I spent over twenty five years in construction – 15 of them in the home improvement industry. In all that time I have heard business owners ask “How do I get better qualified leads?” at least a million times. Now, in my work helping home improvement contractors get better leads, I get asked that question from almost every single client.
You know the deal.
You get back from an incredibly long, hard and HOT day on a roof and you have a list of two or three estimates you need to do. You skip dinner because you’re already late. You get to the first house and find a competitors truck in the driveway.
Oh well – on to the next.
You get to house number two and a nice gentlemen greets you with a clipboard in hand. He shakes your hand and exchanges some pleasantries with you then gets right down to business. His first statement to you is “AAA Roofing has the lowest price so far at $250 per square with the rip off. Can you beat that?”
Oh well – on to the next.
You get to house number three and this looks like the perfect fit for you. Maybe it’s just you hoping your entire evening is not a lost cause but the roof is walkable, has two dormers and needs some gutter work – this house is perfect! You see a brand new BMW in the drive and the house is very well appointed – even better. The night is looking up!
A lovely young lady greets you at the door with two small children tugging at her legs. She is pleasant and seems to be listening intently to everything you have to say. So far so good. She makes you a cup of coffee and you go through color samples, you pick out a great 50 year architectural shingle, you choose trim color for the aluminum and you give her a great quote and she is wowed by the price. You even give her a 10% discount because you want to be sure to leave with contract in hand. Then the inevitable happens: “My husband was supposed to be here but got held up at work. He is interviewing a bunch of other guys and he will decide soon.”
S***!
Maybe the last one works out for you and maybe not. The point is you may have wasted an entire evening on the road for absolutely nothing. You have to figure out a way to stop wasting your time.
The good news is you can implement some online strategies to get better leads for your home improvement business.
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Facebook: Look, Facebook is a marketing juggernaut. There are currently 2.25 BILLION users on the platform and over 200 MILLION of them are in the United states. If you want to generate leads for your home improvement business there is no better place than Facebook.
What is ideal about Facebook Ads is that people interact with your brand because they choose to. This is not a lead generation site like Houzz, Home Advisor or Angie’s List where you are competing on price from jump. People are willingly interacting with your brand showing some level of interest and trust. This gives you a much better position of authority and makes for a much easier sale. -
Email: So when was the last time you spoke to any of your past clients? I know what it is, you don’t have time, right? Wake up. Your past clients are the best home improvement leads you will ever get. They have already proven they trust you by opening up their wallets and paying you. The biggest barrier to any sale – trust – has already been overcome.
Send them an email every quarter or so to see if there is anything they need. They may surprise you and the best part is that this is a guaranteed sale. No worrying about competition when dealing with past clients. -
Who?: Who do you want to do business with? Who is your perfect customer? Seems like a real simple question doesn’t it? But I will venture to guess that you have never thought who your ideal client or ideal avatar is. And, if you have, I’ll bet you have never shared that with your team.
You say you would like better leads for your home improvement business but you are not even sure what that means. Figure out who you want to market to and market to them. Your leads will improve exponentially.
Yes, getting better leads will increase your revenue, improve your reputation and help you dominate your market. But, there are much bigger and more substantial benefits to getting better leads.
Just think about coming home after closing all three estimates you went on. A much different story than the one I talked about earlier, isn’t it? How much happier would you be after a long day in the field? How much time would you save? How much more time would you have to do the things you love to do? How much more quality time would you have with your family? After all, you do this for them don’t you?
I know you want better leads for your home improvement business. I know because I’ve been there drinking coffee with that young lady at the kitchen table (that is a true story). I also know you may not understand this stuff and you don’t want to learn. I get it. The good thing is you don’t have to. This is what I do all day, every day.
If you want help with this let me help. I know the market, I know the customers and I know what your day is like. We have done-for-you solutions that will take a minimal time commitment form you and can possibly change your life. Let’s set up a time to commiserate about some of the bad estimates we have both been on and then we’ll talk about how I can help you improve your bottom line and improve your life.
