Get Better Data
How do you combat these issues and start getting to the right leads faster?
Focus on high-quality lead sources
The quality of your leads is essential to getting good results. As they say, garbage in, garbage out. Or, as we say, value in, value out. If you're purchasing lead lists, make sure that they're coming from reputable sources known for their accuracy.
Even with the best lead sources, know that a percentage of the leads you get will be out of date or otherwise inaccurate. When you try to determine the potential value of a list and whether the price is worth it, estimate a certain percentage of loss. If the potential value is still promising, then you have a good deal.
Get unique leads
If you get your leads from sources like Angie's List or Home Advisor, you are sharing those leads with nearly every other contractor in your market. They are never unique to you, which means your sales team is always fighting over them with competitors. The only way to win in this situation is to sell faster, better, and smarter. Here are some strategies to do just that.
GET THERE FIRST
Only target leads that have the highest potential of becoming customers and offer the most value to your company.
Effective targeting is one of the most powerful things you can do to increase conversions-to-appointment and average contract value. When you increase these two factors, you’ll boost your revenue significantly without the need to hire more people or spend more time in the field. This approach is far more efficient. It eliminates households that will never convert, which means that reps have more time to spend with real opportunities. If you're fighting over leads with competing companies, it will pay off to prioritize those of the highest value. The last thing you want to do is waste time with unqualified prospects and low-value leads while your competition is closing major deals.
Set up automated workflows that respond as soon as the lead is received.
Automating your sales and marketing workflows is essential to gaining time, saving money, and getting to leads before your competition does. Most popular CRM tools will have some automation worked into them. With the right systems in place, you can automatically send an email, a text message, or place an outbound call as soon as a lead comes in. Then, have your canvassing team knock their door but only if the lead hasn't already converted from these other activities.
FOCUS ON WHAT YOUR LEADS WANT
Use their preferred communication channels.
Every homeowner is a little different when it comes to communication preferences—how they want to learn about your company and sign up for your services. Do they prefer to text, call, email, or have someone knock on their door? By giving them different ways of communicating with you, they can self-select into their preferred channel, which will make them much more willing to listen.
One of the inevitable outcomes of sharing lead lists is that homeowners become inundated with calls, emails, and knocks. If you're the last one to the door, it's likely that you'll receive the most blame for the annoyance. Have you ever received a bad review just for knocking? Getting there first and learning how your leads want to communicate are equally essential to overcoming this issue.
Customize your pitch to fit each lead.
Use all of the data available to understand more about your leads, going beyond just their name and address. Train your sales and marketing team to look for indicators of their family situation, lifestyle, interests, income level, jobs, etc., and customize the pitch, messaging, and special offers accordingly. The more tailored the pitch is to the lead, the better your chances are of converting them to an appointment and closing that deal. If your data doesn't provide additional profiling information, you may want to look for a data source that does.
HOW COGNITIVE CONTRACTOR CAN HELP
If all of this seems a bit overwhelming to you, Cognitive Contractor is here to help. If you look at this list and already use 99% of these tips, congratulations! Let's talk about taking it to the next level with our advanced data analytics, predictive modeling, AI technologies, and proven marketing strategies.
Cognitive Contractor has the experience and technology to handle every step of the process (apart from the actual canvassing) described above. You do not need to lift a finger or spend the time finding separate companies to solve these problems. Focus your internal team on what they already do well instead of mastering these technical issues themselves. Let our team profile your best customer, find leads in the market that are most likely to convert, market to your leads across multiple channels—social, email, direct mail, SMS text, CTV, etc.—in a way that's completely trackable so you know your ROI. We’ll even help your canvassing team earn more in less time by training them on how to leverage data.
Contact us to learn how it all works.
