Sales leads are the lifeblood of home services companies. Without them, your business would not survive. That's why it's critical to follow up with potential clients properly. Many home services companies struggle to do this effectively, which costs them sales and revenue.
This blog post will discuss tips for following up with your leads more effectively.
Sales leads are the people who have shown an interest in your product or service. They are potential customers whom you need to nurture and convert into paying customers.
If you don't follow up with your leads, you're essentially giving up on a sale. It's essential to follow up with every individual, even if you think they're not interested.
The goal of following up with a lead is to build a relationship, establish trust, and eventually convert them into paying customers.
You should follow up with a lead as soon as possible. The sooner you reach out, the better chance you can convert them into paying customers.
The ideal time to follow up with a lead is within five minutes of receiving their information. Try to reach out within 24 hours if you can't do that.
The basic rule of thumb is the longer it takes to respond, the less chance you have of closing the sale.
Now, let's look at the best ways to follow up with those potential customers.
An excellent way to follow up with your leads is to send them helpful information about their needs. This could be an article you read, a blog post you wrote, or a video you found helpful.
You want to establish yourself as a valuable resource, someone who is interested in helping them solve their problem. Only then will they be likely to do business with you. That's why content creation is so important for home services businesses!
Some content types homeowners statistically open and interact with include:
Look at the chart to see the most effective content types for following up with leads:
Your follow-up doesn't have to be purely digital, either. You can also reach out by mail or phone.
When following up with your leads, it's important to be personal and friendly. You should also avoid being too salesy or pushy. Remember, the goal is to build a relationship and establish trust. If you haven't already, take the time to create a profile of your target customer, also known as a buyer persona.
This will give you a good idea of the language and approach when following up with leads. Homeowners in 2022 are different from a decade ago, so don't take it for granted that you understand their challenges and goals.
We'll show you how to build a buyer persona with this free resource.
It's also essential to stay in touch with your leads regularly. You don't want to bombard them with calls and emails, but you do want to keep them updated on your product or service.
The frequency of your follow-ups will depend on the type of product or service you're selling. For example, if you're selling a high-priced product, you'll want to space out your follow-ups more.
A good rule of thumb is to follow up with a lead within 24 hours of receiving their information. It's generally advisable to follow up with that contact at least once a week for the first month. After that, you can taper off to once every two weeks or once a month.
Different communication methods require different approaches.
Email open rates are highest for homeowners in the morning, with a significant drop-off in the afternoon. So, if you're sending emails to follow up with your leads, it's best to do it first thing in their day.
Phone calls are a bit different. The best time to make sales calls is between 4 and 6 PM. That's when homeowners are most likely to be home from work and have some free time.
Of course, you should always take the homeowner's schedule into account. If they're retired or work from home, a morning or afternoon call might be better. Hopefully, you have some breadcrumbs about the individual to tailor the follow-up to their unique situation since you're following up.
The important thing is to be flexible and adjust your follow-up strategy to meet the needs of your homeowners.
Of course, every home service business is different, so you'll need to experiment to find what works best for you.
It's important to remember that not every lead will be interested in your product or service. And that's okay! The goal is to find suitable matches and convert them into customers.
That being said, there are a few things you can do to increase the likelihood of converting a lead:
- First, make sure you're providing them with valuable information. As we mentioned before, this could be an article, blog post, or video relevant to their needs.
- Second, stay in touch regularly. You don't want to bombard them with calls and emails, but you do want to keep them updated on your product or service.
- Finally, be patient. It can take time to build a relationship and establish trust. You'll likely turn off the lead if you're too salesy or pushy.
When following up with your leads, it's important to remember the goal: to build a relationship and establish trust. With that in mind, you'll be sure to convert more leads into customers.
It can be tempting to keep following up with leads indefinitely, but there comes the point where you have to give up.
A lead is no longer 'hot' after about six months of inactivity. At this point, you should stop following up and focus your attention on other leads.
There are a few exceptions to this rule. If you've been in touch with the lead and they've expressed interest but haven't had time to commit, you can give them a few more months.
The same goes for clients who have done business with you in the past but haven't purchased anything recently. They may just need a little nudge to return to your home service business.
Now that we've established why it's essential to follow up with your leads, let's discuss some tips on doing it effectively.
The first step is to create a system for following up with your leads. This could be as simple as making a spreadsheet where you track the date you contacted the lead, how you reached them, and the outcome.
Spreadsheets are an excellent start for tracking lead follow-up. Eventually, you'll want to invest in tools with more automation and features to help you follow up more effectively.
We recommend investing in a customer relationship management (CRM) platform. Why?
Which CRM is best for your home service business? We compared the top options for you.
Once you have a system for tracking your lead follow-up, it's time to follow up with your contacts!
In conclusion, there's no magic number for how often or when you should follow up with your home service leads. It depends on the individual lead and your business goals.
However, by following the tips in this blog post, you'll be sure to increase your chances of converting more leads into customers and leveling up your home services marketing.
If you're looking for even stronger ways to connect with leads when following up, take the time to understand their needs! We've created a helpful guide outlining homeowners' top pain points in 2022. We break down the known stumbling blocks and show you how to respond - get it below!