Looking for electrical leads and coming up short? We all want to grow our businesses, but it’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind of operations and electrical work.
But how do you get more leads and customers to boost your business, especially when you can barely juggle the day to day?
We have a series of strategies that you can start implementing today to get more potential customers in the queue!
In this article we’ll cover how to:
- Focus marketing efforts on content.
- Use reviews and referrals.
- Create the best customer experience.
- Utilize flyers and doorhangers.
1. Focus Your Marketing Dollars on Content!
Traditional advertising channels still work, just not very well. Radio, print and mailers still have a place in the marketing world, but most businesses are taking a long look at what they invest in to capture more electrical leads.
What’s the big deal with content marketing?
Content marketing such as social media, emails, blogs, articles and videos that help a potential customer with a common problem grab 3 times as many leads as traditional marketing. And it costs LESS THAN HALF!
Ignoring content marketing is like handing all those leads to your competition.
So how can you start? You’re probably already doing some content marketing, you just didn’t know it. Do you have blogs or articles on your website? Do you post on Facebook or Twitter? Let’s take a quick look at the main content marketing lead generating goldmines.
Email Marketing
Capturing a client’s email allows you to contact them using all the great marketing tools that are available today. These tools make it easy to automate points of contact, appointment reminders and promo blasts.
Follow these basics of creating a winning email campaign:
- Identify your email audience
- Draft a campaign with a series of messages targeting that audience
- Write attention-grabbing subject lines for your messages
- Segment your list based on location, service type, etc.
- Determine the timeline for sending your messages to each defined group
You’ll begin to see what works and what doesn’t with metrics such as open rate, click-through rate and unsubscribe rate to shape your next campaign.
Company Blog
If your electrical site has a blog, its traffic increases significantly. The more blog content you create, the more you will show up in search engines and drive organic visitors to your website. Here’s why:
Active Websites with blogs get 125% more traffic.
Strive for an active website with new content posted every week. Every time you post a blog, you increase your visibility on the web leading to more clicks to your site.
Plus, Google will notice you and will be more likely to show your blog or webpage to people searching for plumbing-related terms in your area.
What does this mean? More traffic on your site can drive more leads and referrals.
Activity also creates a reason for prospects to visit your site again and again, so make sure to create continuous, quality content.
How to pick blog topics: The power of keywords
Picking blog topics can seem overwhelming.
Blogs with relevant keywords will also increase traffic to your website. If you include keywords that prospects are typing in their search bar, Google and other search engines are more likely to share your content in search results.
Make sure that your electrical blogs are centered around electrician-related keywords that potential customers will use when searching.
Here are a few free resources used to find keywords your potential customers may be using:
Once you have keyword ideas, pick one keyword or phrase and write a blog on the topic. Here are a few ideas:
- Rewire a house
- How to find a certified electrician
- Electrical repair
You get the idea. Need more inspiration? Think of issues or questions your customers frequently bring to you. If you are repeatedly asked a certain question, people are also probably searching for answers on Google.
Don’t be afraid to work keywords into your blog. Authoring software such as WordPress even uses plug-ins to gauge your keyword use and SEO (search engine optimization) to rank higher on a search engine results page.
Call-To-Action
Make sure to add a call-to-action button on every blog post. It can keep people engaged with your site by going to other pages, as well as helping to drive more leads. This also shows search engines your site is engaging.
Make sure your call to action will help generate interest and leads. Here are two examples:
- A bonus piece of content such as an e-book or checklist in exchange for the reader’s contact information. These contacts can turn into a lead generating machine for your sales team.
- Instructions for how to contact you or your electrical team to learn more. A phone number, email address, or online form are all good options!
For more helpful tips on electrical blog posts check out: How Electrical Blog Posts Help Businesses and Tips for Great Blogs
Social Media
When you post a blog, it’s a great opportunity to also share the blog to your social media accounts.
Promoting your blog from Facebook, Instagram or Twitter increases your chances of clicks and visitors to your site. It also shows followers that you are active and a thought leader in your community.
Plus, social media can help with lead generation if you post any specials or promotions your company is running. Also, if you have a customer referral program, make sure you are posting about that! (More on referral programs next!)
Be sure to check out 10 Ways to Supercharge Your Electrician Marketing to learn more about electrician marketing!
2. Rock The Reviews and Referrals
Reviews and referrals are two great ways to secure electrical leads. After all, most potential customers look at online reviews of your service before they even contact you.
So, you want to make sure you do your due diligence to ensure you have a positive presence on the big review sites.
92% of B2B buyers are more likely to purchase after reading a trusted review.
Reviews
Every business strives for 5-star reviews. So, it’s very important to do everything in your power to make sure you spend the time and effort to ask for reviews and respond to reviews: positive and even more importantly, negative.
Here are several of the most popular online review sites and some information on each one.
- Google: Make sure you have claimed your business’ physical address on your Google Business page. Customers can leave a review from a browser or on a business’ Google Maps page.
- Facebook: No longer called reviews, Facebook’s recommendations allow customers to leave a yes/no if they recommend a business along with pictures and why they do or don’t recommend.
- Yelp: Yelp has been around for more than 17 years, so it’s an important player in the reviews game. With more than 240 million reviews, home services account for about 18% of these reviews.
- Angi (formerly Angie’s List): A top site for home services reviews that homeowners frequent.
- NextDoor: Allows members to post local recommendations and businesses to set up a page or post ads
- LinkedIn and Glassdoor: These websites allow employees to leave reviews on working at your business. While not used for sales, it’s still a good idea to check for any recent employee reviews about your company!
Most people have a smartphone. And 87% of them have at least one of the following on their phone: Google, Facebook and Yelp. That’s why it’s important to encourage happy customers to leave reviews for potential customers to find.
Referrals
Stat: 64% of marketers agree that word-of-mouth is the most effective form of marketing.
A solid referral program can stir up new business and rewards both the referrer and referee. Good referrals are a result of good customer service.
For instance, you can offer an incentive of 20% off of a service fee for both the existing customer who provides the referral as well as the new customer.
Once you have your referral program finalized, it’s time to promote it. Tell your customers about it while on site and add the offer to your marketing materials. And don’t forget to share on social media!
A key to keeping track of these referrals is to have solid field service software that can make tracking and implementing referral programs easy.
3. Create The Best Customer Experience Ever!
“Approach each customer with the idea of helping him or her to solve a problem or achieve a goal, not of selling a product or service”
-Brian Tracy
When a customer calls you out on a service call, your business has a great opportunity. Not just to forge a relationship with this one customer, but all the friends, family or coworkers they may tell about your services.
It’s a great responsibility, so you want to do everything you can to create a great impression and leave the customer satisfied and ready to recommend you to others.
Here are a few things you can do to make sure you make this customer experience memorable:
- Present yourself as a professional. This means a clean cut uniform, washed service vehicles (van wraps featuring your brand), shoe coverings, and magnetic plumbing business cards.
- Document the simple things you learn from conversations. Capture what the customer does for a living, conflicts on certain days of the week, etc. These can be used later to schedule future appointments or just to further the relationship.
- Use simple language. When on the job keep the electrician lingo to a minimum and state the diagnosis in simple terms..
- Give the customer a choice. Offer different service or equipment options to your customer if possible. This will put the choice into the customer’s hands. Plus, offering different price points shows that you’re not charging them for an expensive option they don’t need.
Creating a positive respectful relationship with the client will undoubtedly help your credibility. The more impressed customers are with your service, the more your customers will be likely to recommend you. . Word of mouth is huge, and you want to ensure that you did everything you could on each visit.
4. Distribute Flyers & Door Hangers to the Neighborhood
This may sound a little old school, but handing out flyers and hanging doorhangers in local neighborhoods still works! Electrical work is one type of job most homeowners don’t want to mess with due to that whole electricity danger thing.
Here are a few tips for picking up some new clients with printed leave-behinds:
- Five-Arounds: Not familiar with this strategy? After you complete your current service call, hit up the five surrounding houses: the neighbors on both sides and the three across the street. Leave a door hanger or flyer at each address.
- Leave-Behinds: Make sure to leave something with your customer, even if it’s just a magnetic business card. Everyone likes free items, so you can leave anything with your branding and contact information: pens, chip clips, a water bottle or other trinket.
- Business Cards: You should always have business cards on hand to help promote your services. Don’t hesitate to introduce yourself and leave your card with anybody you meet!
See how FieldEdge can help bring in new electrical leads. Book your FREE personalized demo today!
You’re Ready To Become An Electrical Lead Generating Machine!
So there’s a few steps to get you going on generating more business. We know lead generation is hard work, but spending just a few more hours a month on these strategies is sure to provide results.
Use what you learned in this post to:
- Create content to stir up leads.
- Generate leads with referrals and reviews.
- Provide the best customer experience
- Gain more clients with flyers and door hangers.
Now you’re ready to get out there and get more clients!
