining who you want to buy leads from. Act like a customer. Imagine yourself looking for the best mortgage or mortgage lender. Who do you find?

Here are a few of the consumer queries I like to try for this market:

• Do I qualify for FHA
• Can I refinance
• Lower my mortgage payment
• Refinance adjustable rate
• Get a mortgage loan
• Can I get a mortgage
• What’s my credit score
  

The important thing to note here is not only who is purchasing the paid search locations, but also who is ranking in the organic results. Also, take a look at the landing pages or sites and see if they are professional and compelling. Would you as a consumer feel comfortable submitting your personal contact and financial information?

Again, remember many lead generators do not generate leads from their corporate website. So, when you find none lender websites and landing pages in these results dig around (generally in the footer links) and see who owns the site.

Do Their Leads Fit My Products

This is probably the most often missed criteria in selecting a lead provider you will have success with. Do an inventory of your state licenses, loan programs, and expertise. Do a few searches to find the lead providers that are capturing these inquiries:

• Refinance mortgage San Diego, CA
• FHA mortgage loan
• Bad credit mortgage
• High credit low rate mortgage

Vendor Management of Lead Providers

Once you have done this research make sure that you store each mortgage lead provider profile and routinely re-evaluate the results along with your evaluation of their performance within your mortgage operation.