Analyze sources for leads for services businesses in India

Abstract

The objective of the project was to study the sources of leads for those services businesses which operate in a highly fragmented industry. During our study, we found that there are two kinds of service businesses, (a) Businesses with customers use services on a ongoing basis Example Yoga, Sports Clubs, Gyms etc. (b) Businesses where customers use services on need basis Example Packers and Movers, Equipment repair etc. We chose two service businesses, namely Packers and Movers and Fitness centers, which were representative of the two kinds of services in India. As part of project, we undertook a study of chosen service businesses, both from the consumer and marketer perspective. On the customer front, we initially conducted informal interviews with customers to understand following aspects (a) How they search for a provider (b) How do they choose a provider (c) Factors influencing their choice. Based on results of informal interviews, we floated a survey to selected customers. On the marketer front, we conducted informal interviews with leading players in the industry and tried to determine the following (a) Which are the channels used by marketers to reach their customers (b) How many leads do they get from each channel? (c) What is the conversion ratio of leads obtained? During the process, we found that local search operators like just dial are one of the key sources of leads. We also approached just dial to understand the options/packages available for service providers. In addition, we have analyzed the services provided by various local search operators like Just Dial, Ask Laila and Sulekha. Using the information obtained from three sources, namely customers, marketers and lead providers, we have proposed recommendations for service providers to optimize the process of generating leads and thereafter converting them to business wins.