Leads are a major part of your business. Some might even say 50% of your efforts, especially for startups, should be focused on lead generation.
Personally, I believe it should be 75%-Lead Generation & 25%-Servicing Customers.
As you get more word-of-mouth and fine-tune your lead generation conversions you’ll have a long list of customers who’ll need more servicing.
It’s not to say that you shouldn’t serve your customers to their utmost pleasure. It’s is only to point out the HUGE elephant in the room. LEAD GENERATION!
I’m sure you’ve heard it stated many times, “Sales is the lifeblood of any company.” And this is true. However lead generation is the lifeblood of sales. Without it, you’re not using leverage to your business’s advantage.
So to get exclusive home improvement leads you have two choices… 1) Generate your own leads. Or 2) Buy leads from an agency.
In the past I’ve worked with many lead brokers and let me describe my experiences with this question; “If home improvement leads are the life-BLOOD of a company, isn’t it natural and more productive for that company to generate its own blood? And maybe, in the case of an emergency, get a blood transfusion?”
The blood transfusion (much like buying leads) might work and it might not, but you can always give it a shot.
Lead Generation is YOUR Business!
At least 50% of your time and/or money should be allocated towards generating exclusive home improvement leads.
And if half of your business involves lead generation, shouldn’t you create and own the system yourself? It would be like having full control over your business’s destiny.
How To Get Discounted Exclusive Home Improvement Leads With Your Own Co-op Lead Generation System
If you plan on owning your business longer than most, investing a portion of your advertising budget into a lead generation system is a smart move. And if you’d really like to use the power of leverage, you need to create a co-op partnership.
A co-op partnership is an association of persons united voluntarily to meet a common goal. In our case, we have a group of businesses in the home improvement industry, not direct competitors, joining together to generate exclusive leads.
Plainly stated, if you can get 3+ other business owners to partner with you in generating exclusive home improvement leads you can share the expenses and rewards of the campaign together.
If you’re a roofing contractor, for example, you shouldn’t find it hard to recruit a plumber, an electrician, a painter, a landscaper, or any other business not in direct competition with you.
In fact, you may already have a few service providers in mind that you currently work with. Give them a call and explain to them the benefits of creating a joint lead generation campaign. I’m sure they’d be excited to share leads and referrals as an exclusive co-op partnership.
Reasons You Should Create YOUR OWN Exclusive Home Improvement Lead Generation System
Take a quick look at just 10 benefits you can receive by developing a home improvement leads system for you and your co-op partners:
- You’ll have 100% ownership of the entire lead system.
- Generate a steady flow of exclusive leads for your home improvement business.
- Obtain more referral leads from your co-op network partners.
- Get high quality leads for a discounted price. Possibly free!
- Become a local authority for home improvement.
- As an ad share, your promotions can reach a wider audience.
- You’ll never have to depend on third party leads.
- It will fuel the spread of word of mouth about your business.
- Your lead system will be a saleable asset & increase the value of your business.
- Gain more control and financial freedom from your business!
As you can see, the work it takes to construct a high converting home improvement lead generation system is well worth the effort.
You can save thousands of dollars in advertising by obtaining co-op partners, and yet claim 100% ownership of the entire system. Literally, you’ll be getting paid for creating a profitable asset to grow your business.
That’s not it… here’s a list of benefits your co-op partners will get:
Benefits Of Your Lead Generation System For Co-op Partners…
- A fully managed process for getting exclusive leads.
- Premiere branding with top local home improvement experts.
- Gain more referral leads from partner businesses.
- Expands the effectiveness of their advertising budget.
- Claim 100% exclusivity for the service they provide. No competitors!
How To Create Your Home Improvement Lead Generation System With Our Help
We understand you’re not a professional marketer. And you likely don’t have a single clue on how to setup a lead generation system. No problem… Leave it to us!
We’ll setup and manage the entire home improvement leads system for you. Once we get it up and rolling you or a staff member will be trained to continue managing it.
ULiveUSA employs creative digital event marketing strategies to design entertaining lead generation systems for small businesses.
Our digital events are short “themed” campaigns designed to capture the attention of local residents. A typical digital event might incorporate video courses, exclusive co-op programs, digital products, specialty services; whatever gets the best results for clients.
It’s a unique lead system custom made for your business’s needs. If you’d like to learn more on how we build our lead generation systems you should read this article, “Generating The Best Qualified Local Leads For Small Businesses”. It will explain the process step-by-step.
What’s Most Important Is The Lead Generation Campaign’s THEME & OFFER
In lead generation it’s the theme that catches attention and the offer that catches contact information. And that’s why we’ll brainstorm with you, analyze your service and market to discover the absolute best theme & offer.
With 5 or more home improvement businesses in your co-op, would it be too much to call your group… “The Home Dream Team”? Your tagline could be, “Your Home Improvement Team, To Build Your Dream”. That’s not a bad theme, is it?
What about an offer? What offer could you make to local residents, that they’d be nuts not to take?
Here are just a few ideas off the top…
- Give people who join your list a free ticket to your co-op networks “Mini Home Show”. (If you get enough leads a small home show might lock-down new projects.)
- Deliver a special guest or “local celebrity” of the home improvement industry to subscribers.
- Offer an exclusive discounted “Home Makeover” package. (Collaborate with your co-op to make an AMAZING one-of-a-kind deal!)
- Giveaway a high value prize to a single winner. (Ex: New deck, carpet or flooring in a room, a snowblower, etc.)
- Giveaway low value gifts to actual leads. (Ex: Home Depot/Lowe’s Gift Card, Free Home Decor Gift, etc.)
- “A Cause Worth Fixing” – Your co-op could donate a percentage of sales to a local charity.
- Free DIY Q&A sessions – Embrace the do-it-yourself market because many will need a professional.
- Give subscribers, who turn into customers, an opportunity to have the story of their project showcased in a “Local Home Improvement” digital and/or print magazine. (Another potential asset for your business!)
- Offer A Do-It-Yourself Consultant Service – Ask a small charge to help DIY people successfully complete their projects. Similar to WeKnowHow.com
- Develop a really good “Yearly Maintenance Program” for introductory customers.
Are you beginning to see the big picture?
We’ll put your theme & offer on a professional sales landing page, setup an email nurturing process and then we’ll start sending traffic to your new home improvement leads system.
Not all traffic is created equal, that being said, we’ll test various traffic methods to identify which converts best for your campaign.
We’ll test online methods like social media marketing, Facebook ads, YouTube ads, search engine marketing (SEM), and other relevant platforms. Offline marketing is not out of the question either. Many home improvement businesses still get fantastic ROI results with local radio and direct mail.
One of the main objectives to generating your own exclusive home improvement leads is getting the best quality leads for the lowest price.
You might find that you get more leads running an ad on the local radio station vs. paying for online ads with Google Adwords. Being aware of important data, like that, will help you determine how to continue investing your money.
After a year of using your home improvement leads system, you should have a handle on which advertising works to convert sales best.
With the advertising expenses being shared by your co-op network, you’ll have more flexibility in testing your lead system.
Are you ready to create your own co-op exclusive home improvement leads system? Please get in touch with me at support@ulivewv.com so we can discuss your campaign.