Lead Source founder Steve Wachs nearly saw the bottom fall out of his company with the recent mortgage meltdown, but he turned to creativity and innovation to save it. Just a few short years ago his then Blue Ash-based call center company employed 35 people. Lead Source's client base exclusively catered to the mortgage industry, specializing in generating sales leads for the mortgage brokers. Then came the mortgage crisis.
"We lost every single one of our clients. We went from 35 employees to six," Wachs, of Anderson Township, said. "When things got very difficult we knew the only thing we could do to survive was to do what industry leaders do."
So Wachs reinvented Lead Source, investing in new technology and turning the company into a full- service call center that can handle a wide variety of clients and needs.
The company has relocated to the former John Nolan Ford dealership building in Norwood, which houses several other companies. Lead Source now has 20 employees, with capacity for 200.
"We're a local company, we hire local talent. It feels good to be hiring people again," Wachs said.
The company still offers lead generation and follow-up, and now does marketing research and data analysis, inbound and outbound calling, database management and customer opinion surveying. The company has capacity to handle tens of thousands of inbound and outbound calls, and offers live chat and email support for client companies, Wachs said.
"We invested in technology and that's allowed us to stay in the business. We can do things that the big call centers can do, and once consistent, long term work comes in we will start hiring immediately," Wachs said. "We're really close to getting some nationwide work."
"When we evolved it opened the doors to such bigger projects," he added.
Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: Steve Wachs, founder Lead Source
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.