If you’re in the construction industry and own a business, you need sales leads. Without leads you can’t make a sale. You can look but you won’t find a magic elixir or formula that provides quality leads quickly. It takes a focused, concentrated, long-term effort on your part to receive consistent leads for your company and keep your sales pipeline full.
Wherever you decide to advertise your services, make it easy for potential clients to call. Your phone number should be big, bright and beautiful on all advertising. Your phone number is the address your prospective clients need to reach you. I’ll argue it’s the most important number in your business life, even more important than the number that shows up on the last page, last line, far right corner of your P & L. If prospective customers can’t find your phone number easily, they will move on to the next company.
On your website, it’s good to have a contact form and/or an email address so prospective clients can reach out. Frankly, many contractors would rather deal with an email than a phone call anyway. While some potential clients might prefer to send an email or fill out a form, others want to talk on the phone, and you should make it as easy as possible.
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They have a question and they want an answer, now. If they’re thinking about building a deck, adding a large room addition, or replacing their kitchen cabinets and appliances, they might not want to fill out a form and wonder if they’ll hear back in 30 minutes or 2 days or a week. They want answers to their questions, and if you aren’t available, they’ll find someone who is.
I know you might be thinking that some phone calls you really don’t want because they’re a waste of your time. Or maybe you’d rather they not call because you’re afraid you’ll fumble the call and lose the lead, so it’s better if they send an email. Consider this.
When they call, answer their questions then gently begin asking questions. What kind of job do they want done? When do they want to get started or when do they want the job completed? Have they had plans drawn up yet? Have they talked with any other companies? Have they made selections yet? Has anyone created a job schedule? Were they planning on living in the home while the work is being done? What’s their criteria for picking their contractor? You probably don’t want to ask this many questions, these are suggestions to get you started. Ask questions that pertain to your specialty and to the work being done.
Questions make them think about the job. They begin to realize they are going to have to be careful who they pick to do the job. These questions show you care about them and the job and help establish you as the contractor of choice. I talk about this in the book, Profitable Sales, A Contractor’s Guide. You can’t effectively do this with an email. You can easily do it on the phone.
If you don’t have your phone number displayed prominently in all your advertising, you’ll never know how many calls you’re missing. Make it easy for potential customers to call.
Also be consistent in your advertising. When business gets slow, too many make the mistake of saving money by reducing their advertising budget. That’s a big mistake. It’s also a mistake to let up on advertising when you get busy, because you won’t always be busy. Advertise 24/7/365. Your ads also need to be new and original, and different enough from everyone else in your area that you get a second look from the prospective client.
When leads are slowing down, contact your old leads and ask if they’ve had the work done yet. I read once that 60% of all leads were never sold; the work was never done. If that’s true, six of every ten calls you make will be to a potential customer who might still be interested. It’s not a cold call because you’ve already met them, and now you have a second chance to get them to say yes.
When you’re continually promoting your business, you’ll always be adding to your nest egg of clientele who call on a regular basis and happily refer you to their friends and acquaintances. That’s what keeps you busy and in business.
The knowledge and experience Michael Stone gained in his 60+ years in construction has helped thousands of contractors improve their businesses and their lives. He is the author of the books Markup & Profit Revisited, Profitable Sales, and Estimating Construction Profitably, and is available for one-on-one consultations.
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