Depending on where you’re located, generating pool service leads can be easier or more difficult since you have a location-dependent business. However, this doesn’t mean it is impossible or something you should quit.
Instead, it requires time, and you will need to hone your skills to achieve the desired results. But where should you start?
Creating a website and knowing your ideal clients will always be part of the essential and first steps to generate qualified leads. Next, you can bet on more elaborated or simpler lead generation strategies like referrals and email marketing.
We would recommend creating a marketing plan with the strategies you will use, and as much as it is important to use more than one, start slow to ensure you’re overwhelming yourself. With this in mind, you should do things right.
Now, for the part of which strategies a pool service company should use, we can give you many crucial ideas:
Find Your Ideal Pool Service Clients
Before you implement your marketing plan, it is important first to identify the ideal pool service client. This will allow you to focus all your lead generation process efforts on them.
Think about the kind of clients you want to attract to your business. They could be:
- Senior citizens who are now retired.
- A young family in their 20s or 30s.
- Maybe a wealthy professional in their 40’s or 50s.
Also, imagine them and draw a picture of the commonalities they share, for example, age, salary, kids.
Finally, include their demographics by directing your pool services marketing efforts towards them.
Remember, every pool service marketing strategy should be based on how you will replicate your clients’ success.
Start Marketing Locally
Local advertising is a great way to promote your pool service. Your community will be the best place to spread the word about your business.
You need to consider both long-term and short-term promotions. Don’t forget to set aside some time to develop your advertising ideas; this will be the key to your marketing plan’s success.
This also will allow you to adapt the base of your strategy according to different situations when the time comes.
Try working with local pool supply shops; that way, you can increase your business visibility by placing your marketing materials there.
Flyers are always a good choice. They can be posted on bulletin boards at supermarkets, coffee shops, and gyms. Business cards are also acceptable at most local shops.
Word-of-mouth marketing is an awesome way to promote your pool cleaning business. Reaching out to friends, family, and past clients is a solid strategy to attract new pool service leads.
Send Postcards
Yes, postcards are a bit old-fashioned, but they still work well. Why? Because they are inexpensive to send and can be targeted to a wide range of customers with a swimming pool.
First, you need to organize your mailing list. A mailing list is a great idea if you don’t have one or are just getting started. They can be purchased online or locally.
The key is to make sure you only receive names and addresses from homeowners with swimming pools. It is more efficient this way.
Once you have your mailing list ready, it is time to work on your first postcard. Save money by creating a 4×6 inch card. These are easy to print and inexpensive to send.
Next, you need to design your card. If you don’t have the skills required to make it, try hiring a professional.
Create a strong headline. It needs to grab people’s attention since they may wonder why they would choose you over another company to manage their pool. What makes your company better than your competitors?
You need to emphasize the quality of your services and your offers. No matter what message you choose, make sure your postcard does not end up in the trash.
Make A Website
A website is essential if you want to establish an online presence and appear professional.
Don’t underestimate the usefulness of a website. It is a must if you want to show that you care about your business.
A simple website is also very affordable. Many online sites help you create one in a matter of hours.
If you have neither the time nor the skills to design a solid and cool-looking website, it’s possible to find a designer in your area via craigslist or local colleges.
Customers should be able to reach you easily through your website. It should contain information about your company, such as an email address, a phone number, or a contact form.
Make the Most Of Your Online Presence
Leads are always online, and they look for solutions to their problems. Your job is to help them.
If you want to secure getting high-quality leads, then make sure your online presence is top-notch.
They usually use Google, Yahoo, or Yelp to search for a pool service provider near them.
Google Places is your first step. Google Places is an online directory of local businesses. You can add your business to Google Places, and it will be displayed in local searches. A customer might search Google for “pool cleaning service” and find you in the results.
But this is only the beginning. Google Places offer free listings, and you need to have a great list.
Take your time to make good quality content. Try adding photos, videos, and detailed information about your business on the site, as well as other business directories like Yahoo! and Mantra.
Fill in as much information as you can because your clients will feel more comfortable using your service if they have more information about your company.
Reviews are also an important part if you want to attract leads. Online sites like Google Places and Yahoo! have this kind of setting. Rankings are determined by how well your reviews are.
Usually, the more positive reviews on your listing, the higher your ranking is. This way, you increase the likelihood of a client contacting you.
It is a good idea to encourage customers to leave reviews on your business’s websites. Don’t be afraid to offer discounts because more reviews mean more chances to generate qualified leads.
If you don’t have the time to sit in front of your computer and manage all of what was said before, sites like Yext.com can do this for you.
You just need to pay an annual fee to have your listing placed on more than 40 websites and managed by them.
Don’t forget about social media. Using Facebook and Instagram to promote your business is a good idea since a lot of people are using these apps nowadays. Try posting and adding new content every day.
Contrary to popular belief, clients don’t usually buy based on logic. They buy based on facts, on what they can see with their own eyes.
People base their final decision on how they feel looking at their pool. Therefore, you can start winning pool services clients as soon as you have sold the pool service’s value.
Let’s be honest, everyone with a pool could just clean and maintain it properly themselves, but they seek your help because:
- When you clean their pool, the water is sparkling and clear blue all the time.
- They need more time to do other things, so they leave all the work to you. They do what they love, and you make pool maintenance easy for them.
- They don’t need to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on pool equipment, chemicals, and cleaning supplies. You take care of all of this for them.
Now you know the importance of showing the value of your pool cleaning services. So, next time you don’t need to mention your services in your ad.
Instead, state the benefits your pool services will bring to your clients. This method is more efficient at securing leads.
Always consider what your clients really want and then SELL IT. You can instantly achieve success with your pool service marketing efforts if you don’t deviate from this path.
Get the Best Pool Service Social Media Strategies
As said before, you can improve your business’s lead generation process by abusing the popularity of social media.
To make this possible, you can do these things if you have the right social media strategies:
- Use short videos to show the quality of your services. People believe in what they can see, so use this strategy to increase your sales.
- You want your clients to last, so don’t hesitate and develop relationships with them via social media by replying to their comments and making sure they feel you care about them.
- Use hashtags to increase your visibility. This way, people can find your business more easily.
Although social media can be used for business purposes differently than for personal use, it’s not as difficult as you might think.
You just need to do one thing right: Share relevant content your audience cares about and would like to see in their newsfeed.
Use the Top Email Marketing Strategy
Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective and efficient ways to market pool services, and it is mostly thanks to the high returns it offers to companies.
Although it may seem useless for some, you have to trust us when we say that you should use it as one of your tools.
If you aren’t sure about how to get started with this strategy whatsoever, we can guide you in two simple steps to guarantee the best initiative for this lead generation strategy:
1. Search for new leads.
To sell your pool services via email, it is necessary to collect email addresses. But don’t be too aggressive about it. In this case, the passive option will be much more rewarding.
You can, for example, host a lead magnet in a Facebook Ad. This gift requires an email address to download to your potential customers.
You can also post your lead magnets to your pool website if you have one and use them to get the desired contact info from your pool service leads.
Your pool business could use any number of tips and tricks, from pool maintenance tips to help conserve water costs.
A valuable lead magnet is any situation where your clients require your expertise.
Your lead magnets should be placed wherever your ideal clients will see them (e.g., Social Media, Website, etc.).
Lead magnets are not only useful for gathering email addresses but also show your clients that you’re a reliable pool service expert. This gives your clients value before they become your client.
2. Create your email campaign.
Start creating your campaign and convert the people that sign for your lead magnet or any other strategy you decide to implement to get their email addresses. For this, it is important to follow your potential clients with a series of emails ut without reaching the point of spam.
First, send them welcome emails. Next, automate the email campaign; this can be done easily in Service Automation, depending on your email service.
Remember that your email campaign should contain a mix of:
- Valuable content (e.g., Guide or blog).
- Hard selling (converting leads to clients).
Healthy email hygiene will allow you to stay on top of your clients’ emails and make your strategy work seamlessly 24/7.
Google Ads Can Help You Grow
Google Ads can be a powerful tool to target certain market segments and drive your pool service business growth. But only when things are done right. If not, it is common to notice the usual problem of wasting money and thinking the problem was the method all along.
If you set up your Google Ads correctly, you will be able to do things such as:
- Quick results, no waiting to rank on Google.
- Trackable data (know your ROI and how much you are spending).
- Google preference: Ad space has a higher priority than organic search results.
- You can find leads who are looking for pool service problems you can solve.
Google Ads are more costly than social media ads and require additional setup. It is important to know how to navigate it, but it will be worth your time and effort.
You shouldn’t be afraid to use them. However, suppose you can rely on someone with experience using them instead of going for the “I’ll do it myself” option. In that case, the probabilities of it working to generate qualified leads are much higher.
Get Great 5-Star Reviews & Solve the Bad Ones
It has been proven that over 80% of consumers use online reviews to evaluate the quality of local businesses, and 30% of these are regularly for any type of business or service.
It is believed that online reviews can be trusted as much as referrals, and this is what leads most companies to place their time and effort in them. To understand why a bit better, these statistics are something to keep in mind:
- 80% of respondents trust online reviews more than recommendations from friends and neighbors.
- 70% of people say that positive reviews increase trust in local businesses.
- According to 83%, a company with at least ten positive reviews will be trusted.
Now, if positive reviews give so much value to a company, what happens with negative ones?
Negative reviews are the #1 reason for consumers to form negative opinions about a company. So, as much as you can get good leads from positive reviews, you can ruin your company with negative ones.
Negative reviews are a major factor in 9/10 consumers making buying decisions. However, 80% of customers will see negative reviews and change their minds.
The gist of making this work and avoiding the negative ones to actually affect your pool service business is to respond as quickly as possible to all negative and positive reviews (if possible, the same day).
Highlight any pool services or other information that your leads might be interested in if the review is positive.
If you receive mediocre reviews, be positive, ask for more details, empathize, and reach out to them directly to continue the conversation offline.
If you are unhappy with the review, please ask for more information, be understanding, and show initiative to resolve their issues. Contact them immediately to have the conversation offline.
Take Advantage of Your Trucks as Rolling Billboards
What if you could market your business 24/7, without having to even try? Your pool trucks can do this for you if you treat them as billboards and not only as a way to transport your employees and tools.
It’s easy to see how pool service technicians are marketing your business every time they drive around town on a job, park in front of a client’s property, fill up at the station or go to work.
Did you also know that consumers are three times more likely to buy from brands they recognize? This means that potential clients should be exposed to your pool business in as many ways as possible.
Your pool trucks should be bold and legible with large fonts that are easily readable from far away. To ensure that your truck wraps are effective, we recommend hiring a freelance designer.
Your truck wraps should, as a rule of thumb, include:
- Logo.
- Telephone number.
- Name of the business.
- Colors for business.
Although there are some initial costs, truck wraps can be quickly paid for if done correctly.
Make your trucks stand out in the town by painting them your main business color. Some companies may even opt for neon colors to be more easily recognizable.
Referrals to Boost Your Business
Your new clients probably won’t trust you to maintain their pools. They do trust their family and friends.
Referring people to you by word of mouth is a great way for new clients to feel comfortable and to build trust. It well helps to remove doubts and build trust between your clients and you.
One client might refer you to another client, and the other client will then refer you. Your referred clients will soon start coming in before you know it. And yes, that’s a lot of referred, but it is pretty much how it works.
Here are some tips to help you win great referrals:
- Referring to people at the right moment is a good idea.
- You should be focusing on clients who love you.
- Make your pool technicians business cards.
- Incentives to show appreciation for referrals (e.g., $15 gift card or $15 off their next service). The common idea is to refer a friend and get 20% off in the next service or similar discounts.
Referrals can be a cost-effective and efficient way to replicate your clients’ success without much effort.
Pool Service Software Can Help You Maximize Your Profits
It doesn’t have to be hard work. Owning a pool services business is not all about being busy if you use the right tools and know-how to automate before anything else.
If you were thinking about giving up on the idea, you don’t need to do it just because it looks like a lot of work.
We know there are some costs involved in running a pool service company. These include purchasing pool chemicals in bulk, as well as equipping your techs with the right tools for each job.
But they can be solved if you just take a couple of minutes to plan everything. For instance, plan to purchase company-branded trucks and cover the cost of fuel, insurance, and maintenance to grow your business.
You don’t have to tread water when it is possible to float. Pool service software will help you work smarter and not harder to increase your company’s operational efficiencies, increase your average ticket, and grow your revenue.
Automated scheduling, GPS-based dispatching, tracking, and booking are all ways to communicate clearly with customers. You can also use customized data reporting for monitoring and boosting your techs’ productivity so that you can soon make a profit.
The Local Lead Generation Process for Your Pool Service 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 Pool Service 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 Pool Service 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.