Generating flooring leads is a hot topic for flooring retailers these days, and it is only natural since who doesn’t want more clients and deals? However, flooring leads and clients have become very difficult to generate since differentiating your business in this crowded marketplace is part of the strategy you need. It isn’t easily achieved, considering that more competitors join the niche every second.
This means you have to worry about your projects and how good your services are while also thinking about continuously bringing more clients that will allow you to be in business and generate the income you’ve been wanting and looking for.
If you’re a flooring company that is just starting, you have any questions, that’s for sure. However, even if you’ve been in business for a while and yet, you are having problems achieving results, that means you don’t have the right answers for many factors.
Therefore, we decided to lend you a hand and guarantee you’re able to focus on how to generate more flooring leads without losing your mind and time in the process.
Build Your Website
Sounds simple and even logical, but many people believe that generating leads is all about including a phone number and email, and everything will be done. This is a big no.
If you want to generate them, you have to work around your website since it won’t be key for this goal alone but for the rest of your business’ growth.
Just think about it, where will you send your potential clients if they don’t want to call or email you? People who do this are already thinking about hiring you, not discovering what you offer and if you are a good option for them compared to dozens or hundreds of flooring companies on the Internet.
Therefore, let’s start from here.
A website for a flooring company doesn’t have to be expensive with fancy graphics or designs.
If you can’t afford it, or it isn’t something that catches your attention regarding how you want your design, or maybe you aren’t clear about it, just remember that all you will need is a website for a flooring company that only has a few pages.
This should include testimonials, services, and contact us pages. Your address, phone number, and email must be clearly displayed.
A picture gallery of recent flooring projects would be a great idea to add to your website since this will allow customers and prospects to see your work.
Advertise via Pay-per-Click (PPC).
Who hasn’t used Google? And even if you reply that you haven’t and say that Bing is more your style, what we are about to mention remains.
During your searches, you’ve probably seen pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements at the top of the results. These paid advertisements are displayed above the organic listings and usually have the word “AD” displayed at the beginning of the title.
This type of advertising brings many leads to a website and allows you to generate clients for your business regardless of what your company is about.
In the case of flooring companies, the idea is to have your name and services at the top in order for any user to see your site first. Inevitably, people tend to click on the first options either because they’re too lazy or because Google works in a way that actually works to filter important sites.
Now, how can you use this to generate more flooring leads?
Keywords are used to trigger PPC ads, which means you have to be smart with the type of keywords you use if you want the ads displayed at the top, even if you’re paying for them since it isn’t guaranteed.
Reached this point, most people wonder how they can choose their keywords, and since PPC can be done using two types of keywords, you will have some homework to do.
Keywords with a short tail are those that only contain one or two words. These keywords include terms such as “flooring” and “flooring company.” They are extremely generic searches that don’t give much information about the searcher’s intent.
Short tail keywords should be avoided as they may not be relevant to the user’s intent since it isn’t specific but rather a global search that can include any type of company and won’t be relevant for the customer, leading you to generate worthless leads, not qualified ones.
The best option for your business is long-tail keywords since they can contain three words or more. Instead of the keyword “flooring business,” you could use “flooring business in Miami.” This will filter the search and allow people who are truly interested in your services to find you, and you won’t have to deal with visitors you don’t want or need.
Long-tail keywords can be more specific and will result in more qualified leads.
Long-tail keywords are more trustworthy and bring in more leads. Because they are looking for the best results, users search with specific keywords, and you will learn that customers who are ready to convert don’t use short-tail keywords.
That being said, PPC visitors are 50% more likely to make a purchase than organic visitors. Clicking on your ads will result in more people being interested in your services and conversions.
Search engine optimization (SEO) Never Gets Old
We are sure you’ve heard and read about it countless times, and keywords from our previous recommendation are even part of it.
However, as much as you might hate finding it everywhere, the truth is it will never get old as long as the Internet continues reining everything.
SEO is a great method for flooring leads in conjunction with PPC not only for the keywords added but also due to the metrics and how many visits or leads you can get with their proper use.
Remember something: SEO is about getting your website to the top of search results.
Since 7 out of 10 people don’t look past the first page of results, your website must rank first.
For your SEO strategy, the same keywords you used in your PPC campaign can be used in your SEO campaign. After you have chosen your keywords, optimize your website.
Google considers many factors when ranking websites. Many of these factors revolve around the user experience, and for this, to keep users coming back to your site, they must have a pleasant experience.
If your page (for example) does not load in time for users, you will lose many of them because they want quick access to everything.
You can use Google PageSpeed Insights to see how your page is performing. This tool will show you the areas where your website is failing and what you can do to fix them so users won’t return to the search page and omit your site from now on.
On the other hand, keeping visitors and possible leads on your site will require a functional one, which is directly involved with the design.
Users will leave if your website looks outdated or stale. A modern, clean and appealing design is important, and to achieve this, a consistent and simple design is the best.
Anything that can improve your users’ experience and bring value to your site is worth the investment and time. Just make sure you’re not sacrificing aesthetics for experience and vice versa.
Social Media: Connect and Engage with Others
Small businesses have many opportunities to connect with potential customers and create new leads through social media.
To attract and engage your target audience, you can set up a Facebook, LinkedIn profile, Pinterest company page, Pinterest account, or YouTube channel (maybe all of them). Then, funnel them through your process to becoming leads.
You can also use social media to reach out to leads once they are in your system.
Your business will gain trust from customers if they have positive experiences with you over time.
Lead generation should be considered a continuous, long-term process. So don’t think social media will be any different.
Some companies start their profiles, attract users, generate leads, and then forget to continue pouring effort and time into it.
Have you ever seen a profile that continues alive even after the user hasn’t posted in ages? We can mention two or three, but none of them are businesses, especially in the flooring industry.
If you need a top with social media, we can include one with Twitter and LinkedIn. However, we like to remind people that everything is about knowing each platform to determine how to approach the audience.
Now, personalizing your lead generation to your buyers is important, regardless of whether you are B2B or B2C, especially when dealing with busy decision-makers.
Twitter can be used to gain personal insight on decision-makers
Most buyers are on guard because they wear their LinkedIn “professional hats,” so they expect to be pitched.
This makes them less likely to share any personal information that could help you build a relationship.
Their “guard” on Twitter, which is more social than a professional platform, is lower.
And by using the platform to support your research, you’ll discover opportunities to personalize that you probably wouldn’t find elsewhere.
For Instagram, the strategy will always include valuable content that leads people to like you in terms of considering a service.
Personally, we have hired many flooring companies through this social because we liked what we saw, liked the posts, and made sure to contact them. We’re sure they must have been happy because of this.
Play it smart, and your time will be worth it.
The whole concept about social media is because, basically, it’s easy to direct your followers to take action on social media platforms, including the swipe-up option in Instagram stories and Facebook bio links.
Promote your products on social media and include a call to action in your caption to bring the leads your way.
Use pre-filled forms
Most users and people overall are lazy when it comes to providing information or contacting you for flooring services.
But when it comes to prospects and potential clients, they are even lazier because they don’t always understand the value of sharing their personal data with you.
You might be able to solve their problem, but they can get stuck in another sale funnel if they are not the right fit.
You can reduce the friction involved in collecting visitors’ personal data. This helps to overcome reluctance.
API services are useful to provide pre-filled forms to save time, but you might need to pay for some of the available platforms. Thus, this wouldn’t be the first option we recommend, but it does help in the long run and if you’re able to afford it in the beginning and over the years.
You just want to reduce their effort in providing the information you need, and they will willingly give to either receive a quote or convert into clients.
Email marketing
Many people believe emails are walking into their death. However, we couldn’t disagree more.
Although social media and smartphones dominate the world in terms of how people communicate mainly, emails remain part of the top methods to provide information when it comes to businesses and projects.
Therefore, email marketing is a great way to attract and nurture new leads, and it is budget-friendly, especially for flooring companies.
The best way to optimize this method and obtain the results you want is by using your website since it is the primary way to get emails from people. After all, those visiting it are interested in your services and business, and allowing them to contact you via email to get more information is a way to know which ones are quality leads and which ones aren’t.
You can encourage people to sign up for emails by including an email signup button on your website. The signup process should be easy and allow users to enter their email addresses and click a button.
And whatever you do, DON’T pays for email lists.
These lists don’t provide valuable leads for your company, and your emails could end up in a spam folder that will ruin your entire future since you would have to start from zero or lose many qualified leads.
Once you have an email list thanks to those signing on your website or direct people you’ve asked about joining, you can start sending the information you want to them.
The emails can include coupons, content links, or information about new products and services at your company. Just guarantee the info is valuable and what they expect from your flooring business.
Worry About Reviews
We know what you will say, “but I’m just starting. How can I get some reviews?”
Well, the key lies in knowing when a free service can bring you the income any business wants.
Having reviews isn’t simple, and we’re more than aware of this. However, they are crucial for any business that wants to grow and be successful.
Just think about it. If someone goes to Google and searches “flooring services in Oklahoma,” and when they find your site and see it without reviews, do you think that person will be encouraged to hire you or even give you a try by visiting the website? Answer: 95% of the time, they won’t.
This is why reputation will always be crucial and what you can do when you don’t have much to workaround is to offer some free services that won’t make you lose too much and look at them as investments.
When you finish them, you can request reviews from the people you’ve helped. The same applies whenever you have a project or finally close a deal.
Always remember to stop for a second, request your review, and, of course, ensure your flooring services are top-notch if you want them to be 99% positive because bad services only lead to bad reviews. The result? We don’t have to tell you.
Collaborations & Partnerships
Collaboration with influencers, partners, and complementary businesses can help companies increase their leads.
Many would discard this option for the simple fact of not wanting to bring more leads to others. However, will you truly do this?
Generally speaking, you will, but it is a matter of looking at the benefits and not the “disadvantages” of the situation.
Collaborations are a huge plus, especially when you’re the one winning more in the short or long run. This doesn’t mean that 50/50 isn’t worth it, but you must consider your options properly to determine what is worth it and what isn’t.
According to a study, more than 90% of customers prefer referrals to advertise. It can be extremely valuable to establish strong, long-term partnerships.
Referrals, either from partnerships or previous clients, will always be key for your business to grow. Therefore, don’t underestimate how needed they are to be successful.
Bringing leads is the best they are good at (that sounded a bit bad, but you get our point), and you have to find ways to maximize the resources that include them.
Your Content Must Be Challenging
However you think about it, it’s difficult to compete with industry leaders.
It seems that the big brands have all the attention, and the space is limited for smaller brands to establish themselves and gain some of the spotlights every company wants. But what if we tell you there’s a very efficient way to turn the tables?
It is simple: take on the industry leaders by challenging them with your content.
For example, if they publish something stating that your industry is moving in one direction, you should tell them if you disagree or not, but not directly. Instead, use your content to reach out to them.
Some companies use the strategy to comment on their blogs with their thoughts and content to make it clear what brand you are, but the first option tends to be less direct and still efficient.
But if the goal is to generate leads, you will need to use both alternatives since you want the exposure their blogs and content allow you to have by opening a friendly argument while commenting on their posts.
Just remember, your content and arguments must be valuable, based on proof, and hard to refute.
Networking Events Are Crucial
Although the world is online nowadays, this doesn’t mean that face-to-face interactions aren’t powerful. It is quite the opposite, and you should not limit your efforts to generate leads online.
You can ask many companies and flooring businesses. Some of them will agree that their favorite and sometimes more efficient way to generate leads is to attend trade shows, conferences, and networking events.
This is not about events that are designed for you. We are referring to events that are targeted at your customers.
SaaS firms may make great contacts at SaaS events, but they won’t be able to get many leads.
You should be attending events that are targeted at your customers.
If your target audience is Millennial entrepreneurs, you should be attending the same events as them, regardless of whether or not they have anything to do with the services you offer.
However, if you’re able to find events that bring many people and prospects together, you have a gold mine waiting for you.
In flooring, these events usually trade shows and flooring conventions.
However, this doesn’t mean you should just go to the biggest one: find out where your customers will be in order to generate more leads for yourself.
But if you want a good example of what we’re talking about, consider attending Expo flooring events.
Ready to Make Lost of Leads?
Keep in mind that generating leads is never easy, and due to your competitors in the flooring industry, you will have to face some more challenges than others. However, there’s no reason to give up.
If you follow the previous methods and take your time instead of hurrying to complete everything, you will achieve great results.
Flooring leads will for sure come your way after you have done SEO, gotten reviews, and dealt with other strategies you will find in the process, and we tell you in advance that you should try them whenever they look like a good alternative.
For anything else, just remember that quality leads are your goal, not whatever visitor or leads.
Smaller floor covering companies, in particular, have a hard time competing with larger ones when it comes to getting attention or standing out among the rest of the competition.
Of course, this is something you already know, and we believe there’s no need for us to go over some information you’re aware of. Also, we did mention it a bit earlier.
However, we remark it for one reason: if a large flooring business has difficulties, you should review your methods and steps to generate leads.
It isn’t only about small businesses in the field that can have problems in this process.
Large ones with experience can find a dead point in which they are unable to remain competitive and not only lose their current leads but also unable to bring more as well.
And you shouldn’t be one of them, as it won’t lead to anything good for your business or reputation later on. Though, you already know this.
Therefore, review the previous information as many times as you want and need, and make sure you expand it with any details that are valuable for your future task and goal.
The Local Lead Generation Process for Your Flooring 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 Flooring 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 Flooring 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.