In our previous episode of the Contractor’s Survival Guide series, we walked you through how you can help your sales operations team from home. For this segment, we’re joined by special guest Nate Tall, sales director at Podium, to explain how to boost lead generation. We’re here to provide you with some valuable insight on boosting lead generation during a pandemic.
Short-Term & Long-Term Lead Generation Strategies
First, we want to help you define what your strategy is. Is your objective from a long-term play or short-term play? Long-term would refer to a strategy that would play out for 6-months or longer and slowly deliver and slowly nurture relationships throughout the process. Short-term play would mean that you’re in need of leads right now and would have to achieve goals quickly.
We recommend that you focus on both long and short play strategies at the same time. Some ways to do that are through nurture programs, which will have multiple touches for the same customer through multiple channels.
For short play goals, a big thing is to create urgency for the consumer to make a purchase. You should also understand the needs of your customers to help convey the value of your product/service.
Another recommendation for short-term play is to make yourself available for the people that are looking for you. While you can’t be face-to-face with them, your business should use text to communicate with customers and create a way for customers to be able to text you first.
For long-term play, take any extra time you have to evaluate ways you can improve your business operations via cutting costs, saving time, and thinking ahead.
Identifying the Right Lead Generation Channels
Another method to get new leads is through identifying the multiple channels you can use to communicate with your customers and market to them. You can use:
- Social
- Webchat
- Texting
- Snail Mail
- Lead Services
- Phones/Word of Mouth
- Syergizers and Automation
Double down on what is still working for your business and what is your most effective channel. Take advantage of digital methods to get new leads, such as online reviews, placing CTAs on your website, and leaving a footprint on other pages.
Establishing a Budget
As a business who’s concerned about business costs, look at whether you’re going to invest more, less, or the same amount into your budget. Focus on getting the best value for where you’re at and where you want to go. Then, consider ROI. Look at different types of lead generation platforms and what is going to be the best ROI for you and your market with the budget you have.
Also, ask yourself how are you going to supplement your budget. There is a lot of free marketing that you can do to help your business, so you should really just be investing in operational costs.
Co-Ops are great opportunities you can do that are often available and pre-budgeted so you can get ahead of your competitors. Simply reach out to any vendors, manufacturers, or subcontractors that you work with to try to put together joint programs with them.
Also, be aware of the new CARES Act by the SBA and local banking to give you additional financial assistance.
Executing the Plan
Now that you’ve got a budget in place and what channels to use, you need to execute the plan. Draw it up, make sure you have a long-term and short-term plan, and avoid perfection. Often times you want things to be perfect and exact, but some marketing is better than no marketing, especially when you’re looking to act quickly. Get your message right, but interate the details as you go.
Once you’ve activated your plan, make sure you have some metrics or goals in mind on how you’re going to measure the success of your program.
Additionally, you should have different plans for your short- and long-term strategies. What are your plans for different time frames (today, 1 month, 3 months, 6+ months)? We also recommend that you network with the people you know to see what’s working and what isn’t to get new ideas for your business.
The Message
The message is an often overlooked area of lead generation strategies, but very important. You must have a CTA for each new message. Also, determine your value propositions and align your messaging around those. Don’t get distracted on other features.
Your copy also has the power to convert prospects into leads. Copy is a science. Don’t overlook or underestimate it, look at resources to learn more about writing good copy. You can use YouTube, podcasts, or books to get free information on any of these subject matters.
To watch the full webinar of this topic, you can view it here. Next on our Contractor’s Survival Guide series, we’ll be discussing how to manage your team remotely. Partners CompanyCam and Roofing Insights will join us to teach you tips and tricks to help get your team back on track. Be sure to register for our webinar series to watch more about building your business from home.
