Commercial building construction leads don’t have to be that difficult to find when you implement the correct lead generation strategies. However, the most common mistake is to focus on way too many methods and over 50% of them are not the correct ones.
Thus, we are confident that if you are having a hard time generating leads it is mainly because of how you have been planning your marketing strategy and the lead generation options you are implementing.
The construction niche (overall) is a hard one as more people are joining it and trying to get their clients. Therefore, we recommend focusing on the basics yet crucial strategies that will boost your lead generation process.
Where should you start and what should you include? Below, you will get the chance to go over the best strategies we can share so your commercial building construction leads are almost guaranteed and of high quality.
Create Engaging Content
Experts are the best source of engaging content for most people. Create a blog about residential construction that you can link to from your website. Your website will rise to the top of search engine results pages if you keep adding new, engaging content. You will never attract high-quality leads if you invest in lead generation for construction. Your prospects will feel more confident in making informed decisions about their construction solutions if they have engaging content.
Engagement content could include:
Photos– Before and After photos can make a big difference to new prospects.
Videos– A great way to keep up with the marketing curve. It’s easy to make FAQs, how-to videos, and educational videos that add value to your market.
Case studies– Featured Projects are a great way to show and explain to your prospects how your projects are handled and the results you deliver to them.
Consumer Awareness Guidelines – This content is designed to educate your market and aid in decision-making.
Advertise
Now that you know your niche, it’s time to put that knowledge to work. You can place local targeted ads in social media, Google Ads, and traditional billboards if you’re doing remodeling work in a particular neighborhood. Potential customers will look for a company that has done great work in the past when choosing a contractor. They are looking for a trusted brand.
Contact Your Clients & Prospects
Instead of sending messages, call your prospects and clients each week. It is possible to make time to meet with several clients, prospects, and referral sources in person once per week. Remodelers AutoPilot app can help you keep in touch with former customers, leads, and prospects. You will help keep your company’s memory fresh and open up new possibilities for you by staying in touch with them.
Be Available to Your Construction Clients
Being available means all communication channels are open and someone is available to answer calls from customers and potential buyers. Don’t let your email account get cluttered with unread emails or your Twitter account go stale. Clients will appreciate your prompt and efficient response. This will result in better reviews and a competitive edge.
No matter what strategy you choose, sticking with your plan until it becomes a routine will ensure your success. Although habits can be difficult to keep, they are very effective in the long term. Make a plan and stick to it.
Know Your Customers (And Where to Find Them)
You must first imagine the item you are looking for.
If you are looking for A-grade clients, it is important to have an idea of who your ideal A grade client looks like. You should think about what your ideal client needs, such as ideal income, age and attitude.
After you have taken a photo of them, consider the situations that cause them to feel intense emotions. What frustrates them? What are they really looking for?
Next, mold your product or service to address those emotions.
Also, you might want to do research about what features are most appealing to your ideal clients so that you can implement those features in your service. Get to know your ideal client. It’s a great way to get to know your ideal clients. Don’t just think about yourself and how much you get paid. Think about what you can do for your clients.
We Consistently Deliver On-Time and on-budget Projects
Contractors who are successful can be defined by their ability to meet deadlines and budgets. Client satisfaction should be the primary goal. This means that clients receive consistent value by meeting these objectives. Every project in construction is unique and poses its own challenges. Contractors can simplify their work processes by using cutting-edge construction technologies to improve productivity, mitigate risks, reduce errors, and increase collaboration. This will make it easier for them to complete projects on time and on budget.
The best chance for success is for a project team to work well in the field, communicate seamlessly with the back office, and collaborate across the entire organization. The cloud-based, integrated construction management software platforms, mobile apps, and business intelligence solutions today are helping contractors to work smarter and more efficiently. Clients feel more at ease knowing that their projects are in good hands by creating a collaborative environment.
Leading contractors also embrace software and technologies that increase efficiencies, such as prefabrication, drones, and robotics. Technology-driven companies are better equipped to meet budget and time requirements.
Word-of-mouth
Word of mouth is the best way to find your next gig. After all, if people who have used your services are satisfied with your work, they will recommend you to others in need.
This method is not the best, but it can be a bit passive. You’re waiting for work to come along, and not actively searching for it. You can be proactive by giving people business cards.
Ask your local chip shop or corner store staff if they would be willing to leave some on the counter. Give them away at parties, to family members, to friends, and to keep in constant circulation. Magnetic magnets are even better!
It’s possible to be the next business opportunity. Keep a few business cards with you and keep it updated. Make sure they link to a website, Facebook page, or another online platform. If possible, include all of your best testimonials as well as high-quality photos of your work.
Your business can also be advertised 24/7 by putting your details on your vehicle/work van. However, it is important to keep it simple and tasteful.
Social Media
Nearly everyone is on Facebook these days, and research has shown that Facebook is the preferred way to find a tradesperson. This compares with just 11% for Twitter, its largest rival.
Keep this in mind when you create your Facebook page. Create a business page. Keep it updated with photos of your work, testimonials from clients, and dates. Although you don’t have to post every day, if a client goes on a search for a plumber and finds a page that hasn’t been updated in 2017, chances are they will continue looking.
It doesn’t take long to find a “Find a Tradesperson” Facebook group in your area. They can be used by members and moderators to encourage tradespeople or to help people post job requests for contractors.
Websites You Recommend
You’ll need to be present on recommendation sites online in order to get your business seen by potential clients. The most popular of these recommendation sites are probably checkatrade.com, but there’s also ratedpeople.com, mybuilder.com, and toptradespeople.co.uk, among others. This is a great way to get your business listed on these sites. Their approval gives your business an extra layer of security and trust, especially if you have good reviews and your website is current.
These websites can be a great way to drive new business. However, you need to evaluate whether the monthly subscription fee to appear on them is worth the business opportunities you are receiving.
Your website is the ideal place to store all your content. It should be curated and organized in a way that maximizes your business’ appeal. Every contractor or freelancer nowadays has its own website.
Your business story will be told in a way that no one else can. Make sure to invest time in making your website clear, modern, and friendly. A website that isn’t loved by customers won’t make them feel comfortable about hiring you for their kitchen or loft conversion.
When you are facing a fearful dry spell, remember that these things only affect contractors once in a while and don’t last. These things can be viewed as positive. You have the chance to improve your online presence and establish yourself on social media.
If you are dedicated to the cause, you can make a difference in your life by overcoming one dry spell and establishing habits that will last you a lifetime.
Build a Website
Websites are essential for every business. This is how customers find professionals to work with, and it’s a way for businesses to generate more sales and construction projects.
Your website will be listed if you perform a quick search of professionals in your area.
This is even more effective if you have a Google My Business account for your website, so you can use their hyperlocal targeting.
To ensure potential clients can contact you quickly, your contact information should be clearly displayed.
Your website can be used to showcase your talents. Past projects can be a great way for potential customers to see what you can do. You can also include testimonials from clients that you have worked with or continue to work with to help build your reputation and keep you in the minds of potential clients.
You might be wondering if it is really that easy to build a website. You didn’t have to. But now, you have many options to choose from until you can afford a better option and create a professional website.
Keep in mind that running a business takes work and effort. If you want to generate residential or commercial construction leads for free, then you may need to give more.
Optimize Your Website
If someone says that your website is the best tool to convert leads into your construction business, they are probably right.
Many people believe that word-of-mouth referrals are their most valuable asset. But where do the referrals go when someone recommends you to someone who needs your services?
Spoiler alert: Your website.
We kind of spoilt that in the last option, since we discussed how important a site is. But this is something we wanted to be sure was clear.
People will attempt to find information about your first contact, regardless of whether it’s an email, a call, or some other action.
This logic will lead them to search for your business in order to decide if it is worth their time. It is obvious that any 21st-century consumer will Google your business before any other.
They must be able to make it to your site. You will also give them plenty of opportunities to convert them, without any investment or struggle.
You should optimize your website for conversions from the internet.
If you want to grow your client base and increase sales, word-of-mouth referrals are not the only way to get leads. You will lose to your competition and, regardless of how much effort you put in, the results will be disappointing.
Optimizing your website should result in more visitors. Conversion tools can be used to generate leads once new visitors have visited your site.
Are you unsure which conversion tool to use? These three tools are recommended by most marketers for both construction professionals and professional contractors:
Calls for Action
Call-to-action is any page on your website that encourages people to take action. This means that you encourage people to take action during their visit.
What do you like? Follow, like, comment, request a quote, request a bid for a project, and so forth.
Calls to action on your website make it easier for qualified leads to convert and are easily visible.
Keep in mind that you only want future clients who are worth your time and effort. You don’t want to be a client who visits your website every 15 seconds or less.
The people who are most worth your time when looking for construction services will be the ones that you choose to spend your time on.
Content offers
Calls to Action are a great way to convert qualified leads into buying decisions. However, if someone is starting to look into construction companies, it may seem excessive to ask for a quote. They aren’t necessarily able (most of them) immediately to find the right company or experts.
But, they can still be potential leads. These visitors require a soft conversion opportunity. You will encourage them to do so since it is where content offers are made. A section of your website can allow you to offer content. This section often includes a contact form or inclusion that allows you to collect information about potential clients and visitors.
Your sales team doesn’t need to do anything but offer qualified conversion opportunities via content offers. These are great opportunities to increase lead generation for your construction business without adding too much effort to your sales team.
Conversational Marketing
This method is often overlooked or forgotten by most people. We also understand how it can be a little difficult to remember when you look at the other methods. It is one of the most effective ways to convert leads into clients.
What is conversation marketing? Conversation marketing is basically establishing a dialogue with your leads using tools or support, or answering their questions.
Chatbots and conversational marketing tools can be used to increase traffic to your most visited pages. It’s great to have a homepage and pages that highlight your work.
Chatbots can answer questions and provide information about past projects.
The chatbot can answer your questions according to pre-established conversations, or you can have someone from your sales team reply directly through the chatbot.
The best thing about the chatbot? It can collect contact information from potential leads, so your sales team can follow up.
If the lead isn’t qualified, your sales team will direct them to another side that can provide them with answers, but not waste your time. This will eliminate unqualified leads from the sales pipeline.
Conversational marketing is still a relatively new technology but it can help visitors convert to leads.
Studies show that visitors are more likely to become leads if they get the information they need quickly.
Conversational marketing tools allow you to quickly answer your questions when they are most relevant. They make sure your website is available even when salespeople aren’t there.
Do Not Forget About the Referrals & Reviews
Although you won’t believe it, one of the best ways for construction leads to come from your customers is through their words.
Ask for testimonials after a job has been completed to allow future customers to see real reviews.
If you didn’t know, people trust brands and people 90% more than they trust someone they have recommended to them.
You can ask your friend or relative for recommendations if they are in need of similar services.
This is our favorite way to find construction leads. As long as you offer great services and your customers are satisfied, they will refer you without hesitation.
To get free leads for construction jobs, you must provide excellent customer service. Don’t let this happen. Here are some tips to help you provide it:
- Do not be late. Be on time.
- Your customers will be thankful if you keep your word.
- Professionalism is important.
- Be polite and courteous when dealing with customers.
- Make sure to tidy up your job site
- Make it attractive.
One last tip: Referral discounts can be offered to encourage customers to spread your business’ name.
Local Networking
It’s easy and cost-free to network in your community and get more leads.
It’s as simple as placing business cards at your local coffee shop. Participating in community service projects can also be a great way to get involved. But only if you have the time.
This option will benefit others and show your company’s values. It will also demonstrate your willingness to go above and beyond to help those in need.
You can also network by sharing your knowledge with friends and neighbors as well.
Some companies believe that sharing knowledge is a bad idea. They feel people will be more inclined to take on the project themselves than to call a professional.
This can be true. However, it all depends on how your handle sharing your knowledge.
You can give them all the information they need and offer your services free of charge. They won’t hesitate to call a professional if you provide all the answers. If you make it more interesting and explain why a professional is the best choice, they will be willing to give the service another chance.
Past Successes are Equal to More Leads
What strategies work best for your construction company? What has failed?
Track your progress to identify the areas that are working and those that aren’t, so you can get more leads in future.
If you ask us, a CRM is the best option to track and analyze data related to your marketing and lead generation efforts. You can still use your daily contacts to determine what is working to generate leads.
How does the CRM work with the people you speak to? Here’s a quick overview:
Talk to your leads about how you came across them.
This will help you to understand the source of your leads, and also assist you in determining which generation strategies are most effective at generating new leads.
Ask your customers to tell you why they choose you as their construction company.
Are they enjoying your content? How about the most recent guides and posts that you’ve shared? Do they prove to be useful? Are you the first Google search result? What made your company stand apart from all the rest?
These questions will help you understand the best lead generation strategies for your team.
Concentrate on the most efficient platforms for your business.
Your sales team deals with customers and leads every day. They will learn what information is important to them and what converts new customers into leads by talking to them.
Understanding your current efforts, how they are performing, and how they reached your company will help you adapt your lead generation strategies.
Are you using social media? Google Ads Do your best to find the answers that you are looking for.
Is It Worth Your Time?
You shouldn’t be concerned about spending too much time on these techniques when you could be using them for other purposes.
Many will argue that they tried all of these options before, or just a few, and failed. As we have said, it all depends on how you do each alternative.
The biggest mistake is thinking you can bring construction leads within hours, if not days. You will see results as soon as you start, but these are not magic tricks.
Although it is possible to locate free construction leads, it will require extra effort and time.
You can use a variety of strategies, including networking and lead generation services, to get new leads and close deals.
Do not worry about how many people don’t know your company name. No matter what project you are working on for your company, these tips and steps will help you fix it.
The Local Lead Generation Process for Your Commercial Building Construction Business
All right! So, everything is about building properties and generating leads. But how does the process actually take place? Are there other steps I need to know?
The steps I mention below are what students from our local lead generation program follow to generate leads for businesses like yourself. So I’ll help you see what we do. And how if you join our program, you can simply generate leads for your own business (unless you want to start a side hustle and build a laptop lifestyle business).
Essentially, our lead generation can be divided into four steps:
The first is prospecting. You need to take the time to do market research on a niche (industry) and determine how many phone-driven businesses are there.
Keep in mind that this is local research as you need to know how many companies need leads. For example, you may search for “plumbing services Youngstown OH.”
You will find dozens or even hundreds of businesses trying to get themselves in front of the customers by ranking on Map Listings, organic results, and even Ad.
The second step, building. When you find a niche (plumbing, tree services, a software company, real estate…), you will need to start building your digital properties. You don’t need to be an expert in HTML or coding. It can be easy with the right tools.
The third step is now taking time to rank your lead gen website. With the site done, you need to work on SEO strategies and start dominating those Google search results. If you’re new to SEO, it stands for Search Engine Optimization.
To keep it simple, it consists of the entire process of growing a company’s visibility on search engines like Google and generating organic traffic. And remember this, local lead generation is part of the strategies.
Moving on to step four, once you rank the site, you will start getting your ROI and profits. You only need to rent it out to a local business interested in the leads the site generates. You can offer a couple of free leads to their move on with the actual pay per lead.
To review steps 1-4 above, I described it to a normal student who is building a lead gen business to help local service providers generate more calls. But replace the student with you as the business owner. And replace sending the leads to a business to simply siphoning the leads to your personal business.
By the way, fun fact, about 20% of our students in our local lead gen program are actually business owners who went through the program. And they use the skillsets we teach to generate leads for their own business.
An Example of Lead Generation: Home Advisor
You must be thinking, “if lead generation sounds so good so far, how come I haven’t seen any company?” That’s the thing; there are many out there. You just don’t know they are dedicated to it.
HomeAdvisor is one of the best examples you can find on the Internet as it is a top lead generation company that has spent millions building its brand but also earned even more zeros for this same reason.
They started small as everyone else but invested in building their brand awareness to make people who are looking for home services go to their website and find what they need. They are over 75% of people’s first choice when they need those services.
If you don’t get HomeAdvisor that much or need a refresh, users need to submit their information to request a service and get a professional or expert who can provide it.
HomeAdvisor’s job is to share your information, which makes you a lead, with local companies so they can contact you and offer the service you’re requesting. For sharing this lead information, HomeAdvisor gets paid by the companies. This happens for every single lead they send to multiple businesses.
Business owners who don’t have marketing skills or don’t even know how to have any online presence will always rely on those pages to list their services. They will save time and effort, but companies like HomeAdvisor can make them spend lots of money as leads aren’t exclusive (one lead is sent to multiple companies after all).
Using Facebook Ads aka Paid Ad Platforms: Do They Generate Leads?
They DO generate leads. If not, no one would use them.
However, you need to remember two facts:
- Paid ads or platforms can be expensive.
- They don’t generate “natural” leads.
Whenever someone sees or clicks in one of those ads, over 80% of them did it by accident or are trying to close/report it.
Why? Because they aren’t looking for those services. At least not at the moment.
What those ads do instead is interrupt their time on the platforms. Users aren’t there to find companies or businesses unless they are searching for a specific company’s user, and for that, there’s a search bar. This is why it is hard to convert them to actual customers who will show interest in the companies’ services. Also, you’re limited by a budget.
When using lead generation, everything is organic. You aren’t forcing others to pay attention to your business but rather being there when they need you. This is why Google’s organic traffic will always beat paid ads, and the reason companies continue investing in it, which is a lot cheaper as well.
What Is Local SEO?
Don’t worry… I didn’t get it at first either. Following the short explanation, local SEO focuses on scaling businesses’ visibility on search engines. However, this is only for those who serve their communities face-to-face.
What does this mean?
Experts and professionals like painters, plumbers, and dentists (but not only them) offer their services to their local customers. Why? Because they can’t deliver them unless they are located in the same area of their customers.
To make sure those businesses get more leads, you need to rank them locally by claiming the business listing on Google to place them on Map Listings. Local SEO also involves online reviews, citation management, and how you manage your entire online presence in the local area.
If you are going to bet on lead gen, you need to adapt yourself to today’s world: The Internet.
Keep in mind that although traditional channels and methods like billboards, warm calls, and pamphlets still work, they aren’t part of your tools. Whenever someone needs a service, they go to Google and search for it.
“Dentist in Miami” or “plumbing services in Orlando,” etc. And you can keep coming up with services or professionals people need and look for. Thus, you need to make sure you’re using Google to get the companies in front of their clients.
Users will always click on the first search results (those near the top), and many of them will be either Ad links (people paid to place their websites there), Map Listing, and then you get websites. Almost all of them are your goal and where you should always aim to place yourself.
Can My Commercial Building Construction Business Utilize a Local Lead Generation Strategy?
If you want customers, you better know you need it. Following the previous explanation, lead gen is all about placing businesses in front of their customers, choosing them over their competitors.
Put it simply – it’s all about closing deals and having clients for those companies to make money. The main difference with the usual methods companies use for this is how lead generation approaches different channels to get them in the right place of the market to get customers.
Those channels are all focused on the Internet as most people are searching for products but also services across the net. The issue is that the Internet is way too broad, and businesses don’t know how to place themselves. They usually try, but they get one common result: losing money and time.
How Powerful Are Organic Commercial Building Construction Leads from Google?
For companies looking for customers, it’s everything. For you? Pretty much the same. When you build a business with digital properties, you get to make thousands of dollars a month.
This isn’t a “get started today and get rich tomorrow” thing, but it is HIGHLY scalable, and ROI + positive results are guaranteed. Learning a fairly decent and very needed set of skills to create your digital properties and start ranking them on Google is required.
I have invested in several online businesses over the years, and if there’s something uncertain, whether you will get your ROI or not, even more than the actual profit.
However, this business moved my earnings from five figures a year to a month in ONLY passive income while sitting comfortably at home.
On my laptop. Anywhere. Anytime.
You can look at one of the first sites I built back in 2016, and it continues making me over $1.000+ every month. The best part is that I don’t need to touch it or the rest I’ve built over the years, just like this digital property.
What Makes Lead Generation SO Alluring?
Here it goes: you can work from home.
The main issue with regular business opportunities is how much you need to invest in staff, equipment, or rent to have a place to sell your products or offer your services.
We all know the hassles of traditional businesses that involve regular expenses, which are extremely high. Can you afford it? I don’t think so, and even if you can, is it worth it? Now, it isn’t only about the money. You also need to put in a lot of work, and it isn’t only during the first couple of months or years. Usually, it is as long as you continue running it.
You can save yourself those headaches and bone-breaking tasks and expenses with lead gen since it is more about generating leads with digital channels—mainly websites.
Websites can be VERY cheap to build, and with many tools online, you get to do it in a couple of hours instead of days. Any virtual or digital business is scalable and won’t need constant maintenance.
So, let’s summarize this:
- You save money in regular expenses with traditional and most online businesses as what you need is yourself and digital properties (websites).
- You can bet on passive income.
- There’s no need to hire more people to get started.
- You can generate leads in multiple industries, which allows you to work on any niche you want.
How Can I Get Started in the Local Lead Generation Program?
Anyone can start and learn. That’s the beauty of this business model. I knew nothing about SEO, Map Listing, and everything I’ve mentioned so far. It is all about learning the skills, gaining experience, and deciding to take the step.
Remember that this business model will never get old as business owners are always looking for leads. They need to do business and scale their companies. Why not do the same while helping others and still making money?
You can start with this local lead generation course highly recommended for anyone wanting to grow in the business. It is a close training that will take you through each step and make sure you are able to get your ROI, profits and take control of your life.
You will be added to an incredible lead generation family ready to help you 24/7 when asking questions on the group. Anyone is welcome who’s willing to put in the work. Click here to watch the lead gen webinar.