The credit repair services industry is worth $6.6 billion in the US as of 2023. And it’s expected to keep growing to more than $7.4 billion by 2027.
Or in simpler terms — credit repair is a really good business to be in!
But in order for your credit repair business to succeed, you need to be generating leads and converting them into customers.
In the 20 years since releasing my first credit repair software, I've learned a ton and in this guide I’m going to talk you through some proven method of generating “hot” leads, and turning them into loyal, paying customers.
In this article, I’ll cover:I’ll also explain how credit repair software is your best friend in this process, making your life easier as you help your clients to supercharge their credit scores.
The credit repair market is a competitive and evolving landscape, with more and more credit repair businesses setting up shop. This means that the lead market is constantly changing, influenced by various factors:
Because of these factors, it’s more important than ever to target the right audience for your business. This is all about finding the people that both need your services, but are also willing to pay for it. This will help make sure your efforts aren’t wasted and you’ll be able to convert more people.
There are many ways to pinpoint your ideal customer, including market research, buyer personas, targeted marketing, and lead scoring. But the goal is always the same: find the customers that both want and need what you’re selling.
As I mentioned in the last section, there are two types of lead — HOT and COLD.
A cold lead is someone who needs credit repair, but for whatever reason, they’re not as motivated to take action and fix the problem. Maybe they just don’t think they will need more credit any time soon, so it’s just not a priority for them.
But a hot lead is someone who actively wants to repair their credit. They're probably trying to get credit to buy something like a house or a car. But they're getting turned down because of issues with their credit. This makes them highly motivated and ready to pay for credit repair services.
Unless you have absolutely no other choice, your strategy should be to prioritize identifying and targeting hot leads for your business. These are the people you can sell to easily and will help grow your business.
To identify a hot lead, you should look out for a few things:
If you listen to phony business gurus, they’ll tell you the best way to attract hot leads is with paid advertising. But this is a great way to waste your money.
(Trust me, I’ve made these mistakes so you don’t have to)
The truth is that you can attract high-quality hot leads, without having to use paid ads. In fact, the methods I’m about to tell you about will cost you nothing, and bring in way more leads than paid ads ever could.
When I was starting out in the credit repair business and had no money to spend, I’d lock myself in a room every night and wouldn’t come out until I’d written a blog post.
I had no idea at the time, but these posts would change my business forever!
You don’t need to overthink it, just write about what you know and give your readers value. Help them to solve credit problems, give away your knowledge as if it’s going out of fashion.
This builds authority with your target customers, establishes a brand voice, and improves your website's SEO.
Win/win/win!
The same goes for social media apps like LinkedIn, X, Facebook, etc. These platforms are the perfect place to get in front of the right people.
If you create valuable content regularly, you’ll quickly build a following of people who will become customers themselves or might share your content with others who might.
You don’t need to worry about getting the best camera or using fancy schedulers. Just post something once a day that will genuinely help your target audience.
Another fantastic (and free) way to attract leads is by starting a podcast or YouTube channel. Or even a video podcast ON a YouTube channel.
Both formats are great for connecting with your audience in a way that written content can’t. Your customers can hear your voice, see your face, and soak in the passion you have for credit repair.
It might sound more daunting than the other two, but there are plenty of great tools like Riverside and Descript that make the recording and editing process really easy.
Read my blog post about generating credit repair leads without paid ads for even more advice and free marketing methods.
There are also some less conventional ways to find and attract new leads for your credit repair business. These are things that might not seem like marketing activities at first glance, but can have a surprisingly big impact!
There’s a reason we’re more likely to use a product if a friend recommends it to us, and why we spend so much time reading reviews before we buy anything.
It’s called “social proof”, and you can use this to your advantage. At Credit Repair Cloud, we do this by encouraging our customers to share their success stories with us on sites like Facebook, Google, and Yelp.
These stories become testimonials that’ll help potential customers when they’re deciding whether to buy from you or not.
Teaching is one of the most powerful forms of marketing, and there are a few ways you can educate your target audience.
As well as writing blog posts like I mentioned before, hosting webinars is a great way to connect with potential customers. Not only will you get their email address when they sign up, but you also get a window of time to show off your depth of knowledge and expertise.
You shouldn’t just focus on finding leads online. In-person events at local schools, community events, fundraisers, etc are all great places to connect with potential customers.
The key is to establish yourself as an authority on credit repair. A local expert they can call on if they have any questions, or need to hire someone.
You don’t need to go in with the hard sell, just be friendly, professional, and helpful with everyone you meet.
Finding and attracting the right leads takes a lot of effort, but can be very rewarding. But what about when you get your first client?
How it goes with your early clients can be just as important as your lead-generation activities. Successful client relationships will often lead to referrals, positive reviews, and further growth. But failed client relationships can have a huge negative impact.
The key to a successful start with a client is a simple but proven onboarding process. Here’s a few proven steps to follow:
Collect information - Gather everything you need about the client. Their credit history, credit report, credit score, and anything else they can give you.
Create a plan - Outline a personalized strategy that defines the steps you’ll take to dispute negative items and improve credit.
Dispute low-hanging fruit - Start strong by disputing things on the credit report you’re more likely to get struck off
Monitor progress & share results - As soon as there’s progress, you want to let your client know. These wins all add up, and they carry more weight when you don’t group them.
You can manage all these things in a spreadsheet, or a filing cabinet, but it’s not going to be fun! And you’ll have a really hard time keeping up as your business grows and grows.
You can read our new client guide here, but here’s the quick run down of how to use Credit Repair Cloud:
1. Sign up for a free trial of Credit Repair Cloud
2. Create a company profile
3. Add a new client
4. Import credit reports with one click
5. Perform a consultation
6. Run a credit audit
7. Create a plan
8. Dispute low-hanging fruit
This is everything you need to give your clients a quality experience while streamlining your lead management process.
To attract “hot” credit repair leads you should create valuable and useful content like blogs, social media posts, podcasts, and YouTube videos.
The best way to generate leads for your credit repair business is by creating educational content that provides genuine value for your ideal customers.
By using free marketing techniques like blog posts, webinars, etc, credit repair leads don’t need to cost anything!
You can generate leads for your credit repair business on social media by posting helpful content that engages and educates your ideal customers.
Don’t get fooled by “marketing gurus” who claim that paid ads will generate the best leads. Creating helpful and engaging content is far more effective and costs you nothing but time.
If you're looking to handle more clients without getting bogged down by the admin, start a free 30-day trial today to see how Credit Repair Cloud makes your life easier
Join the "Start Repairing Credit" Challenge to improve your credit score and discover how to earn extra income repairing credit for others
Check out the Credit Repair Cloud blog to learn more about credit repair techniques and strategies