How Smart Remodelers Use Marketing to Pre-Qualify Leads & Make More Money
Let’s all agree the market right now is crazy. I don’t think we’ve ever seen this type of demand in residential construction. From the outside, others might be jealous, but you and I both know that there are a lot of challenges that come with this kind of demand. Supply chain issues, labor shortage, and on and on.
Today I want to outline some simple, effective strategies you can use to ensure you’re actually taking home more money in today’s market. Notice I said “taking home” and not “making more”. We’re going to focus on profit, not revenue today.
We’re going to start with the premise that better projects lead to better gross margins which leads to more net profit (take home pay).
Okay, so how does marketing play a role in landing better projects? Let’s dig in.
Content
The first line of defense in our marketing is to use content to pre-qualify leads. What does that mean? In short, our content will attract the right audience, turn away the wrong audience and bring the cream to the top.
How does this play out with some real examples?
Cost/Pricing Related Content
One of the biggest complaints I hear from remodelers is getting “tire kicker” leads. What do tire kickers want to know (along with everyone else)?
What will it cost?
The easy answer is to address it! Talk about cost and pricing openly on your website. If your typical kitchen is $150K, you might write a blog about how kitchen remodels in your area are usually $100K to $250K. Then explain why someone might be on the lower, middle and end of that range.
This educates your prospect and attracts those who have this type of budget. And those $30K budget leads? They end up never reaching out because they want to find someone who can do it for less. Win-win!
Project Spotlights
Using project spotlights is another fantastic way to accomplish a similar goal to pricing and cost related content.
By featuring top notch projects, using high end photography and ideally video, you start to really show people the kind of company you are. Showing, not telling is the key here.
Here’s the approach I recommend if you’re trying to use your projects to disqualify the wrong leads. Let’s say you do 20 projects per year. There’s a good chance 5 to 10 of those projects won’t be “wow” projects. They will look nice, but they don’t have the flare or the edge. Don’t feature them. Only feature your top projects that speak to the audience you’re trying to attract.
Showcasing your best will attract more of that. And frankly, it will intimidate prospects with a lower end budget which is exactly what you want.
Forms
Our second line of defense will be our forms. Think about the form on your Contact Us page or your Schedule a Consultation page. Is it actually working hard for you to qualify bad fit leads out so only the best opportunities come through?
In general, the longer the form, the less people fill it out (lower conversion rate). Right now, you probably want to have a longer form with more questions. During slower times, you might consider shortening the form.
After length, we want to consider the type of questions to ask your prospects. In times of high demand, here are some questions that can help you identify the best projects and opportunities.
- Service needed? (checkboxes)
- Kitchen
- Bath
- Addition
- Basement
- Other
- Budget (dropdown select)
- $100K - $200K
- $200K - $300K
- $300K-$500K
- $500K-$1M
- $1M+
- Location of project (drop down select with cities/towns)
- Describe what you’re looking to accomplish with your project. (open ended)
Notice, the first question helps weed people out by service type. If you don’t do bathrooms and the prospect only checks that box, you can reply quickly and let them know you don’t offer that service unless it’s bundled with another room.
The budget question automatically signals to prospects you don’t do projects under $100K which immediately weeds out lower budget prospects. Note: you can strategically pick your own price ranges in the drop down menu based on where your sweet spot is.
The location question also automatically weeds out prospects that are out of your area because they won’t see their area listed in the drop down menu.
And finally, the last question gives you a chance to get more context on the project that may drive you to turn away the prospect or book the first meeting.
Summary
Your website and marketing are extremely powerful tools in any market conditions. You can modify your messaging, change your form fields, accelerate or pull back your ad spend. Use these powerful marketing levers to either pull in more leads or push away leads depending on your goals.
Now that you’re read this article, I highly recommend you take some action and at least look at your forms on your website to ensure they’re working hard to save you time and make you more money during this crazy time.
Want to see what your website score is?
My team created a free tool, Remodeler Website Grader.
About the Author:
Spencer Powell is CEO of Builder Funnel, an inbound marketing agency in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Spencer comes from a long line of builders who have been in business for over 110 years now, dating back to his great grandfather. Spencer led the family’s digital marketing efforts and helped grow their remodeling division from $2M to $10M over four years and has since helped hundreds of remodelers grow their businesses.
Spencer is the author of the Best Selling book, The Remodeler Marketing Blueprint. He hosts two industry podcasts, Builder Funnel Radio and Remodeler Stories, and is the founder of Remodeler Growth Community.