# Where have you got your best home improvement/remodeling leads?



## 1cent

Word-of-mouth is a gimme, we all know that's the best, but I'm talking about generating more calls per day for estimates from customers who haven't necessarily heard of you. 

I've used pay-for-lead companies like ServiceMagic, etc. with very little success. Posted in the business section of local newspaper, posted on Angies List, Facebook, bought expensive yellow page ads, used door hangers with coupons, placed business cards in realtor offices, used yard signs. The list goes on and on. 
I've never tried any ONE thing that I thought, Wow, I shoulda done this years ago! It seems that every route you go with advertising, links you together with 12 or more of your competitors they can call for a free estimate as well.

The question is: What is the single, best way, you have successfully used to promote your home services business?


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## BamBamm5144

Google.

Average between 10-15 calls a week.


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## thomasjmarino

BamBamm5144 said:


> Google.
> 
> Average between 10-15 calls a week.


Really??
How many of those are serious and how many do you sign?


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## BamBamm5144

thomasjmarino said:


> Really??
> How many of those are serious and how many do you sign?



I had one day where I got 10 calls. The next zero. Not all of these are for roofs. I would say roughly 60% are roofs, 15% siding jobs and the rest repairs/gutters.

Out of 15 I usually end up setting appointments with 12 of them. 8 of them are pretty serious. I will usually end up closing around 3 of them.

Some weeks I will have 8 people sign contracts. The next zero.

It is hard to tell.

10-15 calls a week in an area of around 2 million people now isn't anything to do back flips about.


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## MikeGC

BamBamm5144 said:


> Google.
> 
> Average between 10-15 calls a week.


Is that from ppc?

What cost per click have you been experiencing?

Do the majority of your click thrus result in a customer lead?

What ppc budget do you recommend?


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## smalpierre

Now we're talkin Bam ... I'm working on my website, and I'm looking into ways for it to make me some money 

How long did it take you to get that number of calls? I'm sure it didn't happen overnight ...


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## BamBamm5144

MikeGC said:


> Is that from ppc?
> 
> What cost per click have you been experiencing?
> 
> Do the majority of your click thrus result in a customer lead?
> 
> What ppc budget do you recommend?


That is from being within the top two on Organic searches. I do not do PPC.



smalpierre said:


> Now we're talkin Bam ... I'm working on my website, and I'm looking into ways for it to make me some money
> 
> How long did it take you to get that number of calls? I'm sure it didn't happen overnight ...


It took about 9 months until I started seeing big results from it. It has been my main source of new lead generation.


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## Bweikel

How much do you spend on that bam? I am also putting together a website right now and and hoping to start pulling in some business from it.


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## BamBamm5144

Bweikel said:


> How much do you spend on that bam? I am also putting together a website right now and and hoping to start pulling in some business from it.


A fair amount of money. I am in a *heavily* saturated market. I have spent nearly 6k in the past year, average of about 500 per month.


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## DamionR

Here's My Top 5

#1 - Internet (PPC and Organic Rankings)
#2 - Referral marketing (having an actual plan to get referrals)
#3 - Newspaper has worked very well
#4 - trade shows in the spring and fall
#5 - Branded marketing. 

I put branding on the list. even though the cost per lead is typically higher with this proactive approach to marketing, I consistently see a higher closing ratio and $ per sale. I attribute this to the trust factor that is established with the branded advertising approach.


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## Spike2101

Don't laugh....but our yard signs (professionally designed) work very well. As long as crazy neighborhood kids don't take them...they are also quite cost effective!


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## Mike's Plumbing

I think it really depends on one factor; time, effort, money and focus all working together and channeled.

For every business it's different and has to be looked at individually. For me I put all my eggs pretty much in one basket and that's networking, I network all day 7 days a week using certain tools and techniques. For some people what I do is something they may not like or feel comfortable doing. I tie this to a monitary goal of billing out labor of $800 a day......very tough for a one man shop. So what I'm saying is the labor goal and the marketing vehicle work together. If I just do a litlle of this and a little of that the sum total is less than if I focused heavy on one type and use other marketing methods as auxillary leads etc.

BamBam has invested a lot of hard work, time, money, and effort into an online presence and the effort is paying off. I'm sure if you ask him he has a monthly goal for revenue he needs to hit with his marketing vehicle. I will also guess that other marketing methods for BamBam are secondary because he discovered online marketing is a great for him, his personality, and his business type.

For a GC I would tend to think an online presence is absolutelly critical and most of your effort should be directed there while other methods are secondary.

The largest problem always seems to be where people don't focus enough on one single method but scattered, to me that spells disaster. 

I hope sirmixalot chimes in here because I know he has an online focus but also puts a lot of effort into Facebook and Twitter. Not sure where he stands on this. 

It's a great topic because when you narrow things down to one item the story changes. One fella just said yard signs and I believe it because if done correctly the exposure can be real rewarding depending on the type of business. I have an expensive press that can make professional signs in seconds but I never use it, if I did focus on this it would give me great results but I prefer networking because it's fun and the profit margins are better. 

For most people online seems to be the ticket however.

Mike


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## HHBG

DamionR said:


> Here's My Top 5
> 
> #1 - Internet (PPC and Organic Rankings)
> #2 - Referral marketing (having an actual plan to get referrals)
> #3 - Newspaper has worked very well
> #4 - trade shows in the spring and fall
> #5 - Branded marketing.
> 
> I put branding on the list. even though the cost per lead is typically higher with this proactive approach to marketing, I consistently see a higher closing ratio and $ per sale. I attribute this to the trust factor that is established with the branded advertising approach.


Can you elaborate on #5? Curious on your vehicle for this. I'm assuming this "branding" never has an offer, etc...that many advertising folks highly suggest?


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## contractorjay

a lot of people on this site will disagree with me, but canvassing is the best lead generator. our company employs 3 canvassers and each will bring in 15-25 leads a week (weather permitting). On average we're looking about 60 qualified leads a week. We'll close 40% leads with each lead averaging $6k-7k. The downside is that you have to have good cash flow to be able to pay your canvassers. Our canvassers earn roughly $4k a month. All are actual employees with proper tax deduction. 

Our next best source are leads from mailers. We only average 30-40 leads a month from mailers and spending about $12-13k a month. Most people would assume that since we're getting most of our leads from canvassing it wouldn't make sense for us to ad in the books. We do mailers for branding purposes. It def helps when our canvassers are knocking and the homeowner says "hey i know you guys, i see you guys everywhere".

Our worst source is word of mouth. We knock and ad so much that all the referrals are eaten up.

This is the first time since 2008 we've been this busy.


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## DamionR

*About The Branding*

HHBG,

We offer push the offer regardless. The motto here is pretty simple - build lead generation now, build branding over time.

I coined a term "proactive marketing" and "reactive marketing" to help others understand this idea a bit more.

Reactive marketing is where the consumer reacts to an event and contacts you due to that event. For example, if a homeowner has a roof that started to leak last night, they may go online to find a roofer, the yellow pages, etc. The event caused them to look for you.

With proactive marketing, you're pushing your message out to the the market to get them thinking about your service when they may nit have intentionally been thinking about it. Things such as TV ads, radio, direct mail, etc.

With the "reactive marketing" approach, leads are (or at least should) be less costly. It's less about exposure and more about getting them to take action with your company over someone else.

With the "proactive marketing" approach, the lead costs typically are a bit more because you have to push your message to the prospect over and over again to get them thinking about your service, and thinking about you.

So why would anyone want to do this "proactive" style of marketing if it costs more? The big value is the branding/"top of mind awareness" that is generated with the prospect. The second big factor is trust. They've heard of you, they've listened to you, they've seen you. They are more likely to trust you because of the exposure over someone they've never heard of before.

Thus, with the trust, comes a higher closing percentage and higher average dollar per sale.

The key to making all of that work is balance. You can't just rely on the reactive marketing approaches. If you do, you'll have many peaks and valleys in your lead flow and sales revenue, because you'll only generate leads when something else causes the prospect to want you.

You can't rely solely on the proactive style of marketing, because the lead cost likely will be to expensive to keep it up for the necessary duration to make it effective.

In the end, a good blend of reactive and proactive marketing can give you the necessary lead flow you need into your business to feed your sales machine, help your closing/sales volume numbers, and keep your cost per lead at an acceptable rate that lets your company be profitable.

Stepping off of my soap box.... hope this strikes a chord in your marketing brain


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## fiveash

I believe that you have to have many things going for you. If you depend on a sole way to receive jobs then your luck will run out. Internet, word of mouth, phone book and advertising while on the job all are great and the only way to stay busy.


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## jameswhite

I have built my business circle, friends and following are also helpful.

Internet, Trade Shows, Newspaper, Referral resources as well.


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## fourcornerhome

Building department / Building Inspector referrals are the best.


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## MktgMeg

Social media is quickly becoming a local platform that many of the home improvement companies that I work with are utilizing to generate effective leads. Being able to interact with your customers in a non-pushy space helps potential leads learn to trust your company and your business. Having a Facebook page isn't enough, its really building your audience, interacting with them, and creating awesome content.

We recently wrote a blog entry about generating home improvement leads through social media-- you can find it here- http://themarketingcorner.com/home-...generate-home-improvement-leads-social-media/

I believe that the internet is truly changing the way that consumers shop for home improvement services, and successful remodelers will be able to capitalize on this platform to generate better leads and close more sales.

Hope this helps!
Thanks!


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## Chris.Prato

Just about all of your customers will check our your website, regardless of the media you advertise in. So set up your website to capture leads.

I'm not talking about the 'request a free quote' that is on most contractor's website. You need to be able to draw in the info seekers as well. If you can offer them valuable information in exchange for their email address, you can then follow up with them, build trust, handle objections, provide more valuable tips they should know, and ultimately close the sale.

People reach the buying phase at different times. Capturing them while they're doing research positions you as an expert and allows you to market to them in a competitive vacuum.

Not enough contractors do this and really, when it's done right, it's the golden ticket.


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