If you want to be the best, you need to be proactive. Relying on customers to come to you is fine if you’re well-established, but if you want to win more work and reel in the big fish, you need to get your sales game sorted.
Short on time? Skip ahead!
- 1. Start with your audience
- 2. Finding leads
- 3. Attracting leads
- 4. Sealing the deal
- 5. How to prepare for a boost in business
1. Start with your audience
When it comes to getting good quality sales leads, it’s all about your audience. You need to ask yourself the following questions so you know who to chase and who to leave alone.
Who are they?
Start by writing down some things about the kind of person you want to sell to. Some factors to consider:
- Age
- Income level
- Location
- Interests
These factors will give you a better idea of how to find leads. If you can get a mental image of your ideal customer, you’ll gain better insight into where you’ll be able to find them. It also means that when you finally get in touch with them, you’ll know how to talk to them and seal the deal.
What are they after?
Try to predict what your target customer wants. Will you be helping them with emergency leaks, or plumbing new homes? The answer to this question will inform the approach you take when trying to attract leads.
Where are they based?
It’s a good idea to start by targeting people close by. Most potential customers will be more open to hiring a local plumber so that they have someone nearby if a plumbing disaster strikes.
When will they hire you?
Have a think about timing. Do you want to offer 24/7 services and emergency call-outs, or would you prefer to be the 9-5 kind of plumber? Is a long-term job that takes months or even years up your street, or are you the type to hope from job to job quickly?
These questions will help you decide what your boundaries are and ensure that you attract customers whose demands meet your working style.
Why will they hire you?
If you want to stand out from all of the other plumbers vying for leads, then you need to have a clear and compelling point of difference.
If you can offer something that no one else can, then you’re far more likely to attract leads and convert those leads into sales.
A point of difference can come in many forms, and it’s important to think outside the box, but here are a few ideas:
- Price. Price yourself competitively to win more work.
- Bespoke Jobs. Tackle unique, one-off jobs that could require a bit of extra planning and problem-solving.
- Customer Service. Make service with a smile your thing.
- Speed. Get the job done faster and better than your competitors.
2. Finding leads
Once you’ve answered the questions above, you should start to get a pretty good idea of where your potential customers will be hanging out — both online and offline.
For instance, if you’ve decided that your target market is middle-aged locals with high incomes, then you could drive around nice neighbourhoods and drop flyers in letterboxes or simply talk to people.
If your target market is a little younger, you can try digital marketing or social media.
3. Attracting leads
Actively searching for sales leads is a great way to accurately target potential customers, but these kinds of leads are usually ‘cold’, meaning you never know if the person you’re talking to needs your services or how they’ll respond to your sales pitch.
The best kind of leads are ‘warm’ or ‘hot’ leads. These are leads that have actually shown some interest in plumbing services before you’ve made direct contact, so the deal is already part-way in the bag.
If you want to generate these kinds of leads, you need to gain some exposure to the market and let the customer come to you. Start with trade directories, a decent social media channel, a website with a proper enquiries page, and some good old-fashioned posters and flyers.
- 🇺🇸 US trade business directories
- 🇬🇧 UK trade business directories
- 🇦🇺 Australian trade business directories
- 🇳🇿 NZ trade business directories
Trade tip: Leads are all around you. Make sure you’re prepared if you find one in the wild with a top-quality business card!
4. Sealing the deal
Once you’ve started to generate a good pool of leads, it’s time to get selling. While it may seem nerve-racking to do yourself at first, once you get a few calls under your belt, selling will seem like a cakewalk. Just make sure you have a decent sales process in place.
5. How to prepare for a boost in business
The next big question you need to ask yourself is whether you have a plan for when you start turning leads into sales. As your number of jobs increases, will you be prepared to deal with all the admin?
While it may seem plausible to use spreadsheets or a notebook to sort your admin, the reality is that this kind of system is outdated and will only cost you time and energy in the long run.
By getting ahead of your admin early with solid job management software like Tradify, you’ll free up time and make life easy.
Tradify features:
- Quoting and estimating - create quotes and estimates quickly from any device — on-site, on the go, on the couch, or in the office.
- Invoicing - create professional-looking custom invoices quickly, so you can get paid faster.
- Scheduling - get a real-time view of project schedules, active jobs, and the locations of staff or subcontractors for real-time collaboration.
- Job tracking - keep track of time spent on jobs, organise work, and create individual tasks for your staff or subcontractors. Make team collaboration easier than ever before.
- Timesheets - create and submit digital timesheets, and use the live job timer to record hours and track time.
- Enquiries - respond to enquiries wherever you are and whenever you like.
- Automated payment reminders - automatically send follow-up emails for unpaid invoices and get paid faster.
- Subcontractor management - connect with subcontractors, organise jobs, and send or receive important job information.
- Creating an Instant Website - create a custom website tailored for your business and potential customers.
Try it free for 14 days or see the app in action in one of our live demo webinars.
