“The more prospects you talk to, the more sales you expose yourself to, the more orders you will get.” – David Ogilvy

Last month, we shared various ways to generate new leads for your field service business and promised another round-up of ideas. If you’re a service professional, you know that the more sources of leads you have, the better off you are, so here are some strategies to consider to help you get new customers.

1. Place Customer Testimonials on Your Homepage

“In today’s Internet-driven culture, consumers will spend a half an hour looking at customer reviews on Amazon before making a $12 purchase” (Signature Style PR). Think then about how much more weight customer testimonials and reviews will have on home services where more customer communication and interaction is involved. The more visible customer testimonials or reviews are on your site, the better, so try to make room for them on your homepage. You should also consider showcasing your customers’ photos (if they’re open to it) as photos are shown to increase perceived trust). If it’s harder to update your website, ask your satisfied customers to share a review on social media, which you can easily share to your networks.

2. Target Specific Homes

Some field service businesses send out mass mailers promoting their services, but if you key in on new neighborhoods in your area or old homes for sale, you could save on marketing costs and likely get better results. We all know about Zillow.com and Trulia.com for real estate listings. To find new construction homes, we like NewHomeSource.com, which has listings from over 8,000 new home communities across the country. You can also simply google “brand new homes” or “new construction homes”, which should pull up results for your area.

New communities are especially great to target because these homeowners will likely be needing a bunch of services — painting, lawncare, cleaning services, you name it! Why not get your company in front of these potential customers even before they jump online to search for services they need?

3. Make Use of Your Email Signature

Don’t bypass simple ways to generate leads that also won’t cost you anything, such as updating your email signature to include a compelling call to action. If you’re currently offering any discounts or promotions, this is a great place to bring attention to them– the same thing goes for new initiatives like a referral program.

Another good piece of advice that people often forget: have a mobile email signature. Every email from your company should have a good email signature, including those you or your techs send from your phones. This will keep you looking professional and consistent to your customers and prospects.

4. Try Out Instagram Ads

Lately we’ve noticed field service companies making use of Instagram ads and it’s probably got everything to do with the higher engagement users are seeing on the platform, which include brands and companies. “While Facebook has the numbers (the latest count is 1.7 billion vs Instagram’s 400 million), Instagram dominates when it comes to engagement” (Glew). User interaction with brands is “10 times higher on Instagram than Facebook, 54 times higher than Pinterest and 84 times higher than Twitter” (Forrester). As far as ad costs are concerned, the latest numbers show that Facebook and Instagram’s cost-per-clicks are pretty head to head. With its younger audience than Facebook, service professionals could also consider Instagram as a way to reach the younger generation who may be seeking their services as well.

5. Follow up With Leads

So a person finds your website and fills out your lead capture form, but chooses a competitor or never gets back to you after you reach out. Then, what? It can end there, but it doesn’t have to. You’ve got their contact information, so why not use that as an opportunity to market to them in the future?Test out a “Try us again” email tied with a promotional offer. Be as creative as you want to be here! A cleaning service could offer 10% off their cleaning service or try something different like a “Free 1 room carpet spot treatment” to get the opportunity to talk to the customer.

Want more ideas? Generating leads can be as simple as creating a great website or asking customers for referrals. Yelp is also a great source for new business. Have you seen particular success with generating leads? We’d love to hear from you. Leave us a comment below!

Last modified: October 11, 2019