Don't wait for people to find you, look for leads!
Starting or growing your business? You need to spend several hours a week chasing enquiries by actively connecting with potential clients. Establish a routine by setting aside time every day to follow up recommendations, referrals and enquiries. Don't just wait for leads to come to you. Be proactive and make sure to look for prospects within your community.
Sales activities that get good leads include:
- Networking with other business owners is a powerful way to build rapport and credibility.
- Join industry organisations and leverage from your membership regularly.
- Let friends and family know you are launching your own business and ask them to recommend you to their own networks.
- Share details on community Facebook groups but make sure to check the rules of the group first.
- Have a professional design your brand and invest in eye-catching site and vehicle signage.
- Maildrop in each area you work in. You can always delegate by asking someone you know to put printed DL cards in letterboxes, especially if they usually walk their dog or head to the park with their kids.
- Find a few friends who are social media warriors to help engage with your posts and respond to community posts asking for recommendations. It’s more valuable and trustworthy when a third party recommends and tags you before you respond yourself.
- Email people with introductions.
Tyre kickers are people who enquire about jobs you are not looking for. Add your own projects to your website to demonstrate the true results of your work. This attracts people looking for the type of work you want. Change your enquiry form to a questionnaire that focuses clearly on explaining the type of pojects you are accepting. Charge for detailed quotes to find out who is truly committed.
Remember you're a salesperson!
Embrace the mindset that it’s important to spend time every week actively gaining leads. Ensure that you future proof your business so your sales funnel can cope with a downturn in prospective clients during a crisis like a pandemic or another GFC.
Establish a robust reputation. The years of effort will pay off and you will benefit from strong community word of mouth.
A strong brand identity and professional signage and printed materials are needed to effectively support sales. Update your website regularly and include relevant blog articles for SEO. Invest in professional photography of your finished work and ask for testimonials from your clients.
Every business should build a customer database
Automate email responses to send to your website leads. Social media extends your reach to more people and strengthens your brand message. List on digital profiles like Houzz and Neighbourly, as well as paid networks like Archipro, and update them regularly. Use email marketing to communicate directly with past clients, industry professionals and enquiries who were not ready to start their project.
Get support to grow your business; hire help!
There's enough to do running a building project! While some sales activities need a personal approach, it’s worthwhile getting assistance for everything else. If admin and accounting aren’t on your radar, in your skill set or you just can’t fit it in your schedule, hire help. You can’t possibly be a guru at everything and I highly recommend outsourcing to professionals for those tasks that need to be done but that can be done by someone other than yourself. I help builders grow their businesses using my years of experience. Contact me to book a meeting.
I regularly recommend Buzz Marketing to my clients. They will do marketing tasks for you, giving you time to focus on managing and nurturing sales opportunities.
Meet Amanda
Amanda is one of those organised people who manages to keep a lot of balls in the air. Before starting My Smart Office she juggled working a corporate job, running a successful residential building company with her husband, Bryce, and being a mum. Now you can have her expertise in customer communication, sales and marketing, bookkeeping and administration, working for your business. Make sure to follow us on Facebook.
Work with us:
Step one - Review
Let's chat about your business, the tasks you dislike, and look at your current admin systems.
Step two - Options
Whether you know where to start or you need guidance, let's discuss your priorities, options, and business goals.
Step three - Get started
Reduce your to-do list. Agree on an action plan and let us start implementing the tasks for you.