If you’re a home remodeler, we have good news. Discover Financial Services found that 58% of homeowners planned to renovate their homes in 2021, and trends show that continuing.
To get these potential customers to choose your remodeling business, you first have to create a smart sales strategy. Whether you’re completing home additions or bathroom remodels, lead generation is an important part of the sales process.
What is lead generation? How can it help remodeling contractors?
Lead generation is a marketing tactic that helps businesses reach and engage with prospective customers, or leads, in a more natural way. A lead is someone who shows interest in your remodeling services. The key is to move that lead through the sales funnel so that they convert to a paying customer.
This process is useful for all kinds of businesses – including construction and remodeling businesses. With the right lead generation tactics, you can improve brand awareness, drive more sales and build loyalty with customers. Check out our six tips for how to generate remodeling leads.
1. Focus on SEO
You can take your online lead generation efforts to the next level with search engine optimization. This digital marketing strategy can help your site rank higher on search engine results and therefore attract more traffic. Ultimately, you’re getting people to your website who are searching for the services you offer and looking to make a buying decision, which is why using SEO is a great way to land more leads.
The world of SEO may be ever changing with Google’s algorithm updates, but there are some tried-and-true ways to improve your optimization. The first step is to complete some keyword research to find out what words, phrases and questions your customers are searching for related to your industry. From there, you can start to include these keywords naturally throughout your website – on your home page, in meta data and even in content like blogs. The more you optimize your site for certain keywords, the better chance you have at ranking for them when a customer searches on Google.
If you’d like to take the guesswork out of SEO, check out Buildertrend’s Pro Websites. Our team helps you design and build a website that meets your company’s specific needs. Pro Websites gives you access to our free SEO services that include keyword research, competitive analysis, 24/7 access to website analytics and ongoing SEO consulting.
2. Prime your website to convert leads
It’s no surprise that your remodeling company’s best lead conversion tool is your website. In the digital age, potential customers will visit your website to learn more about your construction business, what services you offer, pricing and more. And while having all this information readily available and easy to access is important, you should also consider how you’ll convert the leads once they get to your site.
A rule of thumb: You should always have a form that visitors can fill out with contact information as well as basic notes about their home remodel needs. To optimize your website to drive more conversions, you can add a call-to-action button on your web pages. These buttons encourage leads to take an action like “Request a Quote.” You can also place a chatbot on your home page that customers can utilize if they have questions. Just make sure to save pre-set conversations or have a sales team member available to answer questions.
3. Utilize email marketing
Email marketing for remodelers is crucial if you want to grow your business. Many remodeling pros use email marketing in some form as a lead generation strategy, but there are several ways to improve on what you’re already doing. Sending out email newsletters to previous customers about new offerings and sales can attract repeat customers, and emailing a list of prospective customers with information about your past projects and customer testimonials can lead to more conversions. Just make sure your emails showcase your branding and are mobile-friendly and easy to skim.
To make it even easier to tackle the pre-sales process, Buildertrend has an email marketing tool built in. Set up custom templates, send emails to potential clients and take advantage of email automation all with this convenient feature.
4. Connect on social media
Using your social media pages is a cost-effective way to generate more remodeling leads and interact with your audience. Your customers are most likely on popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. That seems like a lot to manage, but we recommend focusing on the ones that you have the best following on.
Social media allows you to show off your expertise and start a conversation with your followers about what your business has to offer. Build your presence by posting regularly and providing helpful content that your potential customers are looking for. Remodeling pros can share content like how-to blogs, remodeling videos or even highlight pictures from a recent project.
Buildertrend’s photo storage makes it easy to reuse photos to create content for your social media channels. Many remodelers who use Buildertrend are already taking photos of their remodeling projects to share with clients. Why not use those photos in more places than one? Consider all the engaging behind-the-scenes images and finished projects that your followers would love to see.
5. Ask for reviews and referrals
If you’re not already asking your customers for reviews, you should start now. Why? Reviews are a huge part of getting noticed online and gaining trust with prospects. You can say all day long why your remodeling business is the best, but people are more likely to listen to what your past customers have experienced. Make it easy for your customers by sending them direct links where they can review your remodeling company on Google, Yelp or Houzz, for example.
Word-of-mouth referrals are also a powerful tool in your lead generation toolbox. When you ask your customers for reviews, you should also ask if they would be willing to refer your business to friends and family who need a remodeling project done. If they had a positive experience with your business, they’ll likely recommend you to others. The best time to ask is once you’ve completed the remodeling job.
6. Partner with local businesses
This lead generation idea for remodelers creates a win-win situation for you and other businesses in your area. Throughout your work as a remodeling pro, you’ve likely run into other small business owners like realtors, painters and plumbers, to name a few. Reach out to your contacts and ask if they can spread the word about your business if their customers need remodeling services. In return, you can do the same for them. You can also look into becoming an exclusive remodeling contractor that those businesses recommend to homeowners.
Still have questions about lead generation tactics for remodelers?
It’s safe to say there’s a lot to know about lead generation. Learn even more and take your company’s sales game to the next level by attending our online Learning Academy class.
