With people spending more time at home, this is the best time to sort out any home repairs or renovations. This translates to more work for the trade industry, which is new clients and yes, more money. With social distancing measures in place, you’ll be able to respond to calls for jobs and complete them with no trouble. But how exactly does a tradie end up encountering these clients? At Tradies Accountant, we’re working with tradies that have a healthy number of clients. We’ve compiled 5 ways that they are getting leads successfully during the coronavirus pandemic.
It’s no secret that the HiPages website has been connecting tradies to jobs for a while now. With over 100 000 jobs posted monthly from different parts of Australia, HiPages exists to eliminate the tough part of gaining quality leads.
HiPages comes with a couple of interesting features that seek to add value to all the tradies that sign up on their platform. For instance, if you’re worried about paying commission, they won’t take it.
The only payments you’ll make are for the initial registration on their site. Thereafter you’ll be able to view jobs available, select categories you fit into, and even set up the radius comfortable with you. Reviews are also convenient because you’ll be able to share those 5-star ratings with all your potential customers.
As for admin work, you’ll spend lesser time doing it because as soon as a customer shows interest, you’ll have access to resources that can create quotes, send receipts, and communicate with the client.
There’s even space for you to post before-and-after images of other jobs that you’ve done. As you can imagine, this connects you to a larger pool of customers than you could reach without the platform.
Have you ever checked how many tradies have websites?
Not a lot.
This is mostly because tradies are used to word of mouth as a medium for getting jobs. In all honesty, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, until it’s a pandemic and the closest you can get to a person is a wave, with mouth sealed by a mask. If you do go back into that Google search, you might not find any tradie website available for your category. And guess what, neither can your customers.
A well thought out lead generation strategy can produce a standing result for your trade business during the pandemic. Think of it as your office but online and with more people who can walk in and inquire. You can easily find reputable people to build your website or you can do it yourself via WordPress, Weebly, or Wix. You’ll need to have a lot of time to sit down with it, however. Your best bet is to get someone who can complete it within a few days and your business will be up and running. Having a website is also comparable to having a sort of portfolio that people can refer to whenever they are seeking your services.
Ah, the wonderful world of social media! With more people spending time at home, it’s a given that they’ll be on their smartphones. Very few people do not have a Facebook account. Did you know that there are 1.49 billion daily active users on Facebook? 47% of these same users only access Facebook through their mobile phones. And another fun fact, Facebook adds about 500,000 new users daily. Can you imagine the number of people that you reach out to through this one platform alone?
There are millions of social media apps available today, but Facebook is business-friendly, apart from the fact that it has a massive pool of potential clients just waiting for you. A lot of tradies do not have websites and yes, they have not opened a Facebook page. With all the facts given above, your business must have a Facebook page where your customers can connect with you immediately and book you for a job. All forms of businesses are harnessing the support that Facebook offers to all kinds of businesses in the world right now. For a tradesman, this means a smoother and quicker alternative to gaining new leads during the pandemic.
About taking advantage of the fact that people are more at home and online, this is the perfect time to create a wealth of digital content. Depending on your trade category, this digital content can range from topics that your customers ask you the most. These can be regular FAQ’s, or even handy DIY’s that they can do on their own.
This gives the impression that you are helpful and not only planning on getting money from your customers but also equipping them with trade tips that they can try out on their own. It also shows you as a professional that will mostly show up for tasks that only require an expert. Keep in mind that this content can be in the form of videos, guides, tutorials, blogs, as well as infographics. If the content that you are producing gives some form of value to your prospects, they will reach you for any jobs that need an expert in your field.
Remote work is probably the fastest and safest way for tradies to work in a pandemic. How?
Apart from doing the job itself most of your other business operations can be done online. This includes your administration along with other daily activities. The key is to train your team to adapt to non-traditional ways of completing tasks. Your marketing team is fully capable of executing their work through apps such as Slack and Teams. This is true for almost all your departments apart from the on-site team that physically needs to show up at a customer’s location for work.
Adapting remote systems of operations won’t hamper your face to face interactions as you’re used to since there is room for video calls and accountability of tasks. Your marketing team can take into consideration the above 4 tips and you’ll be getting a healthy number of customers in no time.
All effective strategies include great accounting. Your business might need better bookkeeping or help in tax deductions. Having more clients is any business’ dream, but it won’t transform the state of your finances if they aren’t being managed well already. Book a consultation with us, to make sure that your cash flow is smooth before initiating the steps.