Knock, Knock, Who’s There?

A lead-generation startup helps businesses turn website visitors into clients

Photo: Nick Hollinger and Taras Zubyak of Visitor Queue

YOU CAN FORGIVE Nick Hollinger if he doesn’t see the connection between the film Glengarry Glen Ross and Visitor Queue, the company he started last year. After all, he was born three years after it came out.

The movie famously examines the desperate measures taken by real estate salesmen to sell properties in two new developments. To succeed, they need good leads—names and phone numbers of prospects who have shown some interest in buying. They do whatever it takes to get them, a Faustian bargain they come to regret.

Hollinger, 23, and his founding partner, Taras Zubyak, 25, have made it a whole lot easier for ­companies to acquire leads. And they’ve teamed up with Google to do it.

Visitor Queue tells businesses what other ­businesses have visited their website and gives them the information about how best to contact that business to follow up. No need to sell your soul for the crucial information.

It’s worth mentioning what Visitor Queue does not do. It doesn’t track ­visitors from residential ISPs; it doesn’t identify individuals in companies that have visited a website; and it doesn’t extract information from anyone beyond indicating someone at Business A visited the website of Business B yesterday and looked at the following pages.

“We have more than 1,200 accounts from six continents. Some are free and trying us out, but the interest so far has convinced us we’re doing something ­people want” —Nick Hollinger

“We’re not the first to do something like this,” Hollinger says. “But there were a lot of outdated solutions with poor user experience, and they were expensive. We’re trying to change this niche the way MailChimp changed email marketing.”

A third partner, Rob Lucas, joined not long after the company launched its site last October. And recently, the partners hired a salesperson, Dillon Poulin.

The big break was when the company was accepted as a Google Analytics Technology Partner, a rigorous process that took several weeks and required numerous additions and revisions to its application.

“Getting access to their APIs [application programming interface] was crucial for us,” Hollinger says. Now Visitor Queue can mine a client’s Google Analytics data to provide the B2B information and leads.

Most potential clients already have a mechanism or department that tracks leads. Visitor Queue can provide them with an ongoing supply of fresh leads—businesses that have expressed some interest already by scrolling through the company’s website.

“We recommend they follow up within 24 hours, while interest is still fresh,” Hollinger says. “They say something like, ‘We saw you were on our site yesterday. How can we help?’ Or maybe if it’s an existing client, you see a new area of interest. We’re not identifying individuals in the company. We don’t ever have that information.”

Prospective clients can try the service for free for 14 days to see what kind of leads it generates. Payment is monthly and based on the number of leads the client wants to receive. For example, up to 100 leads per month is $20/month or $192 annually. The price scales up with more leads and is easy to calculate on the Visitor Queue website.

“We have more than 1,200 accounts from six continents,” Hollinger says. “Some are free and trying us out, but the interest so far has convinced us we’re doing something ­people want. We’re actively looking for more investors.”  Christopher Clark