Whether it’s attic insulation, solar, windows, or anything in between, a home improvement business owner’s primary goal is to convert job leads into appointments and sales.
Getting leads is the easy part. There’s dozens of different channels including old school methods like canvassing, cold calling, trade shows, and direct mail. In addition, newer channels such as email marketing, Facebook, Google, and Nextdoor all provide great opportunities for home improvement companies to generate leads. These are often the primary tool for home improvement lead generation companies.
In the age of online advertising and marketing automation, and with a seemingly infinite supply of leads, appointment setting should be easy, right? Wrong.
While technology can be a great accelerator in generating more leads, there’s still the problem of converting those leads to appointments. This problem stems from an over-reliance on the technology itself. With that being said, there’s an important distinction to be made. Converting leads to appointments isn’t a technology problem. It’s a human problem.
Simply, we’ve gotten lazy as marketers and sales people. To convert more leads into appointments, embody the below home appointment setting formula. This isn’t a script. This isn’t a new lead gen system. It’s a mentality. Use it to connect with home owners, build relationships, and ultimately gets into more doors to sell product and services. The homeowner wants to buy from you. Give them a good reason.
95% of home improvement lead generation companies are a waste of money. The #1 Problem With Home Improvement Lead Generation Companies is that they do less than half of the work. They just generate leads, not appointments. Want to improve your close rate and reduce your overall cost per sale. Contact us to purchase qualified set appointments for your home improvement business and close more deals.
3 Ways to Set More Appointments
Be Aggressive
When you think of being aggressive, you imagine a noisy, boisterous and annoying salesman, right? Wrong. You need to be strategically aggressive. Just remember, the lead came from someone in need of your service, so be quick to follow up and capitalize on that. After generating a lead, allow 30 minutes to an hour to reach out. This is prompt enough to show responsiveness, but also allows enough time for the potential customer to not feel as though they are now stuck on an overly-automated campaign that doesn’t care about them.
Being aggressive and zealous in your pursuit is important, but too much of this can push the potential client away. No one wants an automatic notification straight to their phone as soon as they explore a potential service. Avoid the solicitation feel and schedule follow ups once some time has passed. This process allows you to stay top of mind, and puts the ball back in the customers court.
Be Consistent
Consistency is critical if you want to improve your appointment setting results. Do not let too much time pass before you follow up. Once you initially reach out and allow the potential customer room to breathe, follow up if you haven’t heard back! Don’t be afraid of this part. According to Sirius Decisions, even if a potential customer is interested in your product, it takes about 8 to 12 attempts to reach a potential customer by phone. And if you can’t reach them by phone, try sending a text or an email to coordinate a time to chat.
A good way to make sure leads don’t fall through the cracks is to set reminders for each one. Not following up is the easiest way to lose good business. According to PhoneBurner the best times to reach out for a sales call is at 10am and 2pm. It’s also smart to stick to business hours for these calls. Many consider it rude or annoying to receive sales or business calls on nights and weekends.
Follow up calls should begin by getting straight to the point in a polite manner. No one wants to pick up their phone to a salesman who “just wants to chat.” Begin with your name and why you are calling, and keep it short. This is your time to listen to what they have to say. You want to connect with the potential customer to clear up any questions or hesitations they may have moving forward.
Make sure you have gone through a potential list of questions they might have and have those answers ready. You want to be able to help the potential customer pave their path to setting an appointment as soon as possible.
Be Human
According to Salesforce, 92% of all customer interactions happen over the phone, and an astounding 85% customers report being dissatisfied with their phone experience. This highlights the need for customers to be treated as a human who needs your help. During a conversation, don’t be afraid to “go off the script” when it’s appropriate. Basic manners go a long way and respect is never ignored. Reading the room (even if it’s just over the phone) is so important.
Trust and respect will not only attract new customers, but will help you retain the ones you have. After all, acquiring a new customer will cost you 5 to 25 times more than keeping an existing customer according to Harvard Business Review.
Get Qualified Appointments
The above formula isn’t a get rich quick scheme. It’s an honest approach that we’ve refined over years of trial and error. We have implemented this approach for numerous clients in the home improvement industry to generate high quality in-home sales appointments.
At Orpical Group, we’ve made a commitment that we’ll never be just another lead generation company. We understand that 9 times out of 10, lead flow isn’t the problem. It’s converting leads to appointments, and appointments to sales.
95% of home improvement lead generation companies are a waste of money. The #1 Problem With Home Improvement Lead Generation Companies is that they do less than half of the work. They just generate leads, not appointments. Want to improve your close rate and reduce your overall cost per sale. Contact us to purchase qualified set appointments for your home improvement business and close more deals.