In the flooring industry, consistently meeting or beating revenue goals often boils down to having enough quality sales leads. In a recent Modernize survey of more than 100 home improvement professionals, the challenge of securing quality sales leads emerged as a top concern, following only economic uncertainties and the scarcity of skilled labor.
Flooring contractors have an array of sources for leads at their disposal. According to the Modernize survey, 29% of respondents get their best outcomes from word-of-mouth referrals. However, relying solely on referrals is a slow and uncertain path to revenue growth.
To meet their growth targets, most flooring contractors turn to paid channels for leads. The recent Modernize survey revealed that 21% of contractors obtain optimal results from lead-generation partners, while 17% prefer social media; 11% favor pay-per-click campaigns. Although these digital channels can yield consistent, high-quality leads, managing media and pay-per-click campaigns is becoming increasingly complex due to frequent changes in Google and Facebook algorithms and the escalating costs of high-intent customer search ad bids.
Following are a few practical tips to generating solid leads in the face of fierce competition:
Maximize your partnerships. Choosing the right marketing partners can provide your company with high-quality, cost-effective leads. Set high standards for these partnerships. Your partners should help you exploit available channels, navigate digital complexity, consistently meet your cost and quality criteria and maintain transparency in their operations.
Prioritize relevant metrics. One key aspect of measuring success in lead generation is to select a metric that accurately reflects your business and monitor it diligently. By prioritizing these metrics, flooring contractors can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of their lead-generation strategies, allowing them to make data-driven decisions. The survey conducted by Modernize highlighted the metrics that contractors primarily concentrate on:
- Lead-to-close rates: By monitoring this metric closely, contractors can gauge the effectiveness of their lead generation strategies and make necessary adjustments.
- Overall marketing costs: Monitoring the overall marketing expenditures helps contractors assess the efficiency of their marketing campaigns.
- Cost-per-sale: By analyzing this metric, contractors can evaluate the profitability of their lead generation channels and optimize their efforts accordingly.
- Cost-per-appointment: This metric helps contractors assess the efficiency of their appointment-setting process.
Improve win-rate through speed-to-lead. For flooring contractors, promptly responding to leads can significantly boost conversion rates. Even a delay of five minutes can negatively impact rates.
In today’s tech-driven world, it’s incredibly important to master the complexities of the digital marketing ecosystem and to swiftly respond to the ever-changing shifts in consumer behavior. A strategic marketing approach could make all the difference in hitting (or exceeding) your revenue goals.
Gregg Hicks is a business leader for Modernize Home Services. A longtime marketer of home improvement services, he has 20 years of experience across web analytics, SEO, social, SEM and affiliate marketing.
