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Most smart contractors and service business owners know that pursuing construction sales leads is crucial to success, but in general they tend to lean towards more traditional strategies that have been used for decades. Sure, cold-calling, flyers, mailers, and networking groups have their place, and should be part of a larger marketing plan. But far too many contractors dismiss online-based job leads as a viable complement to their real world strategies. The reasons for this are many, but none of them hold water.
To be blunt, there are two reasons why fellow contractors or service professionals might try to tell you that chasing internet leads is a waste of time. Reason one is that they are ignorant and clueless. Reason two is that they know full well just how powerful online marketing is and don’t want to create any more competition for themselves in their local market. While the first reason is inexcusable, the second is more understandable. After all, what sane entrepreneur would willingly share the secrets of customer acquisition that he has discovered with his local competitors?
There are many methods for generating construction sales leads online, but some are more effective than others.
Consider yourself fortunate, however, because I’m going to reveal a few secrets right now. I’m going to give you some, but not all of my strategies, just in case you happen to be one of my local competitors. I have to keep a few tricks up my sleeve in order to maintain my competitive edge. Hopefully you all can understand that.
I should start by saying that generating construction sales leads online could very well catapult your business to a whole new level, so you need to be ready for the increase in the volume of work. If you’re not prepared then you could quickly get buried by estimate requests and new projects. Best to start slow and work your way up as your equipment, systems, and personnel adjust. Ready for the challenge? Alright then, let’s get on with it. Here are some tips to start scoring online contractor leads on the cheap:
Tip #1: Create a blog and start writing. I see you rolling your eyes but if you ignore this one then your are a straight-up fool. Building online content that is tailored to your local audience is just smart business because it gets you in front of the millions of people who no longer use their phone book and who need to Google every single problem and question that they encounter. If starting a site scares you or you can’t write to save your life then hire somebody to do it for you. The investment will pay off a hundred fold over the long run. Example: A homeowner in your city (let’s say Dallas) has a clogged drain and doesn’t know what to do. He goes to Google and searches “plumbing help Dallas”. The first result shows a blog post (written by you) titled “Helpful Tips For Dallas Plumbing Issues”, in which you laid out a few suggestions for DIY enthusiasts whose particular plumbing issues are geo-specific (due to the city water content, the extreme temperature swings, or what have you). Keep in mind that most people who think they can take on a project on their own end up calling a professional because they don’t have the tools, time, or skills to finish things up. So take a big guess which local plumber they’re going to call when it’s time for help. They’re going to call you, of course (the net savvy pro who must be qualified because he has his own fancy blog and website). Check out my comprehensive series on how to start a blog that will blow the doors off your business.
Tip #2: Learn as much as you can about ethical, white hat search engine optimization and apply this knowledge to your blog and/or website. This relates to secret #1 but is the extra component that can really take your blog and brand to the next level. This topic deserves several dedicated posts, but for now I’ll give you a few tips to get started.
- The title tag of your blog should include your service and city name. “Kitchen Remodeling in Miami, FL” is a good example. This should be an accurate representation of what you do and where you work. It’s a helpful piece of information that will not only pull in search traffic but will signal to the search engines that your site is relevant.
- Each post and page should have at least 500 words of quality content, and should be as relevant as possible in terms of the services you offer and the city or state you live in. The more useful information you can provide the more favorably you’ll be viewed by the search engines. The more posts the better. The more frequent your posts the better. The search engines like big sites that are updated frequently with great information. In simple terms, show your blog some love and Google will probably love your site. This tends to result in higher rankings, greater traffic, and more business.
- Your blog’s domain name (URL) should include your main service and city name. An example of a good domain name would be ChicagoRoofingPros.com. An example of a poorly chosen domain name would be JackTheShingleHopper.com. Jack might be the most experienced roofer in the Windy City but if the words “Chicago” and “roof” are not in his domain name then he is making it harder for the engines to know what his blog about, which makes it harder to get a high natural ranking.
Tip #3: Collect potential customers’ email addresses through a box on your blog or website. Think most people are afraid to give up their email to complete strangers? Think again. If given the right incentive, many people will happily join your email marketing list. Offer them $25 off their first service in exchange for their email and phone number. In no time you’ll have a huge list that you can go back to again and again whenever sales are slow or you’re running a new promotion.
Tip #4: Expand your presence on the internet with viral marketing and social networking. This could be as simple as creating funny YouTube videos about your company. Or it could mean that you devote 15 minutes each day updating your company’s Facebook and Twitter accounts with fresh information and enticing promotions. Widen your net on as many different platforms as possible and once in awhile you will catch a monster fish. Even if these tactics only gain you one extra kitchen remodel per month isn’t that time well spent? The best part is that these are free construction leads, and only put a small ding on your time.
Tip #5: Utilize Google AdWords. We’ve used this program for years and it is one of the biggest drivers of new business for our company. Ignore it at your own peril. Some contractors are afraid of the pay-per-click system, but I have no idea why because Google has this stuff down to a science and if done correctly it can be one of the most cost-effective methods for pulling in serious leads day after day after day. If it makes you nervous for some reason then put a daily cap on your spend and slowly work up from there as the effectiveness of the system reveals itself to you. Perhaps the coolest element of the system is that you can create multiple ads to run in your campaign. This is useful because Google tracks which ads perform better from a click-through perspective, and you can use this data to further sculpt your ad copy and promotional materials.
In addition to trying out these tactics, you should also consider a few internet-based contractor lead services. This will result in more expensive leads than the ones you can generate on your own with the above methods, but it will likely save you some time. If you decide to go this route I recommend picking out three or four reputable services to test out in the beginning. Start with a small budget for each one and keep meticulous notes on how things progress and which one or two companies give you the biggest bang for your buck. Make a spreadsheet and track things like average cost per lead, average leads per week, average conversion rate per lead, etc. You should quickly figure which services are worthwhile and which ones are a complete waste of time. Testing is imperative because lead services that work well for one industry may not be the best option for other ones.
That should be enough information to get you going. The importance of construction sales leads cannot be overstated because it is one of those few factors that can literally turn a struggling small business into a market-dominating monster in a relatively short amount of time. Aggressively pursuing new customers is the hallmark of a successful business, and I encourage you to educate yourself as much as possible on the subject of job leads going forward.
My name is Jeff and I created this blog in 2007 to help and inspire contractors and home service providers. It’s come a long way since then.
thanks Scott, great info.
i’m a residential builder and remodeler in MI. my biggest challenge is estimating jobs.I worry that i’m guessing to much! Looking for a good (fair) formula that i can use to figure all my jobs. Where i’m providing a fair price to my customers and I’M actually making a living doing what i enjoy doing. Do i figure everything time & materials? if so what should i be charging for myself and for one employee? and how much should i be marking up the materials? seems like it’s all a big secret when trying to find out what other builders and remodelers are charging, and the prices are all over the place. Ok if your charging by the hour and the customer wants a solid contract price, and bidding a remodel project of some sort, all projects are different, now your hopping you figured(or guessed) the right amount of man hrs, and then you have materials! so do you figure every 2×4,every sheet of drywall,every nail and screw on on………? on each and ever job. Got to be a better way! Just seems like a alot of guessing at times. I just want to make a good living doing what i enjoy. Believe me i’m not driving around in no $40thousand pickup truck. Got to be a better way! So how do the pros do it? any input would be helpful. thanks
Jeff,
Good questions, and soon I plan on devoting a whole post to the subject of estimating. There are estimating software programs that can be very helpful with this kind of thing, so you might want to research those a bit. You need to start with what sort of income you hope to make per hour and everything else trickles down from there. Say you want to make $50 per hour, and you want your assistant to make $15 per hour. You estimate that a job will take 40 hours to complete. Add up all the material costs, travel costs, etc. Then add to that number $2000 (50 times 40) for your take and $600 for your helper. That will give you a solid number that you can present to a potential customer. Now, this grossly oversimplifies the process, but in a future post I will try to flesh it out a bit more. You have to take into account other costs as well, like insurance, taxes, etc. Good luck out there, and remember that jobs will usually take longer than you might initially anticipate.
Thanks Jeff. I found your information very helpful