Month: August 2022

digital marketing, Lead Generation, Lead Generation for Contractors, online marketing, SEO, service contractor leads

How to Close More Sales: Quick Strategies for Service Contractors

Diane Lovine

Try These 3 Strategies Now to Win More Business

Do you notice some of your competitors seem to stay busier than you? You may even know that they cut corners, use uninsured workers, or lower quality materials than you do. Wonder how they manage to get more jobs? First, it may simply be that they are investing more in advertising and lead generation. It may just be a difference in lead volume. If that’s the case, there are steps you can take to compete with them online. 

However, there are also immediate steps you can take now that are simple and effective. Competition among local service contractors is tighter than ever. How can you make your business stand out and stay “top of mind” with your potential customers? 

We’ve outlined three areas where you can have an immediate and substantial impact. Impress your potential customers and win more business by following these guidelines. 

1. Perfect Your Presentation

Your appearance: It may seem obvious, but first impressions really are critical. People often decide within seconds if they find you trustworthy. It doesn’t take much to win over your prospective clients. Always carry an extra clean shirt, a stick of deodorant, and a comb in your vehicle and spruce up before you pay a visit to give an estimate. If you’re a smoker, keep that clean shirt in a Ziploc bag and have a stick of gum handy. Last, don’t forget to greet your customers on time and with a warm smile.

Your pitch: Before you arrive to give a quote, call or text your customer to let them know you are on your way. This not only impresses them, but also reminds them to be there and ready for you. The team at 99 Calls vets the lead calls that our customers receive and we’re always amazed at the number of clients who have to call the contractors because they didn’t show for an appointment. If you end up running late, no big deal. It happens, but keep your prospects informed!

After you introduce yourself, and exchange greetings, be prepared to give a short pitch or elevator speech about yourself and your business. Successful business owners often let the customer know about their experience, any certifications earned, and other points that will put a customer at ease. Do you run background checks on employees? Are you going to be present at the job site? Let them know. If you have a reference list, give them a copy. Some contractors arrive with a 3-ring binder with photos of jobs they’ve completed. 

Demonstrate that you hear them: Be sure to listen and take notes when the customer is describing their issue and what they would like to do to resolve it. Be prepared to give suggestions on how the issue can be resolved in the most cost-effective and efficient way. Once they have shown you what they want to be quoted, be sure to ask questions to clarify your understanding. Then repeat to them what you heard so there is no miscommunication.

2. Polish Your Proposal

Quick turnarounds impress. Provide your prospective customer with a written (electronic) quote within 24 hours of your visit. If you really want to impress them and have quoting software, work up the estimate on your tablet right after you leave and send it in an email within an hour. If you really, really want to impress them, send a text message letting them know you’ve just emailed their quote! Be sure to include those finer details on the estimate that the customer brought up during the appointment.

Offer 2-3 choices. Rather than giving them the option to go with you or go with a competitor, offer 2-3 options for getting the job done. Order them in terms of cost, time estimates for completion, and complexity and give reasons why each could solve their problem. When giving 3 options, make the second seem the most favorable or the most valuable solution. People like to choose a practical solution, one that will save them money but still give them a quality product. Consumers are always searching for the best value they can find. Make it easy to choose yours.

3. Be Persistent

Persistence pays. Over 90% of contractors do not follow up on their estimates. They wait for the customer to call them. If you are telling yourself, “If they want the job done, they will call me.”, you are missing out on many opportunities! People get busy. They forget. The project goes on the back burner. What brings it back to an urgent issue? Often, either the item finally breaks beyond repair, or a contractor contacts them at the right time and gets the “yes”. How can you be that contractor? Follow up. By phone and email and text.

Yes, people are being bombarded every day with solicitors emailing and texting and the old 7-touch rule of sales may be overdoing it but people still need “touches” or reminders. A gentle nudge that they need the service done and especially that you’re the right person to do it can make all the difference. There is nothing wrong with following up the next day by phone to ensure they received the emailed quote. Then, send a quick text 3-4 days later to ask if they have any questions. Try again in 10 days to two weeks to let them know you’ve got some time coming up on your schedule. Most customers do not find well-timed follow-ups annoying. They often appreciate the reminders. And when they do decide to get the work done, guess which contractor is first on their mind?

On Getting More Leads

The steps outlined here are meant to be simple techniques that can be executed quickly. The results will be immediate. What was not touched on was potentially the most impactful (and most challenging) way to close more sales, which is to get more leads to bid on. If you close 25% of the jobs you bid on and you give quotes on four jobs per week, you’ll likely win one new job each week. Double your lead volume and you’ll double your sales. Here is more information on getting more leads by investing in lead generation. 

Google Ads, online marketing, Pay Per Click Advertising, PPC

11 Ways to Optimize Your Google Ads Campaign

Diane Lovine

by Diane Lovine

If you are like other small service businesses that depend on inbound leads, you likely have some experience with Google Ads, whether from your own efforts or working with a marketing company. Many business owners report having negative experiences with running Google Ads on their own. Other experiences have been downright traumatizing. The most common issue was low return on investment. Contractors overwhelmingly complained that they spend a lot of money on Ads but did not gain many new customers.

The DIY Ads Campaign

If you are not running a Google Ads campaign yourself, chances are you are buying leads from a third party. And chances are they are running an Ads campaign to generate those leads, and then selling them to to you at a huge margin. Buying leads this way can be very expensive for a small business. But so can the DIY Ads campaign if you aren’t optimizing your ads.

Running a PPC campaign on your own can be overly expensive as well. Although Google goes to great lengths to convince people that running ads is simple and lucrative, that is not always the case. Running Ads is not for the novice or the risk-averse. Online marketing is a career path that requires incredible amounts of knowledge and ongoing learning to stay abreast of the ever-changing advertising climate. That said, it is possible to learn the skills to manage your own Google PPC campaign.

There are several things that the average business owner can do if they are determined to run an online PPC campaign for their business.

Here are 11 proven points to review when working on your Google Ads campaign

1. Determine your goals. Some businesses use Google Ads to increase customer awareness of their product. Some are working to build a contact list. If you are a small service-oriented business, you probably have a very specific goal: Get the greatest number of leads possible at the lowest cost per lead. Once you have set your goal, you’ll have a better chance of achieving it because you can focus on the efforts that will get you there and ignore the noise. If you are a service business, you probably will not be investing in display ads, as search Ads produce more consumers who are ready to buy now. You’ll have to determine for yourself the definition of a lead, but the team at 99 Calls defines it as a consumer who contacts you for a quote for a service you provide in an area you service.

2. Build a solid Ad. Make sure you highlight what makes you stand out from your competition. Use compelling verbs that showcase the benefits of calling you. Google recommends creating 3-5 ads. Over time they will show the one or two most often that resonate best with your target audience. Be sure to follow Google’s policies in order for your ad to get shown. 

3. Research what search keywords to use. Although it may seem like a great idea to add as many keywords as possible to bring in as much traffic as possible, that is not the case. Instead, it is better to add in high-quality, relevant keywords. Remember that this is a case of quality over quantity. Pay attention to your quality score, as the higher your quality score, the lower your cost per lead will be. The goal of each keyword is to bring in clicks from people who intend to buy services you provide. Bad keywords bring in bad searches and lead to money spent without a return on investment. 

4. Determine your target pricing. Learn how much leads are going for in your area for your service. If you are a roofer in Miami, do the legwork to determine how much roof repair and roof replacement leads typically cost on Google searches. Knowing what a lead should cost will help you determine your budget.

5. Set a monthly and daily budget you can live with, but remember, you’ve got to invest money to make money. Setting your budget too low is likely to end in a loss because your ad will not be shown frequently enough to generate the lead volume you’re after. Setting a daily budget too high will burn through your monthly budget very quickly. A high budget and keywords that are too broad will result in lots of impressions and clicks, but few legitimate leads. You also should know your close rate before getting started so you can determine your actual cost to acquire a new job. For example, if you know that the going rate in your area is $50 per lead and you close one in every three leads, you will spend $150 on average to acquire each new customer. So if you want to obtain 10 new jobs this month, your budget should be $1500. You’d expect to get 30 inbound leads and close 10 jobs.

6. Remove negative keywords. You will learn a great deal by reviewing what users searched for to come to your ads. It will help you to identify keywords that are generating clicks those that don’t show intent to buy your service. You’ll want to continually review your keywords and add those “bad clicks” to your negative keyword list. In addition, decide whether you should remove your competitors’ names as negative keywords. Some contractors choose to allow, or even promote the names of competing businesses as keywords. There is some logic to this. Some business names are so universal that they are used as household names. For example, people say they are going to buy a Coke, meaning they are going to buy a soft drink. Serve Pro is a name commonly used in the restoration industry. When someone has experienced a water damage emergency, they may search “Serve Pro” because they know they need a restoration professional. They may be just as happy speaking with Joe’s Restoration Service, but that name probably doesn’t immediately come to mind. So, should you use a competitor name as a keyword? If you or your answering service have solid sales abilities and are able to turn that call into an appointment, then it makes sense to include those keywords. If this isn’t the case and you are uncomfortable receiving calls potentially intended for a competitor, then enter all competitor names as negative keywords. You’ll want to do a search of all of the competitors in your area that people may search for. As an example, the team at 99 Calls includes at least 100 names in a negative keyword list after doing research in each locale.

7. Keep it relevant. Your ad must match the page where searchers land. If you are advertising your HVAC service and are talking about AC repairs in your ad, be careful not to send users to a heating page or a general home page. If you have a landing page about AC repair services, you are presenting a highly relevant Ad and your chances of it being shown more frequently will improve.

8. Provide an easy experience for your consumers. If someone is searching for a roof repair, send them to a roof repair page. It should be visually appealing. The consumer should instantly recognize that they found the information they were looking for. They should feel confident in your abilities. They should also have easy access to you, either by a simple form or highly visible phone number to call. If you are able to further entice them with a promotion or special price, you’ll likely experience a higher conversion rate (the percentage of people who contact you after landing on your page).

9. Give them a reason to call you. Once a consumer clicks your ad and ends up on your landing page, it should be easy for them to call you with a simple and accessible phone number or form. What’s more, you’ll want to give them a reason to call. If you have images of your great work on the page, you’ll give them confidence that you can handle their job as well. You might also add one or two excellent testimonials that people have written about your service. 

10. ANSWER the call! We are always amazed at the number of contractors who go through the time and expense of setting or paying to have a Google Ads campaign set up, only to not be available to answer when leads call! If you don’t answer the phone, or at least call the customer back very quickly, your efforts are for nothing. You’ve already paid Google for that click, and the potential customer is already calling the next contractor in their search. If you are not regularly able to answer your calls, having a receptionist is worth the investment. Another excellent solution is to employ a lead company to provide a system of 2-way texting, auto-responses and nurturing so that your potential customers are acknowledged instantly when you aren’t available.

11. Know when to hire an expert. Across the board, the average conversion rate for Google search campaigns is 3.17%. This includes everything from the sole proprietor carpet cleaning business owner to the top lead generation firm in the country. However, top-performing online marketing pros can garner 10, 15, or even 20% + conversion rates for service contractors. If you’ve given a DIY campaign an honest try but can’t seem to bring in the return on your investment that you hoped for, calling a reputable lead generation company can help. Check online reviews, ask your colleagues, and be sure to hire a firm you trust can deliver. 

Business Website, digital marketing, Lead Generation, Lead Generation for Contractors, Online Appointment Booking, online marketing, online marketing costs, service contractor leads

Should I Add an Appointment Booking System to My Website?

Diane Lovine

Pros and Cons of Using Online Calendar Booking for Lead Generation Sites

by Diane Lovine

The team at 99 Calls has increasingly been asked about online calendar bookings for lead generation sites. Many service contractors are utilizing appointment scheduling software for their lead generation websites. Most often, small businesses report using appointment-setting features to allow customers to schedule free consultations.

The Cons of Adding Online Calendar Booking Features

Some home and business services contractors choose not to add this new technology to their sites. The main reasons cited are concerns that it will be too complicated to manage by their team and their customers. Often, this stems from the contractor not having technical experience or access to a web consultant or software developer. After all, a calendar for booking appointments on your website will need to sync with the calendar used by office staff so that you don’t end up overbooked. The best remedy is to purchase a calendar booking tool and have someone else manage it. Many lead generation companies now offer calendar booking as part of a service package.

Another concern expressed by contractors is that using an appointment setting feature to book an appointment for a quote is less personal than speaking directly with the customers. If you are a contractor who is available and prefers to answer the phone each time it rings, you may want to continue with the personal touch that you offer. 

The Pros of Adding Online Calendar Booking Capabilities 

Although there are a few valid concerns regarding adding this technology to websites, the pros overwhelmingly outweigh them. There are many reasons why giving customers the option to book a repeat service or an appointment for a quote makes sense.

The top reason for adding online appointment booking capability to lead sites is that it adds convenience both for contractors and their customers. Most service contractors run small businesses and the office staff is not always available to answer incoming calls. Contractors are working in the field and often can’t pause what they are doing to answer calls. The result is missed calls, which results in missed business opportunities and ultimately, lost revenue. 

Another benefit of installing an appointment calendar is that it makes businesses more accessible to potential customers during off-hours. People are often searching for home services during evenings and weekends when service businesses are closed. Providing them with the ability to book an appointment for an in-home or even over-the-phone quote is simple for them and means their search for a contractor may end with you! 

In order to keep up with today’s consumer demands, the question becomes “How” to add a calendar, rather than “Whether” to add one. Installing and maintaining online appointment scheduling programs can be expensive, so you’ll want to shop around. Some businesses report spending $199 per month on the service. With some research, you’ll be able to find a service that can work with your existing website and provide support at a fair price. 

Due to high demand from our clients, 99 Calls now offers a calendar booking feature that can be customized and added to websites. The maintenance fee of the calendar feature is just $29 per month. Click here to learn more.