Winter is the time to evaluate your business and plan for 2020. Focus on business and marketing strategies such as strategic purchasing, updating your service portfolio, employee training, and increasing new business and customers. When you plan out your year: you benefit, your employees benefit, your customers benefit, and your business benefits.
It’s easy to say focus on increasing new business and customers. But how do you do that exactly? There are several ways to attract new customers with marketing initiatives such as website improvements, Google My Business, launching new services, or targeting millennial homeowners. Many of you even have success using resources such as Angie’s List, Thumbtack, and Home Advisor. So now that you have these leads, how do you ensure you are closing the deal, getting the job and new customer? Check out these 4 tips that can help you close more deals:
1. Make Contact in One Hour
The sooner you can make contact with a lead the better. When you make contact in 60 minutes or less, you are 7X more likely to have a meaningful conversation and schedule a meeting with a potential customer. When people are ready to buy, they will reach out to two to five businesses to get the service they desire. If you do not answer the phone or reply to a request immediately, your competitor will. Make sure you are not losing out on leads due to a delayed response time.
If that means hiring an office manager or dedicated sales rep to handle incoming calls, then do it. Even just making sure someone is available to answer the phone when it rings, and make sure you’re following up with website form submissions and chat requests within the hour, will improve your closing rate significantly.
2. First Impressions Matter
First impressions matter, whether its answer the phone, the initial sales call, or your website’s appearance. You have 17 seconds to make a good first impression—the little things count.
When the customer visits your website. Does it explain what you do? Is the information easy to find? Is it easy to contact you?These things matter. You only have 7 seconds to catch a potential customer’s attention when they come to your website.
How do you answer your phone? Is it “yeah, hello” or do you say, “Thank you for calling XYZ, this is John. How many I help you”? There are numerous ways to contact a business this day and age. If a potential customer is calling you, it means they want to learn more about your business and services. Make sure you are giving the right impression.
When you meet a customer for an initial consultation. Are you on time? When you enter their home, are you wearing muddy work boots and pants? Or do you enter in a polo shirt and khaki? 55% of the first impression is based on appearance, so make sure that your first face-to-face interaction appropriately represents the good work your company does.
3. Offer Pricing Options
Right now, your customers are comparing your bids and estimates to those of your competitors. That’s typically how most consumers make their purchase decisions. But what if you could change that? Well, you can, and offering pricing options is how you do it.
If you have one price, you’re presenting a take-it-or-leave-it offer. This means the potential lead can either accept your terms or dismiss them. There’s no in between, which means they look to competitors for other options. However, if you offer pricing levels, you can be competitive. A very common idea is a standard, plus, and premium levels which represents a lower priced option, one mid-range, and one high priced option.
This encourages the potential customer to choose between plans, and not between you and another company altogether. Even better, this type of strategy allows the customer to decide what’s best for them. It makes them more open to upgrades without the pressure, making them more likely to spend more.
4. Offer Customer Financing
Nearly 70% of homeowners are willing to borrow money to afford a home renovation project. These homeowners plan to borrow an average of $19,000, with popular renovation projects focusing on kitchens, bathrooms, landscaping, and creating decks or other outdoor spaces.
How can this information help your business grow? Many consumers are not afraid to borrow money for their home projects. Make sure your business offers a consumer financing option, so that these homeowners choose you and not your competitor.
Offering a consumer financing option will add value to your service. Homeowners that are willing to finance home projects are value shoppers, not price shoppers. This means you have the opportunity to help them customize their home, while up-selling the project with high-end and efficient products. And price objections will be minimal. By adding value to their home, you help your business grow.
Finally, rely on Central to help, whether it’s questions about closing leads, strategic purchasing, marketing strategy, or business planning.Central is the right partner for your business. We stay at the leading edge of the industry and we’re ready to help you grow!