Acquiring leads is essential to the contractor business, but turning them into jobs is far more difficult. Lead generation by itself isn’t that complicated, as you can find more leads than you know what to do with. This is why it’s important to know how to turn them into a sale – so long as they’re valuable to you.
Let me help you with some useful tips on how to quickly decide the value of a lead and from there, how to turn it into a job.
Be fast
It’s evident that being fast to the punch is an advantage, but it’s so crucial that it’s worth saying anyway. Unless you’re responsible for creating your own leads (which is a lot of work), the leads you’ll be getting are usually quite competitive. A big part of getting ahead is replying first.
You should always have a way to quickly reply to leads from your work phone, ensuring that you can stay ahead wherever you are.
Determine if the client actually wants to go through
It’s very common for leads to be nothing more than a client looking for information. And while there’s nothing wrong with that, you should be able to identify early on if that’s the case. There’s no point pushing for a sale where your efforts will be in vain.
Be as helpful as you can and try to educate the client on the job, if possible, in a way that makes them interested in proceeding. But if all they were looking for was information, it’s better to simply move on – you can’t extract milk from rock.
Be ready to debate
As mentioned before, leads are usually competitive – you’re going up against other contractors receiving the same chances at it. Present yourself as well as possible to leave a good first impression, and be ready to debate, show the value of your work, and defend yourself.
Many potential clients will say that they got a better offer somewhere else, or that someone else promised to deliver it faster… while you shouldn’t force yourself to fulfill unrealistic deadlines, be ready to put up a fight. Clients are simply looking for the best deal they can get, and maybe you can provide just that.
Send a strong estimate
Once you’re past the initial contact and it’s time to send a quote, that’s another crucial moment. It should be as complete as possible, describing every bit of work and every item you will need. For the client, it makes the service very transparent and easy to understand, and for you, it helps in justifying your costs.
It might seem daunting and time-consuming to be this descriptive for every quote, but there are many tips for writing good estimates you can employ here to save time.
Follow up if necessary
Sometimes the client will take too long to follow through, which is when you have to step in. Learning when and how to follow up is a crucial skill for the contractor's line of work.
If you sent out a quote and haven’t heard from the client in 48h, you should already follow up. If there’s still no confirmation after that, you should follow up one more time within the same time frame to try and secure the sale. If that also fails, it’s better to drop it and move on – you can dedicate your time more efficiently to more solid leads.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t still try during this initial follow-up phase, as you can impress your clients in many ways to get a sale.
Take the first step towards growing your business today and start receiving leads that will make you money. — Sign up with homeyou!
Comments